The Divine Flesh revolves around Jennifer who shares her body with an eldritch God named The Divine Flesh, also referred to as She or Her. Through various circumstances they get seperated as entities, and it is up to Jennifer and her childhood friend Daryl to stop Her from breaking the world.

"They'd ask, Jennifer, what's wrong?
I'd tell them: I've got a flesh-bending cosmic goddess trapped in my skin, and both of us hate each other."

I DNFed The Divine Flesh at 50%. Very early on I felt this novel was not for me, but I wanted to give this book a proper shot so I'd have a good amount of information to write up a fairly well informed review. Sadly my gripes with it stayed the same throughout.

First of all I think the premise for this novel is amazing. It is the whole reason I picked this up. Sharing your body with an eldritch entity? Pure nightmare fuel. However the execution of this was not for me. While I like horror, I am more of a fan of the psychological aspects of it, and expected that to be a big part of The Divine Flesh. The focus though was moreso on body horror. It felt written to shock and disgust. This might work very well for a certain audience, but not for me personally.

Secondly I would have preferred this novel to be a lot shorter. Maybe even a novella. The writing style is overly descriptive, especially when it comes to the body horror, but also in its overly bloated cast of characters. There are too many storylines that all start up in the first (out of four) parts, which make this a very confusing read. This leads to it all feeling very slow paced. I would have preferred if Huff had mostly focused on the main storyline.

"Some people have mommy issues, some have daddy issues, but everyone has God issues."

While the characters in this novel are wholeheartedly unlikeable, I do have to say that they have interesting aspects to their personality that suck you in at times. The messed up three way relationship between Jennifer and Daryl and The Divine Flesh is a highlight of the story.

The Divine Flesh might be for you if you enjoy extensive descriptions of body horror, a dash of existential horror, messy characters with messy relationships, and descriptive prose.

Extremely gross and full of gore, Drew Huff's novel "The DIvine Flesh" sets out to be the most it's title can be. Think of the average Hannibal episode, multiply the budget by 10, add aliens and this is that novel. Everyone you meet is morally gray at best and unreemeable at worse, so when they are suddenly at the mercy of a newly freed God can they survive? I never knew where the plot was going, so many twists and turns. Huff scares me with creativity and I kinda want more.

As much as I wish I didn't I chose to DNF this. The extremely descriptive writing and pacing made the plot feel incredibly slow, like walking through sludge. I keep picking it back up only to get through a chapter and put off coming back. This is not to say I don't recommend this, just not for me. Two books I would compare it to is "The Library at Mount Char" and "Maeve Fly". If you love gore, lore, and Americana this should be right up your alley.

I gave this multiple tries and could not finish it. Jennifer and Daryl are not main characters I can root for. The Book is well written and features The Divine Flesh's dialog interspersed with Jennifer's. The body horror is also very well written and descriptive.

I understand Jennifer's self destructive nature is part of her characterization, but wow, she's bad. I also can't completely fault Daryl for loving DF, however, I hate how much they rub their relationship in Jennifer's face. Hopefully, this book reaches its intended audience.

I was very drawn in by the cover art and thought this would be a fun, campy detour from my typical genres. I was very impressed by Huff's prose, and I admired the writing style, detail, and characterization. She effectively built tension and some really intriguing monsters. The Divine Flesh herself alone ~almost~ kept me reading. However, I chose to DNF this book approximately a quarter of the way through. I couldn't connect with any of the characters or the plot; the twists, turns, and terrible decisions were confusing and stressing me out; and I found myself only picking up the book to read in order to review it.
Here's the thing—this is absolutely going to be THE BOOK for a lot of people. I am not a SciFi reader, but there is enough aliens, Eldritch monsters, and Lynchian quirkiness going on that I suspect SciFi/horror readers will be more interested. I am torn when it comes to giving a starred review, as I typically star low for DNFs. However, I think Huff deserves a higher score than that, as I think that she has crafted a book that will be compelling, exciting, and readable for a lot of readers. Giving three stars as a compromise.

I nearly DNF’d this book multiple times. I’m not a huge fan of trailer trash Americana writing and horrible people being horrible to each other as a plot, and the violence and despairing slog of living was a lot to read through. So I put it down. And then I picked it up. And put it down. And picked it up. And then I got it. I couldn’t eat while reading it, especially if I was having a breakfast smoothie because it was a little too pink and fleshy for comfort, but there’s other times to read. And I wanted to. Because now I understood how little my aversion to the content mattered, in fact it was part of it. And there were more important things going on than just my discomfort. I was plopped into the middle of a rollicking reeling screeching and screaming roller coaster ride that didn’t let up, only demanded that I run to catch up, and disoriented and nauseous I could only obey.
This book is literally called The Divine Flesh but I had to be bludgeoned over the head with various representations of how people relate to god and religion before I worked out what was going on. There is a line I wrote down - “every motion eliciting pain aching knees exhaustion every pain a work of love and the labours became a sacrament.” This is the line where I started to truly feel like I understood what was going on, or at least started to get something. All gods demand something from us, whether our pain or our love or devotion. The lord your god is a jealous god, eat of her and become. God can save you but only if you become something other than yourself in the process. Religion is a comfort and a shield and a drug. I know many queer people who have (or had) a complicated relationship with religion, and whether you believed or not, the belief of others, especially close family members or local community are still thrust upon you. You are made into something other.
This concept of the other is explored strongly throughout the horror genre and The Divine Flesh is no different. In a small town who is else is there to other than those who most commonly are deemed dangerous to the social order? Immigrants and junkies and queers. Yet the point of view character is Jennifer, a junkie struggling to make right before falling off the wagon again and again, partly due to the fact that she shares a body with the godhead Divine Flesh herself. And the white members of the small town who decry any upheaval of their social order are murderers and accomplices to atrocities. Injustice has been done and it will be rectified through whatever means necessary. Within this, so much flesh and viscera and rot are described in loving detail to render terrible scenes both abject and compelling, nauseating and arousing.
Having been dragged through the entrails of this book all the way to the climax, the relative softness of its ending felt strange and unsatisfactory, though I don’t really know how I would have changed it. I spent so long wanting the best for Jennifer, but when she got what she needed the only way she could have, it felt rushed and sudden and confused. I had to go back over the last pages a few times. It made sense given the themes of the book but maybe it could have used another page or two. I’m not really sure.
There are so many things I liked about this book. The characters were extremely compelling and I loved Jennifer and DF’s relationship and I thought Susan was very cool and the concept of the mirror people as a whole felt imaginative and original. The exploration of different types of godhood, of ways to be a god and be worshipped compared to the different types of worship to make, and how most of it comes down to wanting to love and be loved in the end is maybe the reason I continued to read despite the initial aura of desolation and despair. It is not a book for the faint of heart, it is not a story to read while you are eating, especially if it’s something soft and pinkish. But maybe you have a stronger stomach than me, in which case good luck and enjoy as you wish.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. Let me preface by saying that I love body horror novels, but this one was way different than I anticipated. I really enjoyed it, but I feel like the general public might not want to pick this one up as it's not for the faint of heart. Good if that's what you're used to reading, but make sure to read trigger warnings! A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads for release. 3.65 stars

I’ll start by saying that I don’t think I was the intended audience for this book. I read the synopsis and interpreted something different from what the story was, and now that I’ve read the book I do not think the synopsis was misleading but the book itself just wasn’t my typical preference in reading material. I loved the body horror and intense descriptions but I feel like the wording got a little repetitive and so it stopped being as impactful. As far as plot goes I think this is an amazing concept and I would love to see it come to life in a film or even as an audiobook, but it was hard to follow the format of Jennifer and TDF monologue along with the prayers and other commentary. Overall the book was interesting, engaging, and unlike anything I’ve read before - but I didnt enjoy it as much as I believe others would. 2.25 for me. Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this eBook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a wild ride and a great reading experience. I loved the concept and how different it is to other things I've read.
It had lots of different plot points and elements that the author mixed together to create an interesting, fast paced story. It'd consistently moving and changing and as a reader you can't imagine where it will head next.

The book has such a specific and distinct voice that really works well with the horror, comedic at times, very dark, emotional elements. I thought the multiple Pov style also fitted with the narrative well.

This will be a book that I'll recommend to other readers, especially horror lovers who want a modern take on Eldritch horrors.

DNF strikes again! This story is very unhinged and focused on body horror, but it lacks a ton of context and explanation. This seems to be a theme with the ARCs I’ve read this year… I felt that it jumped right into the plot with no explanation, but it continues with no explanation and feels like it jumps around a lot.

While I really liked the body horror, the cosmic horror, and the Eldritch monsters, I'm not sure if this really worked out as a full-length novel. There almost felt like there were too many themes trying to be combined, where a focus on one in a smaller novella would have been more successful.

The divine flesh lives inside Jennifer and now and then she puts Jennifer to sleep and takes over her body.

She eats, sleep, loves, shags, kills and regenerates Jennifer’s body making it impossible for her to get rid of the divine flesh.

… and trust me! She does try!

And whilst living with this god like being, Jennifer tries to live her life of doing deliveries and drinking to forget, since her marriage failed and now her husband is only interested in being with the divine flesh.

But what would happen if the divine flesh would agree to release Jennifer and face the world by itself?

If you’re someone that likes to have the full picture of what’s going on this book is for you.

The amount of details in each scene makes you feel like you’re watching a movie.

Nothing has been left behind and every character has a story, including larvae.

Add to this a good amount of gore and romance. It’s almost like a match made in heaven.

This Divine Flesh is going to be released in March and if you’re into cosmic horror you better make sure this book is on your TBR.

I was really curious about this from the blurb, I thought it would be weird and it definitely was, but in a really great way. It's bizarre and different, but oddly emotional in places and funny in others. It's definitely one to go blind going into, it will be such a pleasant surprise. Excited to read more from this author

I was excited about this story and the premise sounded great. However, I chose to DNF this book because I didn't enjoy the writing style. It was unnecessarily complicated and a lot of words were used to say something short. I truly believe the story is/would be good, but the writing style wasn't for me. That being said, I'm sure plenty of others will have no issue with the writing and enjoy this much more.

4.25🌟

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc of this.

This book was weird, like the kind of weird that I eat up all day. Like what the hell did I just read weird. And then when I thought it couldn’t get more weird, it did. I can’t wait to pick up the physical copy when it’s released!

DNF @ 23% I really tried to push through and get a decent amount read but I just couldn’t get into this. The premise of this book sounded so unique and something up my alley, but unfortunately it was a miss. At a certain point we started to follow other pov’s/different events taking place, that made this feel too busy to keep up. I think part of that complaint is the pacing.

What I did love was this incredibly unique plot & the “The Divine Flesh” character (truly felt really well developed) which was my fav.

*Thank you NetGalley for providing this ARC!*

I’ve never read anything like this so this book was a new venture for me.
The body horror throughout this book is quite a lot, definitely one to acknowledge the trigger warnings on.

Overall, the concept was really interesting and I found the characters, though self-destructive and weird, interesting to follow.

This book sucked me in FAST. I was incredibly delighted by the Jekyll-and-Hyde dynamic of our main characters, Jennifer and DF, and it was fun to be propelled directly into their casually insane world and story.

Extremely important to note: the content warnings are not to be taken lightly. I found this particularly true of the SA warning. SA is not just mentioned in passing, it is an active part of the horror aspect of the book and is at some points described in graphic detail. Absolutely check all of the other content warnings as well - this book is a lot heavier than the goodread blurb might suggest.

The book is divided into four parts and the first part absolutely won me over. The second, however, began to lag so much that I honestly think it could just about have been cut entirely. All the body horror that was bizarre and fun and shocking in Part One...started feeling repetitive. I caught myself feeling bored and wanting to skim over what felt like pages and pages of the same fleshy descriptions. Parts three and four managed to get back on track with the plot and wrapped things up pretty well for a book with such an ultimately large scope.

I had a couple minor stylistic critiques with the writing (character voices intentionally vs unintentionally blending together, so much stammering, and I can only read “my hick accent started to creep in” so many times before I want to shake someone).

Finally - I am very wary about the frequent presence of gratuitous SA in horror and I haven’t 100% decided how I feel about Huff’s usage of it in this novel. The first couple of mentions are of course hard to read but had a clear purpose in both the plot and overall commentary of the book. The more graphic scenes later in the book…these felt more like they were for the horror and shock factors. I think I understand why Huff chose to include it but I don’t fully agree with that choice.

All in all, while I think this book would take its best form after being cut down to novella length, it made me feel and think a lot while also letting me enjoy a darkly absurd romp with characters I had fun rooting for.

Many thanks to Net-Galley and to the author for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Holy body horror! I was unprepared for how much I would love this book.

Thank you to Drew Huff | Dark Matter INK and NetGalley for providing the opportunity to read and review e-ARC.

I'm really in two minds about this (ha ha).

There are a lot of things to love here. I was invested in the characters, particularly Jennifer. Huff handles Jennifer quite well, making her understandable and even sympathetic, despite her self-destructive choices and genuinely reprehensible actions. It's very easy for those type of characters to lose the reader, but I was with Jennifer the whole way. Also worthy of note are Susan (they hate to see a girlboss winning), Daryl (perhaps the guy who fucked around and found out the hardest in this book) and the Divine Flesh herself (they hate to see a girlboss winning).

The prose is really quite twisty and demands a lot of concentration from the reader, and it pays off. You feel just as exhausted and confused reading it as Jennifer does living it. The body horror is some of the most frightening shit I've read in years and not for the faint of heart. The presentation is reminiscent of Brainwyrms, though there is less parasitic body horror here than in that (and that was ok! what parasitic body horror is here is SO MUCH). I loved the gnostic theming throughout the book; Huff put that in as a little treat for me, noted Gnosticism enthusiast.

But, I think the pacing is just the tiniest bit off. It's ever so slightly too slow for most of the book, which really bogs the whole thing down, particularly when combined with the complexity of the prose. A little more of a sense of the characters' goals or lack thereof could have helped as well. I understood the larger goal of "take down Divine Flesh", but I was a little less sure of what Jennifer and Daryl's minute-to-minute goals were. I'm also not 100% content with the ending. I think it works fine, but I'm not sure how well it tracks with the book's exploration of redemption. There's definitely room for debate about that though! I'd be interested to read other reviews.

If you're in the mood for a rather grim exploration of the horrors of humanity and love, check this out!

I received this book from NetGalley and Dark Matter Ink.

A fully unhinged reading experience. This is body horror and cosmic horror done right, with all the mind-destroying, existential threats to reality you could ever ask for in the Divine Flesh and some truly nasty work when it comes to the blood and bones of anyone within a three mile radius of this story. I can see how some might be turned away by the sheer amount of stuff that this book throws at you (it just keeps ramping up past the point of belief), or how the writing style could throw off others, but this is the kind of wacky and surprisingly sincere title that I think everyone who is even slightly interested should try reading. Not sure if there is anything else like it!