Hey everyone! I hope your October is going well. As I write this, the temperature has dropped, and all of the Halloween decorations are up. I think it’s time for another creepy book review. If you would like to, you can check out my review for Tender is the Flesh, also by Agustina Bazterrica. It’s time, though, to talk about The Unworthy.

Content Warning: Violence and Gore, Sexual Assault, Disturbing Imagery, Animal Death, Religious Trauma, Psychosis

The world has ended. Sea levels rose, fires burned, and the population was all but wiped out by their own doing. The survivors grouped together to find some sort of salvation. One particular survivor joined a cult called the Sacred Sisterhood. Deemed one of the unworthy, she goes by unseen during the day but hopes that she might become one of the Enlightened. At night, she secretly writes her story in the hopes that someone will read it. One day, an enigmatic and charming woman named Lucia arrives, and the survivor is inexplicably drawn to her. As she develops a relationship with Lucia, the survivor reconsiders her past and realizes that she can no longer ignore the danger that lies within the Sacred Sisterhood.

Agustina Bazterrica is nothing if not intense, morbid, and profound in her writings. Much like Tender is the Flesh, The Unworthy is a speculative tale of a ruined world and desperate people. Unlike Tender is the Flesh, this novel is a bit more abstract in its prose. Bazterrica’s choice to have the nameless survivor as the narrator makes it all the more immersive. What drew me to the novel was Bazterrica’s use of religious imagery juxtaposed with stark images of a world ruined by humanity. With that being said, I can’t say I liked this more than Tender is the Flesh. The prose was a little too choppy, and there wasn’t enough “showing” for me. Just when I thought I was going to see something shocking or exciting, the novel would jump to something else. There was so much lore in this book, and it was packed very tightly into 175 pages. I would have loved a full novel of this book. With all of that being said, you may consider this my soft recommendation if you want something disturbing and atmospheric.