Rating: 4.5 stars

Format: E-book (ARC, pub date 3/4/2025)

Genre: Literary horror, dystopian

WOW what a stunning and unexpected ride that was. 

This book feels very different from Tender is the Flesh, which for me was a really good thing. I liked her debut, but I felt like it lacked the subtlety that The Unworthy embodies so well. There are still disturbing elements and there is definitely upsetting imagery, but much less gore and gross-out sections than Bazterrica’s first book. Despite our characters living in the aftermath of the destruction of the entire world as we know it, The Unworthy feels much smaller in scope and tells you very little about the machinations of its world. I appreciated this about the story. I think for some stories that rely on keeping the reader in the dark, it's difficult to walk the line between trusting your reader to pick up on small details and draw their own conclusions versus revealing too much and risking beating your audience over their heads with The Point. This is definitely not a book that spells everything out for you, but that felt like a strength rather than a source of frustration for me. 

Bazterrica’s writing (and Moses’ translation) is phenomenal. She is so skilled at constructing an oppressive, suffocating atmosphere, both in her prose and what she does and does not choose to reveal about the main character and the world. We don’t learn much about this mysterious convent and their doctrine, but what we do learn about the different roles and the day-to-day of living there adds to the dread and desperation present throughout the book. Though the diaristic confessions of our unnamed protagonist felt slow at moments because it was occasionally unclear to me where things were going, I still thought it was very well paced and well structured. I’m a very character driven reader and I found the protagonist compelling and believable, even though for the first half of the book we know every little about her.

What keeps this book from being 5 stars, for me, is the ending. It felt a bit rushed after an entire book that had such excellent tension. I get why the ending had to be the way it was, but I still wanted more from the climax of the story. Even despite this, I was hooked the entire time.

I don’t think this book will work for everyone, but it completely gripped me and did not let me go. It’s one of those books that buries under your skin and stays there. I think I’ll be ruminating on this one for a while.