The Unworthy by Augustine Bazterrica, author of Tender is the Flesh, lands us in the walled compound of the House of the Sacred Sisterhood. A multi tiered religious cult at the end of the world. Set in a climate dystopia, we are thrown into the cult as we would be had we managed to scale its walls in the desolate land it inhabits. There are many different tiers to this cult, servants serve The Unworthy, who wish to one day ascend to the level of The Enlightened who serve under a Superior Sister and an obscured male character who acts as the cult’s figurehead. 

The Unworthy details the life of our main character who keeps a diary in secret, using the ink of old monks who once inhabited their compound, and anything else she can find. She details their day to day, their rituals, daily work, how they interact with one another, and the ways they punish each other. She also gathers control in any way she can, writing her secret journal, stealing small trinkets, playing tricks or punishment on the other Unworthy and gathering poisonous mushrooms. 

Everything changes for our main character when Lucia arrives, her differences threatening to shift the cult’s monotony. Our main character begins to explore and remember her time in the dystopia before she arrived at the cult, and we learn more about this world at the end of a climate disaster. How she had survived until now, and the differences between the outside world, and the inner cult. 

This book was really gripping, I liked how it landed us straight in the world, and it took some time to make sense of things. To make sense of the different cult roles, the dynamic, why they exist, and why they exist the way they do. I think this was a really useful technique to make us feel how the characters who suddenly discover or end up in the cult might feel. I would have loved a bit more detail on why the cult exists, what specifically it preaches, and how it came about. However, I do think what we were told (or not told) lent a lot to the mystery and unease around the cult. 

Pick this up if you like: cults, dystopia, lgbtqia+ characters, books with women, climate dystopia, religious cults, 

Thank you to NetGalley, the Author & Publisher for providing me with an ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review.