What do you think?
1 Over X
There is a hole in the wall.
This is a horror story. It builds slowly, but it does pay off. Expect graphic depictions of violent and disturbing content. And please do try to keep thinking. You can never have too much information.
This is a horror story. It builds slowly, but it does pay off. Expect graphic depictions of violent and disturbing content. And please do try to keep thinking. You can never have too much information.
463 pages, Unknown Binding
Published October 31, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 21, 2026
Nothing to enjoy here. A story written to intentionally have no coherent plot-level explanation, self-admittedly written to have indistinct and unmemorable characters, comprised entirely of a bunch of shit thrown at the wall, repeated so often and connected to other shit thrown at the wall in the hopes that the reader will assume that there's something deep behind it all—some profound "themes" that they just might not understand. In a word, pretentious, in more words, pretentious and unfun to read.
I've read a lot of what people who like this story have to say about it in the hopes of understanding what exactly it is about 1 Over X that they enjoy. I don't mean to be hyperbolic, but I sometimes come away with the impression that they even don't really know. "Themes" comes up a lot, but never really any sort of in-depth explanation of what exactly they mean by that. A lot of analysis of the story seems to intentionally take on the same kind of schizophrenic tone as the main character—I suppose that this is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but sometimes it gives me the impression of being a shield wielded to avoid having to talk concretely about the story.
Ostensibly a big pillar of 1 Over X is meant to be the internet, and information overload. I don't think that this ends up being actually textually represented by the story, though. Beyond one chapter of our main character checking twitter, the scenarios encountered in the novel have very very little to do with the internet, literally or metaphorically. A horror movie dog monster, doppelgangers and killer plants all really don't have much to do with the internet. You might argue that the confusing and nonsensical nature of everything that transpires is a representation of information overload and that the way character react to it is meant to be indicative of responses to that information overload in the age of the internet, but if that was the intention then the execution was poor, and the commentary paper-thin.
There's a metafictional element of 1 Over X that I thought was handled poorly. Encountering that section, I was reminded of a quote from Homestuck which loosely states that metafictional elements, handled poorly, nullify the ability for readers to give a shit what's going on. I already previously had the strong impression that 1 Over X as a story was intentionally constructed so as to not have any plot-level single coherent explanation for "what's going on", but having a character basically turn to the camera and make a mockery of the idea of trying to construct a theory as to what's going on annihilated any remaining investment I had in what was happening. It's after this point in the story that 1 Over X turned mostly into a gorefest of loosely characterized and indistinct characters being slaughtered by monsters, plants, each other, so on. There's a lot of words spend on this and it's genuinely unclear to me whether we're meant to care at all what's going on.
Having now read most of his work, I feel like I've noticed a repetitive tendency in Bavitz's writing. Obviously part of any media analysis is identifying repeated motifs and attempting to derive meaning from them, but it seems to me like Bavitz has taken this fact and then in the interest of trying to have writing that invites analysis, never misses any chance he can to repeat something, some sentence, phrase or word (e.g. "striving" in CQ, "I like watching", a skinned face pinned to a wall, so on and so forth), even in situations where that repetition doesn't really seem to mean anything, or the connection is paper-thin. 1 Over X I think is the culmination of this kind of writing. There's a section in Bavitz's "Making of 1 Over X" post where he describes having finished writing it and questioning "What, exactly was the narrative underlying all the noise...?" He describes how he constructed a spreadsheet of repeated themes or motifs and then drew connections between the various random elements in the story, "which I was in some ways doing retroactively after I wrote it."
I don't think that I enjoy that kind of writing.
I've read a lot of what people who like this story have to say about it in the hopes of understanding what exactly it is about 1 Over X that they enjoy. I don't mean to be hyperbolic, but I sometimes come away with the impression that they even don't really know. "Themes" comes up a lot, but never really any sort of in-depth explanation of what exactly they mean by that. A lot of analysis of the story seems to intentionally take on the same kind of schizophrenic tone as the main character—I suppose that this is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but sometimes it gives me the impression of being a shield wielded to avoid having to talk concretely about the story.
Ostensibly a big pillar of 1 Over X is meant to be the internet, and information overload. I don't think that this ends up being actually textually represented by the story, though. Beyond one chapter of our main character checking twitter, the scenarios encountered in the novel have very very little to do with the internet, literally or metaphorically. A horror movie dog monster, doppelgangers and killer plants all really don't have much to do with the internet. You might argue that the confusing and nonsensical nature of everything that transpires is a representation of information overload and that the way character react to it is meant to be indicative of responses to that information overload in the age of the internet, but if that was the intention then the execution was poor, and the commentary paper-thin.
There's a metafictional element of 1 Over X that I thought was handled poorly. Encountering that section, I was reminded of a quote from Homestuck which loosely states that metafictional elements, handled poorly, nullify the ability for readers to give a shit what's going on. I already previously had the strong impression that 1 Over X as a story was intentionally constructed so as to not have any plot-level single coherent explanation for "what's going on", but having a character basically turn to the camera and make a mockery of the idea of trying to construct a theory as to what's going on annihilated any remaining investment I had in what was happening. It's after this point in the story that 1 Over X turned mostly into a gorefest of loosely characterized and indistinct characters being slaughtered by monsters, plants, each other, so on. There's a lot of words spend on this and it's genuinely unclear to me whether we're meant to care at all what's going on.
Having now read most of his work, I feel like I've noticed a repetitive tendency in Bavitz's writing. Obviously part of any media analysis is identifying repeated motifs and attempting to derive meaning from them, but it seems to me like Bavitz has taken this fact and then in the interest of trying to have writing that invites analysis, never misses any chance he can to repeat something, some sentence, phrase or word (e.g. "striving" in CQ, "I like watching", a skinned face pinned to a wall, so on and so forth), even in situations where that repetition doesn't really seem to mean anything, or the connection is paper-thin. 1 Over X I think is the culmination of this kind of writing. There's a section in Bavitz's "Making of 1 Over X" post where he describes having finished writing it and questioning "What, exactly was the narrative underlying all the noise...?" He describes how he constructed a spreadsheet of repeated themes or motifs and then drew connections between the various random elements in the story, "which I was in some ways doing retroactively after I wrote it."
I don't think that I enjoy that kind of writing.
February 3, 2026
got a lotta pretty disparate thoughts about this that i can't quite 100% connect. I possibly did myself a disservice in powering through the latter half of this story during the heights of yet another covid fever i had to stomach. good grounds to justify a reread down the line though. anyway please allow me to start my review with some of those disparate thoughts in lieu of a proper introduction and we can maybe get to some broader talking points later.
do you at some point get so pissed about getting baited and switched you start wondering whether you should just mentally check yourself out a little? this feels like Bavitz doing an improvisational marathon on ways to fuck with the reader and characters alike. it's a dense block of tightly woven references (both to other works and to 1 Over X itself) and themes that builds up a delectable, rich literary canopy. i can't understate how incredibly impressive the second chapter is in retrospective, blending whatever it does well (i ain't finna snitchspoil) with its incredibly accurate portrayal of twitterposting. ok with this out of the way i think i can finally lock in and start tackling some specifics.
i previously mentioned really enjoying how Bavitz writes dialogue and character POVs, and this feels like an improvement on top of already solid foundations. which is good because the great moment-to-moment feel of reading 1 Over X did its job keeping me entertained throughout the story. Bavitz says about it "it builds slowly" and that is very much not an understatement. another thing that keeps the story engaging throughout its slow burn is this downright adversarial and ergodic flair it maintains while revealing itself. Enid is established early on as a less-than-reliable narrator, but the narration itself builds on that, constantly testing my boundaries of what and how much i am willing to swallow of any particular gimmick it feels like pulling off at the moment. i enjoyed this literary BDSM session a lot, but your mileage may easily vary. it doesnt take a single squint for me to see other people being put off by this.
i've struggled a few weeks after finishing this to really put my thoughts down about it, which feels like an intended part of the experience. ultimately, i guess the fact that i was willing to engage with that struggle in the first place is sign enough for me to settle on which side of the the divide between 4 and 5 stars i'll land on. because despite how much i gushed about how well this was written, it does have moments where i feel like it loses... me? it's hard to reconcile how much of that is my fault, given my feverish state at the time, and how much of it is that of the writing veering off into flavors and genres i am less keen on.
highly recommended stuff.
do you at some point get so pissed about getting baited and switched you start wondering whether you should just mentally check yourself out a little? this feels like Bavitz doing an improvisational marathon on ways to fuck with the reader and characters alike. it's a dense block of tightly woven references (both to other works and to 1 Over X itself) and themes that builds up a delectable, rich literary canopy. i can't understate how incredibly impressive the second chapter is in retrospective, blending whatever it does well (i ain't finna snitchspoil) with its incredibly accurate portrayal of twitterposting. ok with this out of the way i think i can finally lock in and start tackling some specifics.
i previously mentioned really enjoying how Bavitz writes dialogue and character POVs, and this feels like an improvement on top of already solid foundations. which is good because the great moment-to-moment feel of reading 1 Over X did its job keeping me entertained throughout the story. Bavitz says about it "it builds slowly" and that is very much not an understatement. another thing that keeps the story engaging throughout its slow burn is this downright adversarial and ergodic flair it maintains while revealing itself. Enid is established early on as a less-than-reliable narrator, but the narration itself builds on that, constantly testing my boundaries of what and how much i am willing to swallow of any particular gimmick it feels like pulling off at the moment. i enjoyed this literary BDSM session a lot, but your mileage may easily vary. it doesnt take a single squint for me to see other people being put off by this.
i've struggled a few weeks after finishing this to really put my thoughts down about it, which feels like an intended part of the experience. ultimately, i guess the fact that i was willing to engage with that struggle in the first place is sign enough for me to settle on which side of the the divide between 4 and 5 stars i'll land on. because despite how much i gushed about how well this was written, it does have moments where i feel like it loses... me? it's hard to reconcile how much of that is my fault, given my feverish state at the time, and how much of it is that of the writing veering off into flavors and genres i am less keen on.
highly recommended stuff.
February 3, 2026
It is hard to write a summary or analysis on a story all about the frantic attempts to find hidden meanings in patterns. Even that description of it's central theme risks being both a reductive shattering of a sacred mystery or a schizophrenic desperate grasping for meaning in a story that refuses to be understood. But it's a theme that "1 Over X" explores to a truly amazing level: weaving together so many ways to fear the privileging of the wrong data points, the need to burn away all the noise to stick to the bright truth, the desire for neat explanations and worship of mysteries, to do away with all that can't be trusted, to destroy AI and destroy modernity and destroy all that isn't your own narrative experience. It's a doozy, and it's one that I know I'll be rereading. Because despite it's mocking of the tagline to "never stop thinking," it is a book that demands you make connections, not to solve it, but to deepen your appreciation for the craft.
April 6, 2026
There is a hole in the wall.
4.3 stars. I struggled with the first half — I can deal with unreliable narrators, but almost lost patience as Enid contradicted herself on every other page. But the second half was a bloody wonderful rollercoaster, complete with a character who spends several pages explaining the plot at exactly the right time. Her explanation is only one of many, but I'm satisfied as long as I can anchor on something — it lets me relax and enjoy the blatant symbolism + sybaritic Bavitzism without constantly grasping for meaning, like floating in a sensory deprivation tank instead of letting every little motion jam you against a wall.
Must be read alongside Ao3 comments to get the full experience; people were reading at least five different books the whole way through and it's fun to watch the Extended Edition through the eyes of others.
4.3 stars. I struggled with the first half — I can deal with unreliable narrators, but almost lost patience as Enid contradicted herself on every other page. But the second half was a bloody wonderful rollercoaster, complete with a character who spends several pages explaining the plot at exactly the right time. Her explanation is only one of many, but I'm satisfied as long as I can anchor on something — it lets me relax and enjoy the blatant symbolism + sybaritic Bavitzism without constantly grasping for meaning, like floating in a sensory deprivation tank instead of letting every little motion jam you against a wall.
Must be read alongside Ao3 comments to get the full experience; people were reading at least five different books the whole way through and it's fun to watch the Extended Edition through the eyes of others.
March 25, 2026
Maybe this is the point, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that I just watched Bavitz laboriously construct a tightly interwoven narrative only to finally reveal that there wasn’t a real point to any of it, insinuate that it was a bit pedestrian of me to try to decipher a coherent meaning, and then set it on fire. That’s art, certainly, but what a chore!
I say all that, but I’ve given it 4 stars for being very good horror and because the AI stuff really works for me. A great read if you’re a gorehound or a large language model :)
I say all that, but I’ve given it 4 stars for being very good horror and because the AI stuff really works for me. A great read if you’re a gorehound or a large language model :)
July 27, 2026
It was… an interesting read, at least.
I remained quite obnoxious to pretty much all the horror elements – it does not really affect me – so I am probably not the target audience. The plot and the way it unfurls, however, is truly nice. It would deserve a re-read to grasp better its subtleties.
I remained quite obnoxious to pretty much all the horror elements – it does not really affect me – so I am probably not the target audience. The plot and the way it unfurls, however, is truly nice. It would deserve a re-read to grasp better its subtleties.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews