A review by dominiquediane
This World Does Not Belong to Us by Natalia García Freire

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Lucas returns to his childhood home like an insect, crawling through the weeds of his mother’s dilapidated garden and scuttling through the still-loose dirt of his father’s grave. A moth, he is drawn to the lit windows of the home he was cast away from. He watches, as with multi-faceted eyes, the rot that was allowed to seep within the walls and linger there, mixed with his memories of the home that used to be his. But it no longer belongs to him — or even to what left inside who he could call family. But, he has learned, it also doesn’t belong to the dark strangers his father brought home. They may still wander the rooms and hallways, filling the air with their putrid, hot breath, but not for much longer. Lucas has returned after a long communion with the damp, dark soil of the earth and carries on his lips a holy confession, spoken to him from the bellies of worms and the fetid breaths of arachnids - this world belongs not to any beast of the earth or fowl of the air… it belongs to the ones that creepeth and crawleth below. 

Natalia Garcia Freire has tackled the unsettling elements of horror with extreme skill. The words and the story flow like poetry. I was drawn in and comforted by the breathtaking prose, even as the horror unfolded across the page. Because you learn early on that Lucas hasn’t returned to play house with these now-unwelcome strangers. 

The horror elements blend a tangle of earth, insects, and the dark purity of nature. Lucas has found comfort in such things and now craves he damp, earthy smells and the cool grit of fresh dirt. And once he finishes what he has come to do, to the dirt he will return. 

I cannot recommend this novel enough and I will be looking forward to reading much more from this author!