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widowrites's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Body horror and Classism
Minor: Sexual content, Child death, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Addiction
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Murder, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent
Minor: War, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Child death, and Suicide
secre's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is a book that is both poignant and entertaining. It's also beautifully written. Johnson builds up the worlds beautifully, with each change potentially having a ripple effect that has long lasting effects. Along with the world building, the characterisations are exceptionally done and the romance angle was enough in the background to not niggle at me. No problems with queer romance, I just find any romance that takes over the story to be annoying. I particularly appreciated how real many of the side characters were, when they could have just faded into the background almost anonymously.
All in all, I really enjoyed this and will certainly seek out more of Micaiah Johnson's work. I felt it was a clever narrative that drew on themes of racial and social inequalities and disparities without standing on a soap box yelling about them. The characters were lively and interesting and I was genuinely invested in their well-being. And the narrative was interesting and unexpected at points, without ever having to rely on sudden shock twists without build up.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free review copy of this title.
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Death of parent and Murder
Minor: Drug abuse
shedsley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Minor: Drug abuse
roxanned's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The concept of the different worlds and that some realities are closer to Earth Zero's reality and some are very different from it is a concept I like a lot. To learn about different realities and what could have been is very interesting in my opinion. The world building in this book is not as pronounced as I would have hoped though. So there are some things I don't fully understand or wish I had more info on
Another thing I like is that in every world some characteristics are more ingrained than others. And when taking the alternate selves of a character into account, every character is not entirely good or bad.
This is mainly a sci-fi with a dash of sapphic romance.
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, Classism, and Death of parent
Minor: Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Blood
yourbookishbff's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Deportation, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Drug use
Minor: Sexual content
looseleafellie's review
5.0
My favorite book is This Is How You Lose the Time War, and I picked up The Space Between Worlds because it seemed similar. It’s a short-ish sci-fi book with alternate universes, sapphic yearning, and evil organizations to thwart.
However, The Space Between Worlds is more character-focused and contained. I loved how none of the characters — including Cara — are all good or all bad, especially when their alternate selves come into play. The book explores how your background and relative privilege can shape your personality and motivations, even if you’re technically the same person, which was very interesting. The romantic tension between Cara and Dell weaves throughout, but as a side plot to the main story.
Even in 330-ish pages, the world drew me in. The setting is grounded in the neighboring cities of Ashtown and Wiley City: one an impoverished community of survivors, the other a high-tech utopia (for those who have citizenship). While I expected a wider scale, the focused setting strengthened the book by allowing for exploration of the themes in a confined space.
One drawback of the short length is I found the ending a bit rushed. When I had 30 pages left, I thought, “they have to end all this in 30 pages?” I still enjoyed the ending, but would have liked extra time to sit in the emotions and feel things out more.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I think it’s great for fans of This Is How You Lose the Time War — or people who like character-focused stories about alternate universes in general.
CWs: Gore, violence, death, domestic abuse, classism, and mentions of drug addiction, homophobia, child neglect, and suicide.
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Classism
Minor: Drug abuse, Homophobia, Child abuse, and Suicide
nquinlan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Abandonment, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, and Classism
Minor: War
whichwitch's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Physical abuse, and Blood
Minor: Drug abuse and Suicide
genizah's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Violence and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Homophobia and Drug abuse