Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

37 reviews

brynalexa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This is my second read through in preparation for the authors next book. I loved it even more, even though I knew all the twists and turns it would make. A truly believable and horrible world with truly beautiful people. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Violence, War, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Hate crime, Racism, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, and Sexual content

lilybees's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Physical abuse

widowrites's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

This book absolutely blew me away. I love a complicated character who isn’t perfect and this story nails that. The premise itself is interesting and it’s executed brilliantly. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Murder

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicide, Vomit, and War

hybridhavoc's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolutely loved this one. It's not often that a sci-fi novel gets a really great premise and complex characters with complex relationships. This book delivers.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Drug use

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Deportation

Minor: Sexual content

nquinlan's review against another edition

dark hopeful medium-paced

• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Abandonment

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: War

leannanecdote's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Vomit, Trafficking, and Alcohol

meggiemeggie52's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

3.0

To be honest, I read this for a book club last year so I don't remember much about it, just that it was hard to follow at times and that I thought it was just okay. Not a repeat for me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse and Murder

Minor: Drug use

emily_mh's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• 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 was SO GOOD. So many people have loved this book and I really hoped I could be one of them, and I am! It has such such a great combination of plot, character, and theme, and the writing style was great: it was filled with some wry observations that either make you see things in a new light or perfectly put into words how you might already think about something. 

The story was gripping right from the off. It’s the kind of plot where you don’t really know where things are going to go, but not at all in a bad way. There are intriguing twists and some great pacing. I will say that the ending felt a little rushed, though. 

I really liked the MC Cara, who embodied the reluctant hero trope. She goes through ethical dilemmas throughout the book, torn between self-preservation and her moral compass. It was interesting seeing her perspective on these dilemmas, seeing the thought process behind her actions. Moreover, in Cara (and other characters) we see a key theme played out: how different circumstances (as seen on alternate Earths) can lead someone to become a different person. Cara gets to observe how one event happening, or not happening, could have impacted her character. And through this Cara questions if the opposite cannot also be true, that is, if different circumstances can have no impact on a person’s development, because there are people and situations we will always be drawn to due to our nature. This was really fascinating to think about. 

Another great theme was this idea of “the space between worlds”, an idea that crops up in so many places within the novel. For example, it is a physical liminal space when Cara is traversing, but it is also the space which Cara occupies as an Ashtown-born person working in Wiley City. The theme embodies how Cara feels more at home in the space between worlds than she does on said worlds themselves. 

I also thought the romance was a great touch. I loved the mutual pining and how oblivious Cara was with the whole thing. I do wish I had gotten more of an idea as to why Cara and Dell were attracted to one another; we are shown that they are, but I wanted to know the why. 

Overall this was a fantastic read and I’m excited for the potential companion novel! 

Rep: Black sapphic MC, Japanese-American sapphic LI, Ivorian-American SC 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Racism, and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

Minor: nuclear warfare, volcano