Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

22 reviews

blackcatkai's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

CW: Body horror, Murder, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Classism, Blood, Medical content, Addiction, Death of parent, Toxic relationships, Suicide, Grief

me: i dont like time travel
book: how about parallel universes?
me: .... go on

seriously, i didnt know how i was going to feel about this book going in as scifi is really not my go-to genre but i kept seeing it around and then my spouse told me how good it was so i finally gave it a try. and oh did Micaiah Johnson have me ENTHRALLED. this was fun, funny, shocking, stressful, and just wonderful. the pacing was just a smidge bit off for me in parts, but i am so glad i read it and i absolutely will read the next book when it comes out, thank you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Classism, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide and Grief

larbster90's review

adventurous reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Body horror, Car accident, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, Addiction, Classism, Drug abuse, Murder, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Gun violence, War, Dysphoria, and Sexual content

lasersheith's review

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Body horror

Minor: Gun violence

kaitlinnoodles's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Classism, Body horror, Gore, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Colonisation, Sexual content, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Torture, Abandonment, Child abuse, Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, and Drug abuse

ronjaorsomething's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book so much. The characters were very diverse in so many ways (race, sexuality, religion and class being the main ones). And the book managed to bring up societal issues in a really good way. I also liked the plot twists and how genuinely unpredictable the whole book was.

AND THE ENDING OMG it was perfect. The way it was very much a happy ending but not at all the way you'd expect. I was so happy that Cara ended up with Dell but still worked in Ash.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, War, Suicide, and Addiction

manicpixl's review

challenging emotional tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and War

evenstr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Drug abuse

Minor: Homophobia and Gun violence

paperbrownies's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

- lgbtqiap+, adult, sff, sci-fi, multiverse, world travelling, doppelgangers, royalty, badass mc, follows a one of a kind romance, quietly revolutionary!!, 
- f|f
- black mc, japanese coded li, nonbinary side character using they/them pronouns

HOLY ShIT!! this was exceptional!! 🤩 
plot, characters, world building, the writing, the pace 5/5 
the space between worlds is a delicious exploration of power and desire, to exist and to fight for you believe is right. it feels like one of those books that smacks you in the head with the harshness of reality despite it being a scifi book, with characters for whom i truly cared, and a story i kept thinking about, days after i finished reading the book!!
i'd be doing an injustice to this review (idk if you’d call it that bc this is just me shouting at you to go read this book) i did not mention the writing bc it was Beautiful and left me open like a raw wound!! 🤌 
also the romance is top tier!! it doesnt take up a major portion of the book and is just the right amount of perfect, bittersweet and hopeful!! 
YALL NEED TO GO READ THIS BOOK RN!!!

-cw: brief mention of an off-page murder, blood, violence, on-page death of a character, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, brief mention of drowning, child abuse, panic attack, grief, off-page death of loved ones, verbal abuse, detailed description of injury

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Murder, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death

Minor: Gun violence

likeactualsoulmates's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me with a free ebook in exchange for my honest review!

Let me just preface this by saying I went into this knowing very little because I KNEW I would love it. So when I read in the first chapter that it was a book about the multiverse and people were able to traverse them I was hooked. For the first few chapters, I was indeed bored, but as soon as we got to a huge revelation about Caramenta's life and being I couldn't stop reading from there. So if you're reading this and the first few chapters seem dull, give it a few more and see how invested the plot twists make you.

We meet a character absolutely selfish and fighting for their well-being, and it honestly is off-putting. I wanted to know more about how this person ended up valuing their benefit so strongly over others, and learn I did. Because many of Cara's character traits that seem offputting at first glance made so much sense once put in perspective with her character arc. The author did such a good job making a believable character reaction to her awful situation, I don't know if anything different would have felt right. Of course, Cara would value self-preservation at the point we meet her, and we get to go on her character arc in this book. 

What really threw me off though was how free form the plot was, which after having read it all I believe is what best fits how to tell this story. But for a long, while we had no real end goal, we had just met these characters and we're going along on a ride with them. Slowly at after the mid-way point, things get set in motion and then is when we get our end goal. Once I learned to let go of reaching for an overarching plot and just enjoyed this ride with these characters I really started enjoying this book. Without getting into spoilers, there were many molar dilemmas and genuinely awful situations presented to our characters and we got to see all their reactions and what consequences their actions had.

If you enjoy sci-fi books with a darker theme and don't mind some gore, I would definitely recommend this book!


Now I'd like to make a shortlist with all the quotes I highlighted for this book.

• "It shames me more than it shames them, but it does shame us both."
• "I am always pretending, always wearing costumes but never just clothes."
• "Maybe it's just easier to think something is impossible than to try."
• "A rotating black hole does not collapse to a dot. That's the old-fashioned thinking. It collapses to a ring, a ring of neutrons. And if you fall through the ring of neutrons vertically, you wind up in Wonderland. You wind up on the other side of forever." -Michio Kaku
• "That was true power. Not to kill a man, but to kill a man in front of his family and force them to agree you did not."
• "You can't ever know another person, which is why you should never admire anyone."
• "Sometimes, focusing on survival is necessary. Sometimes, it is just an excuse for selfishness."
• " "A fallen angel is a demon.", "A being who can enact great change, either way." "
• "What does it mean to crave something toxic?"
• "Sometimes you have to bleed to know you're human."
• "Somehow using someone's need to keep them in line is less awful than using fear."
• "The only due powerful men recognize is a life- in service or in sacrifice."
• "Dear Brother from another time, today some stars gave in to the black around them & i knew it was you." -Danez Smith
• This is grief because a powerful man killed someone I love but will never see consequences."
• "Our dead are only weights on our backs when we won't let them walk beside us, when we try to pretend they are ours or they are not dead."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Child death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Cursing, Death of parent, Sexual content, Gore, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Grief, Violence, War, Addiction, Gun violence, and Terminal illness

massivepizzacrust's review

adventurous dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

I love all of the ideas in this book but the writing dragged for me. 

That's basically my whole thought but still, I think the premise, the setting, the relationships between the characters were great. The discussion of racism in this setting was really great, I especially liked the detail about Wileyites appropriating Ashtown fashion without understanding any of the meaning behind it as I don't see that mentioned as much in fantasy.

The plot was good but didn't really surprise me or pull me in and I found it a little hard to get through the writing at times, especially in the long section on a different world. I don't really know what I needed that this book didn't give me, but I just didn't fall in love with any part of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Cultural appropriation, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Death of parent and Gun violence