Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

13 reviews

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

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Content Warnings

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

tangleroot_eli's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

It's only March, but the books I read for the rest of 2024 will have a hard fight to unseat this one as my favorite of the year.

Johnson's worldbuilding is exquisite. I got attached to her characters within paragraphs of their introductions. Her portrayals of classism, racism, and colonialism felt like constant gut-punches. If Spouse weren't waiting to read it before we have to return this copy to the library, I might've flipped right back to the beginning and started reading it again the moment I finished it.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Child abuse, Addiction, Homophobia, Violence, Vomit, Child death, Confinement, Medical content, Racism, Death of parent, Deportation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Kidnapping, Suicide, Gun violence, War, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Miscarriage

Graphic: Environmental degradation Minor: Whorephobia, Child labor

prosenheim's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, War, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: Deportation, Gore, Child abuse, Addiction, and Abandonment

Minor: Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, Lesbophobia, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, and Suicide

athnyx230's review

reflective tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, War, and Blood

Minor: Miscarriage

marioosa517's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Grief, War, and Gun violence

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Cursing

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 

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

Minor: nuclear warfare, volcano

gameoftomes's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

I absolutely loved this book. It’s a stellar scifi novel about the multiverse and about identity. How different circumstances change the choices we might make and how to know someone to their core in spite of their multiversal selves. 

Cara is really smart, you get to see her thought process. It never feels like the author is just telling when she’s doing this. It’s so interesting to be in Cara’s head, her decisions always make sense with her character. Cara is wayyyy to hard on herself throughout the book though, but it checks out with her past that includes the death of her parents, a toxic and abusive relationship, and the horrible conditions of the place she grew up in. 

Great plot twists throughout the book. 3 big ones in the first 100 pages. The plot twists are spaced well, with foreshadowing and good writing that makes the twists make perfect sense within the story. 

Fully fledged science fiction world, never feels like info-dumping, it feels like discovery the way Micaiah Johnson writes it. I loved being absorbed into the world. 

I thought this was YA based on the cover, but it’s adult science fiction even though there is no gratuitous descriptions of violence and no explicit sex scenes. The protagonist is 26 and the plot is more complex then typical YA scifi, which tends to focus more on character and/or world building than plot. 

10/10 for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Toxic relationship

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Deportation, Grief, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Child death, Violence, Biphobia, Death of parent, Death, and Classism

hngisreading's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Death, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Addiction and Drug abuse

Minor: Abandonment, Child death, and Miscarriage

readerette's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.75

Aside from a few moments where I really didn't believe/need the actions of certain characters (

Micheal becoming a runner, Adam not killing Cara, Dell bringing the collar to the burial

), this was a great story with relatable characters and a fascinating world with just enough detail. The first twist gave the story depth. Warm and engaging sci fi that also dives into some of the complexities of race/origin and how they impact one's lot in life.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Child death, Classism, Drug use, Grief, Miscarriage, Murder, Death, Infidelity, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, and Child abuse

emmagrace's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Grief, Addiction, Car accident, Death, Drug use, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Gore, Death of parent, and Miscarriage