Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

124 reviews

lyzz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

I enjoyed this novel! I think I would have enjoyed it better if I was more experienced listening to science fiction/fantasy on audiobook. (This is also a genre I do not read a lot in general.) The narrator, Nicole Lewis, is spectacular and perfectly embodies the scrapiness of Cara.  The challenging part on audio for me was that the author does an excellent job of world building but you have to keep track of multiple dimensions and the same characters in different dimensions. If I could go back in time, I think I would have told me to listen to the book and then read the eBook to help everything stick in my mind. 
 
What I particularly liked about this book: 

• World building is imaginative and explores themes of racism, classism and homophobia.  
• I loved that the author let us explore this world before diving into the main plot. The plot unfolds slowly and this allows us to immerse ourselves in this world.  
• Interesting character development that is meaningful - especially in the Cara character.  
• There were some interesting support characters like Gene and Del that are also well-developed and contribute meaningfully to the story. 
• Cara's voice is strong in this book.  She is a bit sarcastic, humorous, pragmatic, a little idealistic, and scrappy.  I loved her.  

I do want to emphasize that I would 100% recommend this book to someone looking for a science fiction read.  I would caution them about listening on audiobook unless they have experience listening to SFF on audio and can follow a complex world with multiple characters.  I definitely think this is a book I'll reread to capture some of the details I missed this go-round.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Murder, and Drug abuse

Minor: Homophobia

immovabletype's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Deportation

Minor: Drug abuse, War, Sexual content, and Medical content

kingsteph's review

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Violence, Addiction, and Murder

Minor: War

chaoticquill's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

robin_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Vomit and Classism

sunmoonstars's review

challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse

Moderate: Classism and Racism

whitedaylilies's review

medium-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

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

szuum's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-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: Emotional abuse, Classism, Death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Homophobia

kat__z8's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

3.75

I admit the rating only happened because I had such a high expectation for this book, and it was partly my fault. I was expecting a head-spinning romance that withstood the trial of time and multiverses (sounds so corny but I can't help it), and a plot so intricately and cleverly planned, with a twist that will take my breath away. I kept waiting for the ultimate twist, for the romance to finally take place and for the pining to be more than a few flirtatious words, but those never came.
The romance, especially—while it did have a few passages that gave me the urge to cry—wasn't explored enough until the last few chapters. Cara and Dell had been pining for 6 years, but they never actually communicate about literally anything, they never interacted much and instead Cara is off to another world "fraternizing" with people I absolutely don't care about. But the romance between Cara and Dell is sweet, if anything. It was partly my fault for expecting more romance here, because this book has more of the plot, multiverses, and characters exploration than the romance. 
The overall concept is interesting enough, but I felt that the plot meandered a bit. While it was interesting to see the characters becoming different versions of people in other universe, it was simply too distracting and a bit convoluted, plus I didn't care enough about the side characters anyway.
Overall, still a nice and fun read if you're looking for a sci-fi book with a sapphic romance as a minor subplot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse

Minor: Blood, Classism, Death of parent, and Violence