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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.
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."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and War
mar's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
o|-<
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Homophobia, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
anaguana's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and War
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
internationalreads's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Fire/Fire injury
malloryfitz's review
dark
reflective
tense
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Premise- (3.5/5) Alternate universes are such a cool concept. I mean, I never want to get deep into the science and technicalities of it, but I think it always has a lot of potential. Including here! The parallel universes coupled with the mystery-plot was definitely intriguing for me, though it's not exactly my usual genre.
Characters- (4/5) Cara was a really interesting protagonist, especially because we got to see her thoughts and ruminations on the other versions of herself. She was clever and pithy and really self-reflective without ever being weepy or melodramatic or too meta about it. And it was so fascinating to see her relationships with her family, friends, and enemies across different worlds. It really opened those relationships up to deeper depths. It also raised a lot of interesting thought about nature/nurture, and whether people can change, and how much they're shaped by their circumstances. Wrestles with those questions a lot, and Cara's voice was really strong for that.
Plot- (3/5) The thing was, I liked the alternate world plot a lot more than the "actual" plot that the book ended with. The alternate world plot was just a lot more interesting to me than the Earth-0 plot, which was well done, just didn't hold my attention as much. Maybe it was just because I liked the way Johnson played with the idea of a world that's almost yours--if a few things changed that had major shifting consequences. Like I said, the Earth-0 plot, which ended up being the main plot for the second half of the book was well constructed, I just didn't like it as much.
World- (5/5) I really enjoyed Johnson's world building. It wasn't too technical, but the subtleties that were developed between parallel universes gave the worlds a lot of depth. I also liked that we got a good understanding each sector of the world--the city, the Rurals, the Wastes, the desert. And Cara's extensive experience was the perfect way to draw attention to the differences between those settings.
Writing- (4/5) Johnson's writing wasn't flowery, but she had some really poignant lines. And she created a lot of dialogue about important themes like whose lives matter the most, the way class dynamics can play out, and the violence and trauma of growing up in really terrible situations. She was also able to get the book title in there a lot.
Overall- (3.9/5) The Space Between Worlds was a fascinating character study, thanks to the multiverse concept and the protagonist's unique position between these universes. The world building and characters went hand in hand for this book, building on each other to create many-faceted characters and raise questions about how circumstances can shape our personalities. There were a lot of other themes Johnson was able to incorporate too, and Cara was a great protagonist to bring them to light. I did find the main plot to be less compelling than the initial mystery plot, but the character portraits were excellent, and I loved exploring the differences between the parallel universes.
Characters- (4/5) Cara was a really interesting protagonist, especially because we got to see her thoughts and ruminations on the other versions of herself. She was clever and pithy and really self-reflective without ever being weepy or melodramatic or too meta about it. And it was so fascinating to see her relationships with her family, friends, and enemies across different worlds. It really opened those relationships up to deeper depths. It also raised a lot of interesting thought about nature/nurture, and whether people can change, and how much they're shaped by their circumstances. Wrestles with those questions a lot, and Cara's voice was really strong for that.
Plot- (3/5) The thing was, I liked the alternate world plot a lot more than the "actual" plot that the book ended with. The alternate world plot was just a lot more interesting to me than the Earth-0 plot, which was well done, just didn't hold my attention as much. Maybe it was just because I liked the way Johnson played with the idea of a world that's almost yours--if a few things changed that had major shifting consequences. Like I said, the Earth-0 plot, which ended up being the main plot for the second half of the book was well constructed, I just didn't like it as much.
World- (5/5) I really enjoyed Johnson's world building. It wasn't too technical, but the subtleties that were developed between parallel universes gave the worlds a lot of depth. I also liked that we got a good understanding each sector of the world--the city, the Rurals, the Wastes, the desert. And Cara's extensive experience was the perfect way to draw attention to the differences between those settings.
Writing- (4/5) Johnson's writing wasn't flowery, but she had some really poignant lines. And she created a lot of dialogue about important themes like whose lives matter the most, the way class dynamics can play out, and the violence and trauma of growing up in really terrible situations. She was also able to get the book title in there a lot.
Overall- (3.9/5) The Space Between Worlds was a fascinating character study, thanks to the multiverse concept and the protagonist's unique position between these universes. The world building and characters went hand in hand for this book, building on each other to create many-faceted characters and raise questions about how circumstances can shape our personalities. There were a lot of other themes Johnson was able to incorporate too, and Cara was a great protagonist to bring them to light. I did find the main plot to be less compelling than the initial mystery plot, but the character portraits were excellent, and I loved exploring the differences between the parallel universes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, and Medical trauma
tachyondecay's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The idea of the multiverse is captivating, no? The thought that there are infinitely-many yous out there, that at any moment the choice you make diverges you from them a little more. I do so love parallel-universe fiction and other, similar, world-hopping stories, so I was excited for The Space Between Worlds. The fact it has a queer protagonist of colour? Even better! Indeed, Micaiah Johnson isn’t just telling a multiverse thriller here. This is a postcolonial novel about not belonging, about belonging only when you are useful, and how you calibrate your life when that is all you know how to do.
Cara is one of a small number of people who are useful to the Eldridge corporation as traversers, world-walkers. She is useful because she has died in most of the nearly 400 worlds that the corporation can access. She travels to these worlds to collect information that could enrich Eldridge. But Cara has secrets—for one thing,
Cara’s secret identity is revealed early in the book (this is why it’s a minor spoiler) and is what got me hooked on the whole plot. Up until that point, I wasn’t sure what Johnson was playing with here—there are so many directions a multiverse story can go in! When she revealed
Indeed, Cara is a great example of an unlikable protagonist. She is very self-interested and spiky, a result of her rough and difficult upbringing, so she doesn’t fit into the mould of lovable heroine that we might want from a book like this. I like this choice by Johnson, just as I like that Johnson doesn’t shy away from social commentary about the way we (white people and corporations) use Black and brown bodies as labour to build our cities and businesses while simultaneously impoverishing and punishing those same bodies.
There’s also a queer romance hiding in here, although to be honest it was developed in a somewhat slapdash way with far too much of a helping of exposition. That would be my complaint about this book: the characters are cool, but the plotting that brings them together doesn’t always satisfy me. After electrifying me for the first few acts, the final act was convoluted and even anticlimactic.
In the end, I was left wanting more. More use of the multiverse and traversing. More poignant scenes between characters. More careful plotting and exposition in a way that didn’t leave everything so obvious. The Space Between Worlds is intriguing and enjoyable, yet there was something about it that didn’t quite gel for me.
Originally posted at Kara.Reviews.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Death
Minor: Sexual content
alas_aly's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I don't read a lot of sci-fi, mostly because I don't know what I like in the genre. One thing that I know that I do like is multiverse stories which is the premise of this story. I know that all or most science fiction stories are allegories and this one is no exception. That being said, it is done with such a deft touch I could easily see this being a classic that students read and study in schools. There are lines in here are that are just gut punches but you didn't get to sit with them because the narrative keeps moving forward. I really appreciate that the story both gives you beautiful writing but doesn't force you to slow down and dwell in it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Sexual content, Trafficking, and Grief
Minor: Child death and Cursing
caseythereader's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
📚 Wow, what a premise! Multiverse travel, but make it hinge on race and class. If being dead in many worlds makes you a good traverser, then the poor and oppressed who are more likely to die are the best traversers, not the rich and privileged.
📚 Casual, built-in queerness, but it's not a coming out story.
📚 Several excellent twists, some of which I did not see coming.
📚 The writing is just superb. Excellent dialogue, and I could envision the world perfectly.
📚 I'll follow Micaiah Johnson into any world she creates.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction and Drug abuse
Minor: Sexual content