Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

148 reviews

lilybees's review

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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


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deetabz's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75


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talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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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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hybridhavoc's review against another edition

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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.

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pferdina's review

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challenging dark sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Traveling between worlds, Cara also translates between her people in Ashtown and her coworkers in Wiley City. 

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rheagoveas's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.25


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tangleroot_eli's review

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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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sakeriver's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

It’s always surprising—pleasantly so—to read a story in a familiar subgenre that feels like something you’ve never read before. Multiverse stories all (or almost all) have in common an exploration of identity, of what makes us is. And this one does that, of course, but it stands out for the distinctive voice of its protagonist, and the way she moves not just between worlds, but within the world she inhabits.

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crownoflaurel's review

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • 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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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

5.0

5 ⭐ CW: violence, death, murder, abuse, sex work, suicidal ideation 

The Space Between Worlds by Michiah Johnson is a dystopian scifi story that is gripping and brutal. One of my friends has been bugging me to read this, and I finally got around to it. Let's just say this friend is two for two in the scifi recs. 

Earth has figured out that multiverses do exist, and Adam Bosch has created a way to traverse them. The catch is that in order to travel to these other Earths, your doppelganger has to have already died. We follow Cara, a traverser that is special, because out of the 300 and some Earths, she has died in most of them. 

As Cara traverses these different versions of Earth, she meets the same people living different lives, but discovers there are a lot of commonalities. Every world has a Wiley City, a walled city for the rich and elite progressives that denies access to those living in Ashtown. Ashtown, where Cara is originally from, is desolate and full of violence. When Cara starts to question why no other Earths have discovered how to travel, she finds herself enmeshed in corporate sabotage involving the multiverse. 

This was such a brutal read, but it was also so beautifully written. We learn so much about Cara on Earth Zero as well as a lot about her other selves. We also get a thread about her being in love with her distant handler, Dell, but that isn't what it seems either. So much sapphic pining. I loved seeing Cara's character growth and her growing morals all while being tough and ruthless. There is some nonbinary representation on the side, but it was nice to see how it was integrated into the world. 

I don't want to give too much away, but it's definitely worth the read if you were a fan of This is How You Lose the Time War (with less romance focus). 

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