Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Space Between Worlds

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

98 reviews

banrions's review

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

I NEED EVERYONE I KNOW TO READ THIS BOOK AND TALK TO ME ABOUT IT.

I’m gonna be thinking about this book for fucking weeks. This is such a perfect amalgamation of things specifically designed to HURT ME and draw me into the story which i ducking devoured in like a day and a half. If I had had time, i would have read this in a single setting. I just… I don’t even know what to SAY yet about how I feel about this—I feel fucking everything. I adore Cara as a protagonist, she felt like a punch to the gut, a mirror held up at your worst and most uncomfortable moment, a tight almost painful hug, I just… I love her. I love her. I love her. I loved being inside of her head, I loved seeing her with her sister, with Dell, fighting against Nik Nik and Adra, and walking through the infinite worlds. I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS BECAUSE IT HAS RENDERED ME PRETTY MUCH INCOHERENT.

So, bullet points:

-I fucking LOVE the way they bring in parallel universes to this. It is one of my favorite tropes and concepts to explore and I really love the way it was in this story.

-I shall reiterate, I LOVE CARA AS A PROTAGONIST

-I also fucking LOVE dell, and their relationship

-I also fucking ADORE Esther and the sister relationship with Cara.

-I love the exploration of class and capitalism and the environment that is peppered into this story about world hopping

-I love the prose in this. Several lines hit me like a gut punch, some of them made me groan out loud and then get yelled at by my mother, the single highest praise I can give.

I want to read everything this author ever writes and I want to read this book again about 8 million times.

Content Warnings

mar's review

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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

anaguana's review against another edition

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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

infinitezest's review

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adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.5

Content Warnings

taliahsbookshelf's review

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adventurous challenging 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? Yes

5.0

This. Book. Blew. My. Mind.

The premise, the plot, the characters, all of it fits together in this super intricate way. It's easy to follow but it's not easy to anticipate what's coming next.

I can't pinpoint the exact moment when I was reading that I went "Oh, this is what good writing is," but I can tell you I knew it. The whole time, I was engaged with the plot, I was invested in the characters and their journey, and I was intrigued by all of the challenges. Every time I put it down to take a break or go for a walk or get a snack, I couldn't stop thinking about it. To me, that's a sign of good book. And this? This was definitely a good book.

Although there is some worldbuilding that I felt could have been expanded to make this a duology, Micaiah Johnson crafted a world that feels eerily realistic and having a simple standalone definitely worked out.

While this does contain a romance, it's not the main plot of the book, and only serves to further character development of everyone involved. That being said, though, I was invested in the romance and was rooting for it to work

so I'm glad it did

. Bonus points: the romance is sapphic and the main character is an unlabeled (in the book) queer woman (most likely bisexual).

I will let you know: This isn't a YA novel. Although it doesn't contain any graphic scenes, the messaging and the divide between good and evil are incredibly subtle, though very power. I think younger readers could pick this up and would absolutely enjoy it, but marketing it as anything other than an adult sci-fi would be disingenuous to Micaiah Johnson's writing.

Favorite quotes:

"Even worthless things can become valuable once they become rare."(5)

"Death can be senseless, but life never is."(191)

Content Warnings

shannonigans322's review

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adventurous challenging 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

3.0

I'll be honest: If I wasn't reading this on a coworker's recommendation, I probably would've DNF'd midway through due to the dark and violent nature of the plot. I'm glad that I carried on, but I definitely recommend researching the Content Warnings before diving in if you find yourself having a grey day. I will end this brief review with the note I sent my colleague upon finishing: "Could've been gayer."

Content Warnings

spacebot3000's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.5

This is an amazing book - not only because of the premise and the world building, but also because of the complex character dynamics. There is so much subtlety in the way the characters are developed, and every single character is brought to life. Also, the way the parallel universes are set up is very unique and intriguing; I can't think of any other story that uses a system like this. This book does not sacrifice characters for plot or vice versa - both are so interesting and well-written that I can't think of a way to make it any better.

This book is definitely worth reading but you do have to be in the right space for it, since there is challenging content (see the content warnings). The content did contribute a lot to character development and plot, and I understand why it needed to be present.

Content Warnings