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bookishwondergoth's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Cara is an excellent, flawed and deeply determined main character and I couldn’t help but root for her. She quite literally inhabits the space between worlds, not just by jumping between them, but also the city of Wiley and all its light-skinned, privileged wealthy inhabitants, and the darker-skinned, poorer inhabitants of Ashtown. Her confusion, guilt, disgust, pride and internalised classism is extremely well done; you can absolutely tell Micaiah Johnson studies this stuff, both at actual university and the university of life too.
All of the side characters, including the antagonists, were also really excellent.
The reason why I’ve rated this book 3/5 stars instead of 4/5 is that as a story, I was less interested in what was happening. It wasn’t exactly a struggle to read but I did still find it a little boring. And although there was a canonical reason as to why the worlds were all so similar, I would dearly have loved to see more unique worlds, and more numerous worlds on page in general. We primarily hang out on Earth 0 and Earth 175. Though Cara travels to other worlds, we don’t see much of her actually in them.
Overall this is a solid standalone about those who traverse worlds both in a science-fiction sense, and in a literal, social-mobility sense.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Grief, Classism, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Abandonment, Drug abuse, Gore, Addiction, and Gaslighting
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Terminal illness, and Infidelity
esimons18's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
- Awesome plot/concept!
- Some characters lacked substance, despite their relevance
- Queer love interest
- Dystopian classism
Moderate: Drug abuse, Classism, Murder, and Sexual violence
traa's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Murder, Death, Violence, War, Physical abuse, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Classism, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Abandonment, Child abuse, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, and Death of parent
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Vomit
jferguson1138's review
- 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
The book is set in a post apocalyptic world broken up into city states of haves and have-nots. Cara is a traverser, someone who travels across multiverses to gather data and resources. The big restriction on that travel is you can only travel across worlds if your other self in that world has already died. This being a post apocalyptic setting, she’s found a number of dark ways to die and is able to traverse into most worlds.
This book goes places with this dark take on the multiverse. There are loads of moments where you think this is just gonna go off a completely dark cliff, but honestly it was kept… tastefully dark. Murders with a code of honor type thing.
There is a ton of character development all over the place and I found the ending able to tie together all the strings better than I expected. It was a really solid book. Nicole Lewis did a really good job narrating the audiobook, giving personality and nuance to characters.
Graphic: Murder, Classism, Violence, and Physical abuse
blackcatkai's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
me: i dont like time travel
book: how about parallel universes?
me: .... go on
seriously, i didnt know how i was going to feel about this book going in as scifi is really not my go-to genre but i kept seeing it around and then my spouse told me how good it was so i finally gave it a try. and oh did Micaiah Johnson have me ENTHRALLED. this was fun, funny, shocking, stressful, and just wonderful. the pacing was just a smidge bit off for me in parts, but i am so glad i read it and i absolutely will read the next book when it comes out, thank you.
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Classism, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Body horror, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
Minor: Suicide and Grief
piphux's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Classism, Murder, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Vomit
larbster90's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Police brutality, Body horror, Car accident, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, Addiction, Classism, Drug abuse, Murder, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Gun violence, War, Dysphoria, and Sexual content
mgmotley's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Bullying, and War
gameoftomes's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Toxic relationship
Minor: Cultural appropriation, Deportation, Grief, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Child death, Violence, Biphobia, Death of parent, Death, and Classism
immovabletype's review against another edition
- 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
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