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lanidon's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
I'm conflicted about this book. Part one is so incredibly good, part two onward changes place to be political and familial intrigue. There's a lot of time spent humanizing versions of the MCs abusive ex. The plot is just different than I expected it wanted. There were threads that I LOVED but I wish more time was spent studying the main character than these evil powerful men I wasn't interested in.
It also feels like just a bit of a queer bait. Just a smidge. Part one has bits and pieces about her attraction to the love interest and dalliances with her in other worlds. That's dropped until nearly the very end where they ride off into the sunset together. Give me some yearning, give me some bonding. You gave me pages and pages about her abusive ex but nothing sweet to grasp onto with the actual romance!
It also feels like just a bit of a queer bait. Just a smidge. Part one has bits and pieces about her attraction to the love interest and dalliances with her in other worlds. That's dropped until nearly the very end where they ride off into the sunset together. Give me some yearning, give me some bonding. You gave me pages and pages about her abusive ex but nothing sweet to grasp onto with the actual romance!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Car accident, and Murder
linguisticali's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
It took me a while to find my footing, but after that I was hooked. Really brilliant with interesting characters and worldbuilding.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Drug abuse and Death of parent
lorie336's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
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
I love the element of traversing worlds especially knowing they are different, yet the same. Cara is such a smart, yet tough cookie. She is also willing to help create a better world for herself to ensure her survival as well as others. This was a bit confusing at first, but once I progressed it was easy, action packed, and fun. This does have some Sapphic romantic hints with witty flirting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder
just_one_more_paige's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
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? It's complicated
5.0
I’d seen a couple (though not many) reviews for this one saying that it was spectacular. And if you enjoy SFF, you know how hard it is to find a great standalone in the genre. Though I did recently read another really wonderful one, The Vanished Birds, if you are looking. Anyways, I joined the waitlist for it at the library and here we are.
Cara is a traverser. Able to travel between worlds because she has a unique characteristic that very few other share: she has died so many times. Since a person cannot traverse to another world where they are still alive, the fact that Cara has died on 372 other worlds, but not in this world, makes her an ideal candidate. So, she’s temporarily escaped her life in the wastelands and is living within the walls of the Wiley City. Cara spends years trying to fit in better in Wiley City, visiting her family in the wastes but feeling more and more out of place there as well, and flirting with her handler, Dell, who studiously remains as distant as ever. But when one of her few remaining selves dies (under questionable circumstances) in another world and Cara travels there for the first time, she gets embroiled in some serious multiverse evil and plotting. Plus, some of her own buried (at least, Cara thinks they’re buried) secrets are about to rise back up.
Well, hello to you, my gorgeous new favorite book! What a story, what an adventure, what world-building, what creativity and what searing social commentary! Beginning with some of the best opening lives I’ve read since those about Kell’s coat in ADSOM (and repeated, fantastically, in style/substance at the beginning of each subsequent section) and with phenomenal page-turning pacing all the way to the very end, this novel grabbed me, swept me up inside it, and (I can tell) is never going to let me go. Johnson walks a fine line perfectly, in making a world that resembles our own just enough to make the world-building easily digestible (important for a stand-alone, IMO), but with enough time spent developing its own attributes that it absolutely feels original and new. That mix of familiar and exotic is a aspect of sci-fi that, when done right, I cannot get enough of. Also, as far as the concept of the multiverse and the way its detailed here, I loved the clear explanations – enough to satisfy curiosity and create depth, but not so much that the story and characters (and my interest) get lost in the minutiae. Plus, the way that new mythology, grown to explain the new phenomena, is thrown in is something I will always love.
I liked the way that the “multiple selves in a single world” situation was dealt with and worked around, as well. I’m not into theoretical science/philosophy, so my personal investigation (as it were) in questioning those aspects was fairly limited, but Johnson did more than enough to satisfy my cursory questions re: potential plot holes. It was also so fascinating, the way each of the characters carried traits from world to world that were inherent to who they were, to their lives/stories, and yet the environments of each world developed those traits out in [slightly] different ways. That piece was so well written and complexly portrayed. So impressive. Definitely one of my favorite things about this book, and likely under-acknowledged, as it’s a subtle thing. As for the plot itself: I loved it. And Cara was a freaking awesome protagonist leading it. She had the perfect mix of reluctance and harshness juxtaposed with a sense of justice that, despite her best efforts, she couldn’t ignore. However, she is also no “chosen one” or “savior,” just a person with the right skills and connections in the right place to do something if she wanted to. But the choice to do so, or not, was always in her hands alone (and no one would have known, really, if she had done nothing). That’s something I don’t often see and I really appreciated. A last note about Cara, on a very personal level, her casual bisexuality was just really buoying to me, as a reader.
Finally, I want to mention a couple major themes in relation to my point earlier that Johnson’s social commentary is on point, discerning, and biting. Addressing social themes in familiar but foreign ways is a cornerstone of good sci-fi, in my opinion, and Johnson has shown that she’s a master at it. Primarily Johnson focuses in on class, and the welfare received by those of a “deserving” class to help keep them in that high position, while those of “lower” classes get less and are then blamed for the trouble when they attempt to create it for themselves is spot on. She explores this theme from faith-based, intergenerational wealth, careers/jobs, race and color, clothing/style, perceived intelligence and motivations, and more. And she is able to touch on the overt displays, as well as the internationalization of these beliefs, and the way those actions and assumptions perpetuate the system (from all perspectives). In addition, there is clear exploration of both external and interpersonal consequences of these class lines that began (as always) as arbitrary lines drawn to keep those with power in power. Phew. Cara’s role in this novel, both as a traverser of worlds and a Wiley City dweller from the wastelands (and, within that Ashtown and Rurals), takes the idea of being split between, of belonging nowhere and everywhere, to a whole new level. It’s not a new concept, but the dual-meaning of Johnson’s title, and the clear messages about the roles only Cara can play, because of the interwoven spaces she occupies. Crossing those arbitrary lines, from both sides, will be the only way to make progress, to bring down the powers that be, in whatever form they take (but always causing the same divides).
I don’t even know how to properly sum all this up. I feel like the review had so many words and yet did nothing to scratch the surface of how amazing this book was, how much ground it covered or how much I loved it! I loved all of it. So much! The characters were so compelling (Cara is everything!), the plot was mind-blowing and so well-paced, the commentary was fresh and profound, the cover is straight gorgeous (and perfect), the writing was just lovely. So. Much. Yes. I don’t even know what else to say. You know I’m about to go buy my own copy because it was too damn good for me to not have on my own shelves! Go get your hands on this book ASAP!
“The darkness is worth it, because I know what waits on the other side.”
“…human beings are unknowable. You can never know a single person fully, not even yourself. Even if you think you know yourself in your safe glass castle, you don’t know yourself in the dirt. Even if you hustle and make it in the rough, you have no idea if you would thrive or die in the light of real riches, if your cleverness would outlive your desperation.”
“It is possible to love a monster, even if you spend every day reminding yourself that they are a monster.”
“Sometimes, focusing on survival is necessary. Sometimes, it is just an excuse for selfishness.”
“‘Not a miracle [...] Science.’ / ‘What do you call science when it answers a prayer.’”
“If so many people are killed with so little effort, is it easier to pretend they aren’t lives? That everything is fine? [...] No, killing should take longer than a heartbeat. Murder should be unignorable, always.”
“But I think, I believe, there is a reason for those who live. Death can be senseless, but life never is.”
“Warlord, emperor, CEO [...] No difference.” (hot DAMN what a ‘rose by any other name’ moment)
“...because all of us who were told we were nothing will never stop trying to be everything.”
“...our dead are only weights on our backs when we won’t let them walk beside us, when we try to pretend they are not ours or they are not dead.”
“Rage is dirty fuel, but it burns hotter than grief ever could.”
“They say hunting monsters will turn you into one. That isn’t what’s happening now. Sometimes to kill a dragon, you have to remember that you breathe fire too. This isn’t a becoming; it’s a revealing. I’ve been a monster all along.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, and Violence
phoebereads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
5.0
The Space Between Worlds is a beautiful and clever sci/fi story with a fierce protagonist and a thrilling storyline. Johnson has created a story full of humanity set amidst worlds that are unfamiliar and yet not so hard to imagine. Cara's kaleidoscope of selves and of identities is brilliant to follow, and her character development through the story is a shining piece of this novel. This was a book I found hard to put down, drawn into the story immediately. I found its entire arc to be a great read, and it's a book I not only plan on recommending to others, but one I also anticipate I will pick up again for a re-read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Child death and Death of parent
kelecoo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
alayamorning's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Murder
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Dimensional travel is possible, but only if your doppelganger is dead. The MC travels to a world where her double was recently murdered, and the plot gets going in earnest from there. I was pleasantly surprised by how deliberate the pacing is, it doesn't rush to get us to that very important journey. Instead we linger in the setup, getting to know the hub world and at least one other before she goes to the plot-important one for the first time.
The MC is mostly a reliable narrator, but when she travels she can be very wrong about what’s happening in a particular world. This is used to its full advantage, creating subversion and surprise as she discovers mistakes in her assumptions and the new possibilities opened by those gaps. The plot which I thought would take the whole book to tell turned out to just be the first half before twisting all that was set up before to tell an even more interesting story. I would have been content with the story I thought I was getting, but I love what it turned out to be. This even included two of my favorite things: heists and interpersonal politics. So much of this book is built on understanding people, cultures, and how shifts in either between worlds change what can and cannot be done, what words to use, and how things will go down once they’re in motion.
The world-building (heh) is really good! It focuses on two main places and then gradually describes them by talking about how things (and people) are the same or different in the parallel worlds. It creates a feeling where every description of the background or a character is there for a reason. Would we normally care that this house is white? Maybe, maybe not, but if it’s a different color on most worlds and this time that indicates something important because of the knock-on effects of changes like [pick whatever spoiler you want], that makes it feel like the details matter. And, hey, even if you won’t remember what that house color was it still did its job and informed the world. This could have been and info-dumping nightmare of a book and instead it uses everything to make the worlds feel significant with its focus. It keeps the number of frequently referenced worlds low enough for the important ones to be memorable, but also giving little tidbits about ones we won’t actually get to see. I love parallel worlds and time travel stories and this was fantastic. The number of secondary characters whose variants I had to track was mercifully short, letting me enjoy the machinations without getting confused about which versions did or said which thing.
The backstory (and, increasingly, the main story) is chock-full of trauma, for the MC and most of the secondary characters as well. Check the CWs, because the book’s MC is dead on over 370 worlds and we find out many of the common reasons. It’s a steady drip of sometimes horrific details that fit the story and matter to current events, but none of the worlds are kind to children, and many of them were especially rough on the MC. It’s a great premise, and I appreciate how the book uses it to comment on the classism and racism inherent in a system which requires people who are dead elsewhere, which means they’re probably not privileged in the main world either. Little details like that are used really well throughout the book and I loved every minute of it.
The MC is mostly a reliable narrator, but when she travels she can be very wrong about what’s happening in a particular world. This is used to its full advantage, creating subversion and surprise as she discovers mistakes in her assumptions and the new possibilities opened by those gaps. The plot which I thought would take the whole book to tell turned out to just be the first half before twisting all that was set up before to tell an even more interesting story. I would have been content with the story I thought I was getting, but I love what it turned out to be. This even included two of my favorite things: heists and interpersonal politics. So much of this book is built on understanding people, cultures, and how shifts in either between worlds change what can and cannot be done, what words to use, and how things will go down once they’re in motion.
The world-building (heh) is really good! It focuses on two main places and then gradually describes them by talking about how things (and people) are the same or different in the parallel worlds. It creates a feeling where every description of the background or a character is there for a reason. Would we normally care that this house is white? Maybe, maybe not, but if it’s a different color on most worlds and this time that indicates something important because of the knock-on effects of changes like [pick whatever spoiler you want], that makes it feel like the details matter. And, hey, even if you won’t remember what that house color was it still did its job and informed the world. This could have been and info-dumping nightmare of a book and instead it uses everything to make the worlds feel significant with its focus. It keeps the number of frequently referenced worlds low enough for the important ones to be memorable, but also giving little tidbits about ones we won’t actually get to see. I love parallel worlds and time travel stories and this was fantastic. The number of secondary characters whose variants I had to track was mercifully short, letting me enjoy the machinations without getting confused about which versions did or said which thing.
The backstory (and, increasingly, the main story) is chock-full of trauma, for the MC and most of the secondary characters as well. Check the CWs, because the book’s MC is dead on over 370 worlds and we find out many of the common reasons. It’s a steady drip of sometimes horrific details that fit the story and matter to current events, but none of the worlds are kind to children, and many of them were especially rough on the MC. It’s a great premise, and I appreciate how the book uses it to comment on the classism and racism inherent in a system which requires people who are dead elsewhere, which means they’re probably not privileged in the main world either. Little details like that are used really well throughout the book and I loved every minute of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Racism
Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, and Child death
CW for colonialism, racism, homophobia, gaslighting, confinement, child abuse (backstory), addiction (backstory), child death (not depicted), domestic abuse, violence, gore, blood, torture, major character death, death.puzzledbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, and Blood
malloryfitz's review against another edition
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