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corinnereads7'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
Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence
totallyshelfaware's review against another edition
It's got an excellent premise, wonderful writing, eloquent exploration of capitalism, class and power struggles, and honestly everything I normally gravitate towards. But it's a bit heavy on the domestic abuse and toxic relationship front, so be prepared for that going in.
I hope to be able to pick this up again sometime in the future.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Drug abuse
aardwyrm'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, Toxic relationship, Gore, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Child death
paxson'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? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Addiction, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Panic attacks/disorders
blissofalife'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? No
Moderate: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse
alayamorning'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Genocide, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
malloryfitz's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, and Sexual content
esmithumland's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Child death and Child abuse
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content
bookishbutch's review
- 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: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Homophobia
lilifane's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I didn't know much about this book when I started reading it, only that it takes place in a world where the multiverse is confirmed and where it's possible to travel between the different earths.
Cara, the protagonist, is one of the few people who get the chance to experience this, because there is one catch: you have to be dead on the other earth, to be able to survive the journey to it. And from the 380 worlds that are similar enough to travel to, Cara is dead on all but 8. So she is hired by the inventor of the technology that makes traversing possible to travel to other worlds and gather information on them, intel that will help her own world to learn and thrive. But then she makes a discovery that changes everything.
I enjoyed the first half of the book a lot. It's a little much at the beginning but the worldbuilding is phenomenal, the cast is diverse and I loved Cara's voice from the start. She is such an amazing complex character. She is strong, smart, ambitious, fragile, makes bad decisions. You get frustrated with her sometimes but she also surprises you when you expect it the least. The writing is beautiful and full of details that get important later. The plot is unexpected, it switches between slow and fast pace, between action and contemplation (it gets a little generic in the second half though). For me it was never about the plot. It's about the world and it's rules, about the character developments, about the struggles between what is right and what is easy to do, about fittng in vs. belonging. I really liked all the characters, even the villains, because due to the multiple earths and versions, you get to know a lot of different aspects of them. I loved the sibling dynamics throught the whole book, the found families, even the spiritual aspects which fit surprisingly well with everything. And then there is this slow burn wlw subplot...
It's really hard for me to describe the book because I haven't read anything like it before and there is so much to think about and discuss. And even though I think the second half was weaker than the first half, the ending was just perfect for me.
Graphic: Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use