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talonsontypewriters'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: Death, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Murder, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent
Minor: War, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Child death, and Suicide
tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
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.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, and Classism
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Child abuse, Addiction, Homophobia, Violence, Vomit, Child death, Confinement, Medical content, Racism, Death of parent, Deportation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Kidnapping, Suicide, Gun violence, War, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Miscarriage
Graphic: Environmental degradation Minor: Whorephobia, Child laborprosenheim's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, War, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Classism
Moderate: Deportation, Gore, Child abuse, Addiction, and Abandonment
Minor: Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, Lesbophobia, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, and Suicide
thenextbookdilemma'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: Domestic abuse, Classism, Gore, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Child death, Suicide, Addiction, Child abuse, and Lesbophobia
looseleafellie's review against another edition
5.0
My favorite book is This Is How You Lose the Time War, and I picked up The Space Between Worlds because it seemed similar. It’s a short-ish sci-fi book with alternate universes, sapphic yearning, and evil organizations to thwart.
However, The Space Between Worlds is more character-focused and contained. I loved how none of the characters — including Cara — are all good or all bad, especially when their alternate selves come into play. The book explores how your background and relative privilege can shape your personality and motivations, even if you’re technically the same person, which was very interesting. The romantic tension between Cara and Dell weaves throughout, but as a side plot to the main story.
Even in 330-ish pages, the world drew me in. The setting is grounded in the neighboring cities of Ashtown and Wiley City: one an impoverished community of survivors, the other a high-tech utopia (for those who have citizenship). While I expected a wider scale, the focused setting strengthened the book by allowing for exploration of the themes in a confined space.
One drawback of the short length is I found the ending a bit rushed. When I had 30 pages left, I thought, “they have to end all this in 30 pages?” I still enjoyed the ending, but would have liked extra time to sit in the emotions and feel things out more.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I think it’s great for fans of This Is How You Lose the Time War — or people who like character-focused stories about alternate universes in general.
CWs: Gore, violence, death, domestic abuse, classism, and mentions of drug addiction, homophobia, child neglect, and suicide.
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Classism
Minor: Drug abuse, Homophobia, Child abuse, and Suicide
katequiet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, War, Child abuse, and Classism
whichwitch'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
4.25
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Physical abuse, and Blood
Minor: Drug abuse and Suicide
leannanecdote's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, War, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death, Abandonment, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Murder, Racism, Self harm, Xenophobia, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Trafficking, and Vomit
emily_mh'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: Classism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent, Gore, Racism, Drug abuse, Body horror, Drug use, and Addiction
Minor: War, Child abuse, Sexual content, Colonisation, Suicide, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, Medical content, Miscarriage, Vomit, Ableism, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Transphobia, Terminal illness, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, and Blood
Minor: nuclear warfare, volcanotraa'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