sapphicswrld 's review for:

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

3.5

adventurous mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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❝Why have I survived? Because I am a creature more devious than all the other mes put together. Because I saw myself bleeding out and instead of checking for a pulse, I began collecting her things.❞

At the beginning I was sure I was going to love this, but then as I went on I became less sure, especially because one of the things I was most looking forward to the most, the sapphic aspect, had very little of it throughout the book, and when it happened it didn't feel earned. I do like how everything was confusing at first but it slowly started making sense, without the author having to go on explaining the details of the world. Some things were a bit unrealistic and I had to suspend my disbelief:

how everything was "okay" with her in the end even after what she did, with other characters having died for less, (read: Jean). How there were no cameras that caught her in Bosch's apartment tinkering with his things, all the love that she felt for Dell didn't make much sense given that as far as we know they only interacted with flirty comments, and bothered comments from Dell's side, even after it's explained that Dell had something brief with Caramenta, it still doesn't explain how this love came to be.

In short, I'm not sure if I will be reading the second book,

if it followed Cara I would have tried, but the second book follows a character that only briefly appeared on the first, and didn't inspire any feelings but indifference, unfortunately.

❝The only due powerful men recognize is a life—in service or in sacrifice.❞

Some of the quotes/passages I liked: 

"Because that’s what a sister is: a piece of yourself you can finally love, because it’s in someone else."

"“It was a…miscalculated landing.”
This seems to amuse him. “You do this a lot?”
“It’s kind of my special gift.”
“World hopping?”
I swallow. “Dying.”

"Dear brother from another
time, today some stars gave in
to the black around them
& i knew it was you." 

"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."

"This was always going to happen. I, maybe more than anyone else, have only existed to die."