Who Would Like This Book:
If you love your sci-fi packed with clever twists, complex heroines, and big questions about identity and privilege, this book is your jam! The Space Between Worlds builds a unique multiverse where only those who’ve died in other worlds can travel - which makes societies’ most marginalized suddenly the most valuable. Micaiah Johnson’s debut blends thought-provoking social commentary with gripping adventure, emotional depth, and a refreshingly diverse and inclusive cast. Fans of parallel universes, dystopian futures, and morally gray protagonists will find so much to think about (and feel) here.
Who May Not Like This Book:
Some readers find the beginning a bit dense, with lots of worldbuilding and information to process that can feel overwhelming. If you’re looking for hard sci-fi with airtight technical explanations, the book’s looser approach to its multiverse mechanics might leave you wanting more. There’s also heavy, sometimes disturbing content - domestic violence, class oppression, and trauma - that may be too intense for some. And if you prefer straightforward, linear stories, all the alternate universe character hopping can get confusing.
About:
'The Space Between Worlds' by Micaiah Johnson is a sci-fi novel set in a world where traversers like Cara can jump between parallel universes as long as their doppelgangers are deceased in that world. Cara, a protagonist with a complicated past, is hired to collect information from different worlds. However, when she uncovers unsettling truths, she begins to question her role and the organization she works for. The book explores themes of choices, luck, and the impact of different realities on a person's life, all wrapped in a fast-paced plot with complex characters and a unique world-building concept.
The writing style of 'The Space Between Worlds' is praised for its precision and craft in world-building, creating a stunning and immersive multiverse. The novel delves into the intricacies of parallel worlds, relationships, social commentary, and character development, offering a fresh take on the concept of multiple realities and the complexities of human existence across different dimensions.
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Notes:
Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
The book includes content warnings for topics such as trauma, domestic violence, and abuse that could be triggering for some readers.
Has Romance?
While romance is not the primary focus, it does play a significant role in the story, especially with LGBTQ representation.
From The Publisher:
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE
An outsider who can travel between worlds discovers a secret that threatens the very fabric of the multiverse in this stunning debut, a powerful examination of identity, privilege, and belonging.
WINNER OF THE COMPTON CROOK AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE LOCUS AWARD
"Gorgeous writing, mind-bending world-building, razor-sharp social commentary, and a main character who demands your attention-and your allegiance."-Rob Hart, author of The Warehouse
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR
Library Journal
Book Riot
Multiverse travel is finally possible, but there's just one catch: No one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive. Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying-from disease, turf wars, or vendettas they couldn't outrun. Cara's life has been cut short on 372 worlds in total.
On this dystopian Earth, however, Cara has survived. Identified as an outlier and therefore a perfect candidate for multiverse travel, Cara is plucked from the dirt of the wastelands. Now what once made her marginalized has finally become an unexpected source of power. She has a nice apartment on the lower levels of the wealthy and walled-off Wiley City. She works-and shamelessly flirts-with her enticing yet aloof handler, Dell, as the two women collect off-world data for the Eldridge Institute. She even occasionally leaves the city to visit her family in the wastes, though she struggles to feel at home in either place. So long as she can keep her head down and avoid trouble, Cara is on a sure path to citizenship and security.
But trouble finds Cara when one of her eight remaining doppelgängers dies under mysterious circumstances, plunging her into a new world with an old secret. What she discovers will connect her past and her future in ways she could have never imagined-and reveal her own role in a plot that endangers not just her world but the entire multiverse.
"Clever characters, surprise twists, plenty of action, and a plot that highlights social and racial inequities in astute prose."-Library Journal (starred review)
Ratings (74)
Incredible (15) | |
Loved It (19) | |
Liked It (18) | |
It Was OK (16) | |
Did Not Like (3) | |
Hated It (3) |
Reader Stats (282):
Read It (75) | |
Currently Reading (1) | |
Want To Read (164) | |
Did Not Finish (8) | |
Not Interested (34) |
6 comment(s)
I expected world hopping and glimpses of what could have been, but this book was so much more than that! Cara is constantly reflecting on the divide between utopic Wiley City and dystopic Ashtown because she walks between them and all the other earths. I felt that we learned about Cara at just the right pace. And I love some good women yearning for women. I find it hard to break down just why I loved this book, but man it just worked for me. Maybe the ending was a little rushed, but I loved the journey there enough to accept it.
i was never at risk of DNFing, but it takes a lot for me to respect first-person present, and
the space between worlds fell on its face in the first few paragraphs. you can't conceal amateurish writing in first-person present the way you maybe could with third-person or past-tense, and i find the writing here to be as clumsy and brazen as a slam poem. it's unfortunate, because i read the first page and was like, "oh, fuck, this is gonna be good! could this be my next favorite novel?" and then...i turned the page and found out it was just the epigraph. wasn't even the author's writing. and then i turned the page again and get "
first person present infodump, first person present infodump, first person present infodump..." for the next 50 pages.
like--okay, i went back and ctrl+f'd, because i didn't want to be uncharitable, but i was right--there are THREE TITLE-DROPS in the first fifty pages. THE FIRST 20%!
The Space Between Worlds.....The Space.........Between Worlds. i get it! this book keeps beating me over the head with things that i can tell are supposed to be novel and masterful and rubs egg on its face in doing so. at one point, the mc is in a brothel and she pointedly averts her eyes at a woman performing a lap dance because, "[looking] without paying is stealing," and i could just...
feel the pause where the MC turns to the camera to look at me and i'm supposed to be like Wow I Have Never Thought About That, This Book Is So Life-Changing.
or,
the book makes a big deal in the first act about how nice and cool and great this CEO is and it's like....ok he's obviously the bad guy lol. it's not that there's an inherent problem with a baby billionaire CEO antagonist, lord knows they're Real Life antagonists, but the book is so
betcha didn't see that coming, huh? B) about it. not that ~seeing it coming~ means the book is inherently bad--sometimes it just means that the foreshadowing is satisfying--but when the plot is laid in front of you AND there's little to no interesting scene work it completely deflates your interest. ideally, if you were going to have a twist villain, it would take a while to figure out, and when you did, it would feel like you solved a really hard puzzle right before the drop. right? this just feels like. sigh. nother day nother dollar at the book factory reading my femslash sci-fi.
i liked the romantic tension btw the MC and the LI for most of the book (until it quietly imploded like a boil), but i'm going to be honest; it was f/f and i cannot be an objective reviewer about f/f right now. i'm going through a phase that i was too clever to have as a high schooler and am instead having halfway through my 20s where you can put two women in a room together and i'm like. They're In Love. This Is Romance. They Should Kiss. They Should...Smell Each Other's Hair. They Should Foster A Cat Together. as in, the little bleeps and bloops i trust for info--i can't trust them anymore. so, to be 100% honest, they barely interact and their reasons for being attracted to each other are flimsy. the multiverse concept and the inherent eroticism of workplace partnerships is doing a lot of the heavy-lifting where scene work and chemistry should be.
if you liked [a:Lindsay Ellis|19530072|Lindsay Ellis|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1567793783p2/19530072.jpg]'s noumena series, this feels very similar in genre and execution. and if you didn't...eh. i don't know, this didn't do it for me, but i found it readable, and it's frequently recommended to me as a f/f specfic enthusiast, so i'm glad to recalibrate those algorithms.
Fuck.
If I cared more about the character but I thought she was unlikable
Very exciting. An unusual story which was suspenseful and kept you guessing.
This a god, wellpacedand twisty tale with some interesting worldbuilding.
What can you read after
The Space Between Worlds?
About the Author:
Micaiah Johnson was raised in California's Mojave Desert surrounded by trees named Joshua and women who told stories. She received her bachelor of arts in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside, and her master of fine arts in…
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