The Space Between Worlds

I didn't know how much I needed a novel about parallel universes and doppelgängers until I read this. But it's about more than just the sci-fi elements it contains; there's nuanced commentary on abuse, classism and race that made this book a very touching read as well as an exciting one. Also, if you like <i>Mad Max</i>, this will be right up your alley.

We follow Cara, a traverser of worlds. She's died in over 300 different parallel universes, making her the perfect candidate to move between them. The worldbuilding in this book is wonderful and interesting and takes a topic (parallel universes and doppelgängers) and grounds it in themes of identity and longing which make it work where usually it falls short. Cara is one of only seven versions of herself to live, then another one of them is murdered and it kicks off a wonderful story about ambition, struggle, murder and politics as well as loss and healing. Ashtown is the <i>Mad Max</i>-esque setting and the rougher half to Wiley City, an extravagant metropolis that treats Ashtown like an unsightly but "exotic" tourist trap. Johnson weaved a wonderful sci-fi universe while also having very meaningful things to say about wealth, poverty and classism that fit in perfectly. Wiley City was difficult for me to picture sometimes but Ashtown is incredibly vivid. Every element not only fleshed out the visual of this setting, but added to the wider themes this story was portraying and it's fantastically done.

Cara is just one of a brilliant list of characters in this book. She's a wonderful main character - torn between worlds, not just literally and even more so than you think at first - supported by many others who all were interesting to read about. There's wonderful romantic tension between Cara and Dell (I have high standards for f/f and this was a really good, tense romance), a powerful sisterhood between Cara and Esther and Jean is a loving fatherly mentor to her as well, but this book also introduces us to nuanced discussions of abuse with the character of Nik Nik. The arc Cara goes through solely regarding her previous abuse is very moving. Antagonists sneak up on you and are genuinely threatening, keep the stakes high and keep you guessing too. There are lots of characters but it never felt overwhelming because it's all tied back to Cara and how these people have influenced her life and what roles they play in other worlds.

Finally, I just briefly wanted to commend the structure of the book. The first third of this book is just really interesting worldbuilding as well as a basic introduction to the tension between Cara and Dell. At first I felt like it was sometimes meandering but then I realised it was just because I could never guess where this book was heading. There are multiple twists and the concept of parallel universes introduces wonderful narrative options for solutions to the hurdles Cara faces, meaning I was even more surprised and impressed by how she solved her problems, or how she approached situations. By the second half, the action really kicks off and the stakes remain very high until the end. When Cara succeeded, I felt relief and when things went wrong I genuinely felt nervous. Nothing felt easy. There are sacrifices and Cara knows, even from the beginning, that she has always been driven but Wiley City won't let her have it all.

Overall, I really highly recommend this. The sci-fi isn't heavily scientific and is very easily digestible for people who aren't into sci-fi because it isn't the focus. There's also moments about the spiritual vs the scientific when it comes to world traversing which are beautiful to read and allow readers to understand the sci-fi concepts multiple ways. The setting feels alive and kicking and Cara is a wonderful mix of driven and confident but also constantly lost at sea, struggling with the idea of being a rare survivor when these universes are suggesting she should likely be dead. To top it all off, it's emotional; it tackles complicated themes and it moved me to tears when Cara could feel at peace with herself. The book knows what is affecting Cara, and makes it affect the reader too. Couldn't recommend this more.

If you love sci-fi and dystopian novels then set a reminder for 04 August because you are going to want to get this book. The story has a distinct Mad Max flavour to it, and I had to force myself to not finish it in one day.

This is a world where multiverse travel is common knowledge. A total of 382 parallel earths have been documented but traversing between worlds is a little like playing Russian roulette, every time you travel could be the one that kills you.

If you land on an earth where you are still alive the universe turns you inside out, leaving a bloody heap where you used to be.

So, who then would make the ideal traveler?

Those people who normally do not have a high life expectancy, the grunts, the poor, the ones too small to hide from the runners, the ones who have drug addicted mothers that forget to feed their children.

Enter our protagonist, Cara who is one of the most prized traversers as she has died in all worlds but 8. I loved her character as she was perfectly flawed and complex. Even the secondary characters like Ester, Nik Nik and Dell were fascinating.

There is a lot more nuance than what is the norm for this genre. The pace is fast, and you need to keep up as the story will not wait for you to catchup.

A highly satisfying read I can recommend without reservation.

I cannot wait to read more from this author.

Sometimes books will leave you with a lot to think about, and I mean a lot. The Space Between Worlds is that for me (it has been at least two weeks - at time of writing - of just thinking). I have many many thoughts about parallel universes and how they help the main character deal with their trauma and all that, but no words for them (not for nothing did I quit English Lit at the age of 16). So, bear with me if everything goes a bit rambling.

The Space Between Worlds is set in a semi-dystopia, semi-science fiction world, where there is a class divide between Wiley City, where all the rich people live, and Ashtown, a Mad Max Fury Road-esque place, run by its own quasi-emperor, Nik Nik. In Wiley City, Adam Bosch is king, running a business that sends people into the multiverse. The only catch? You cannot travel to a world in which your parallel self is alive.

All this brings me to my first point. I absolutely loved the worldbuilding. Firstly, the whole doppelgangers and parallel universes take in this was so cool as a setup. The way traversers are more valuable the more of them that have died, the idea that there can’t be two of you in one universe. It’s just so cool, I don’t know how else to describe it.

And then you get Cara, who’s dead in every known universe except eight. I loved Cara a whole lot (though I can’t really say much about her because that’s spoilers - you’ll see if you read it!). When one of Cara’s doppelgangers dies in mysterious circumstances, that’s when things start to get fascinating. I mean, the whole thing had me utterly gripped from the first page, but a good chunk of it to start with involves setting up the world. But when events start to happen, boy do they get going.

But perhaps my favourite thing about this book is its social commentary. What is science fiction (or fantasy for that matter) without some social commentary, really? Everything about the book makes you think and that’s the best thing here. I mean, I love books where I can just get lost as much as the next person, but the sheer power of books that make you think? Unmatched.

And then (finally) there’s the romance. There is no way I can describe the immense angst of the misunderstanding that scuppered their initial attempts without spoiling the book, but it is so good (in terms of angst, that is). And then their scenes at the end! I don’t think I’ve stopped yelling since I finished the book.

So, with all that, I think it’s clear just how much I loved this book (and am still thinking about it). Which means it’s also clear that you really really need to preorder this one.

Multiverse theory has long snared the imaginations of writers and readers. Multiple examples of some of its ideas being used across all kinds of media spring to mind readily: 2001 Jet Li starrer The One, Rick and Morty, His Dark Materials, The Long Earth, even Community… the extremely varied list goes on. As a concept, it intrigues us; the idea that there could be multiple versions of ourselves, differing in infinite ways, our path through life diverging at critical junctures to play out every possibility.

The Space Between Worlds, the debut novel from Micaiah Johnson, takes this theory and gives us a glimpse of what humanity would most likely do once they had perfected the technology to make it work - commercialise it. Main character Cara is a traverser, so named because she is able to be sent between parallel Earths. The reason why she’s chosen for this? Well, there are two conditions which determine the success of a traversal. Firstly, the Earth being travelled to must be similar enough to the one you’re starting from (dubbed Earth Zero by Eldridge, the company behind the technology). And secondly, the other you has to be dead already in the destination reality. Cara, it seems, is terminally unlucky in the vast majority of the parallel Earths - of the few hundred which are similar enough to be traversed to, she has died in almost all of them. This makes her a useful employee indeed, able to travel to more Earths than her colleagues, where she takes readings to ensure Earth Zero can continue harvesting resources from its parallel selves.

There is, however, an even darker side to what makes Cara and her fellow traversers so special. Their high mortality rate is a direct result of the conditions their people find themselves in across hundreds of Earths, conditions determined by class and race. The many versions of Cara are more likely to be deceased because she is black and poor, a resident of Ashtown born to a woman who is, frequently, a junkie. Ashtown itself has a touch of Mad Max to it, a blisteringly hot desert community ruled over by a tyrannical Emperor who commands a crew of runners - heavily tattooed enforcers in armoured transports. In some of those multiple realities, Cara didn’t even make it past childhood, chased down by brutal, blood-crazed psychopaths. In stark contrast, the wealthy residents of Wiley Town live in luxurious comfort, in a glass city a hundred stories tall which is home to the traversal technology. It’s only by sheer luck on her part - and extremely bad luck on the part of the other versions of her - that Cara is able to gain access to their higher standard of living. Should she lose her job though, her work visa goes with it, and she will immediately be cruelly forced out.

The differences between residents of Wiley Town and Ashtown are reinforced frequently. Clothing, diets, mannerisms and customs are wildly different between the two, and it’s made clear early that there are many residents of Wiley Town, particularly Eldridge employees, who are prejudiced against Ashtowners. There are microaggressions which will make you wince with their relevance, as well as more overt and deliberate insults. This constant undercurrent of classism, Cara admits, gives her something of a chip on her shoulder herself. It plays havoc on her relationship with her wealthy colleague Dell, who, as her watcher, is in control of the technology that allows Cara to traverse. There is a genuine romantic tension between the two women, which plays out in profoundly moving fashion; not so much star-crossed lovers as world-crossed. Romantic sub-plots so often come across as too convenient to be believable. That’s not the case here, and there’s certainly nothing neat and easy about any of it.

It’s not just Cara’s emotional state that concerns Johnson though - her mental one is engagingly explored too. On several occasions, the thoughts Cara has regarding the various doomed versions of herself, not to mention the perception-warping variations between worlds, lead her into existential crisis territory. It would be easy, one realises, to become untethered from one’s sense of self, doing the kind of thing that Cara does. This leads to all kinds of observations and musings on Cara’s part, foremost among them being the question of why this particular version of her has been so survivable compared to the others - is it because she’s the best version of her? Or is it because, owing to some of the things she’s done, she’s actually the worst? She is constantly confronted with the consequences of her actions, unable to look at those she knows without playing out their alternate fates, which she has often had a hand in- for good or ill.

The Space Between Worlds is compulsively readable, thought provoking, intelligent science fiction. It’s a very human story of a person coming to terms with their true self; where they’ve come from, where they want to be, and what they really want out of life. Look out for the name Micaiah Johnson, because if there’s any justice on this particular version of Earth, you’ll be seeing it on plenty of end-of-year lists. A stunning debut.

This book took me on one hell of a ride. I had requested it on Netgalley as I am trying to branch out more into Sci-Fi and did not expect to love it as much as I did. Cara is a Traverser, a person with the ability to transport to worlds in the multi-verse. Her background and previous lifestyle made her the perfect candidate, as did the fact she is currently dead in over 372 worlds. Her only goal in life is to make it the next four years so she can officially apply as a citizen of Wiley City, leaving her past in the wastes of Ashtown behind. After finding out she has been killed on yet another world, Eldridge send her to gather information only once she gets there her whole life is turned upside down. What she discovers highlights something dark in the company that they don't want the general public finding out about and it might take Cara reaching out to those she had left behind, and being willing to risk her own life to end the deadly spiral.

Cara is a brilliantly written character, she is flawed and unafraid to hide it. Her life before Eldridge is something she would rather forget about, and her only ties to that life are her mother, stepfather and step siblings... people that she would do pretty much anything for. She carries secrets of her own, ones that we discover throughout the book but thanks to her upbringing she is a survivor. She really grows as a character in this book, which is something we don't always get to see in Standalones.

I loved the way the authors delves into the multi-verse. We learn that they can only 'Traverse' to worlds that are similar to their own, where there is human life, oxygen et. In most of the timelines Cara's life is similar to the one she led before Eldridge, she knows without a doubt that if she hadn't been picked from obscurity to become a traverser then she would more than likely be dead by the hands of the Ashtown Emperor and her former lover NikNik. But on one world, Earth 175 she sees how a single decision can change the course of history, and not always for the better.

If you love a book that makes you think, has you questioning things the whole way through not quite believing what you are being told, then this is the book for you. There are plenty of plot twists, and while most are predictable, you only manage to figure it out a page or so before the character does or tells you. I love having little eureka moments when i'm reading and this book is filled with them. The authors writing style makes for an easy read and I found myself flying through chapters, reading 30-40% in one go.

A really fun and thought provoking read that definitely helped in cementing my love for Sci-Fi as a genre.

This book had me gripped from the start. I absolutely loved it. Sci fi/ dystopian, breaking the rules of time travel. Highly recommended.

Sci Fi isn't normally my first choice of genre, but the blurb of this book just jumped out at me and I HAD to read it. Now I am so glad I did! There's so much to unpack with this book, from the fantastic, almost dystopian, world that's been built up to the huge array of well rounded characters.

The wasteland area of the world gave off some serious Mad Max vibes, with the runners wreaking havoc and the emperor presiding over them all. In contrast, the city of Wiley is crazy futuristic, with the city buildings reaching high into the sky and impossible technology filling every aspect of life there. 

I was seriously impressed by the diversity of the characters in this book; from nationalities and skin colours to a huge range between the poorest and the wealthiest, as well as plenty LGBT representation, including characters who came across as either gender neutral or transgender. The best part of this being that they weren't inserted into the story as some sort of gimmick, they were characters there for other purposes, who just so happened to be LGBT. 

The whole story tied together perfectly. It's fast paced, incredibly well written, and a very addictive read. As desperate as I was to finish the book and see what happened, I really did not want it to end. I can't wait to see more from this author, they've definitely set the bar high with this novel!

"What they don't tell you about getting everything you ever wanted is the cold-sweat panic when you think about losing it".

Multiverse theory has always intrigued me, and the many ways it plays out across different stories varies greatly. It has been used to great advantage in the comics world, see both DC and Marvel, so a non-superhero sci-fi story pulled me in right away!

Cara is a traverser from Earth Zero, the only Earth to have developed the technology to visit other Earths in the multiverse. There are 382 other Earths within the reach of Earth Zero, explained in a really interesting way, as having infinite earth's within reach might hinder this story.

Cara's doppelgangers have died on all but 8 other Earths, great for her job as traversers can only visit Earths where their counterpart is dead - early traverses made this discovery the hard (and gruesome) way. Following the death of another doppelganger, Cara crosses to Earth 175, where a surprising discovery sets a new chain of events in motion and changes the path of Cara's future forever.

I thoroughly enjoyed this character driven story, and loved the way the characters developed and their tales across Earths unfolded.

I love sci-fi
And this books delivered as the multiverse is one theory I love more then most. This books took that theory and made it a wild ride!

Best book I've read all year! Such an atmospheric and engrossing story about a girl from the wastelands of ashtown who now works and lives in Wiley city earning a living traversing between worlds. It's a story of survival and so much more. Plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing. A must read!

The idea of multiple worlds or multiple realities is a common one in science fiction. In her debut, The Space Between Worlds, Micaiah Johnson shows there is plenty of life left in this old trope. Johnson uses the idea of multiple worlds not only to test and stretch her characters, but to play across a number of themes of class, nature, sexuality, fate and self-determination.
The Space Between Worlds opens on a dystopian future. The haves live in the walled, shiny city of Wiley, while the have-nots live outside the walls in rural poverty and subject to gang rule in Ashtown. In this future a wealthy scientist (more like a tech guru) has discovered a way to traverse alternate versions of Earth. But there is a catch. If the traverser’s double is still alive in the alternate world, the traveller dies a horrible, twisted death. So the only people who can safely traverse a large number of the 380 possible alternate worlds that are close enough to ‘Earth Zero’ are people who have already died in those realities. In other words, people from Ashtown, where life is often brutal and short.
Caramenta comes from Ashtown, dark skinned and low born, and finds a place in the traverser program, but not a permanent one in Wiley. She lives in the lower levels of the high-rise city and both she and the other traversers know that as soon as their usefulness is over they will be cast out and sent back to Ashtown. She is also desperately but secretly enamoured of her handler, Dell, an attraction that sometimes seems to be reciprocated, although all of their signals are mixed. This is not the only secret that Caramenta carries with her and it is these secrets and their unravelling that drive a plot replete with satisfying twists and turns.
Johnson leans hard on her premise to explore a range of issues: the way people are used by others the impact of power imbalances, the question of nature versus nurture. While the title itself can refer to the eerie blackness that Caramenta travels through as she traverses, she notes that it could just as easily relate to her life: I live in Wiley but I’m legally still Ashtown’s… It’s a space between worlds no different to the star-lined darkness I stand in when I traverse.
Johnson’s setting is fairly generically dystopian. It is an Earth of the future, following war and famine. A war which led to the restructuring of society into very distinct haves and have-nots. Ashtown itself is essentially run by an organised crime family, while Wiley, seemingly more civilised, is not much better. There is a dark secret at the heart of the traverser project that only gets darker as Caramenta navigates closer to the centre of it. B
There are so many stories that rely on the existence of alternate realities. Philip K Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, Baxter and Pratchett’s Long Earth series and Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter are all good examples of this trope. The Space Between Worlds takes this idea, builds some clever rules around it and uses it to explore some fascinating themes. Johnson has shown great flair in breathing new life into this idea and it will be interesting to see where she goes next.

Wow. This book was amazing!
When I first picked it up I wasn’t really sure what I was expecting. I’m not usually a fan of sci-fi however this one sounded really intriguing and I’ve been trying to step out of my “comfort zone” a little recently.
Honestly one of the most interesting stories I’ve read so far this year!
Cara is a traverser - which means she travels between worlds but she’s only able to visit those in which she’s already died - first rule of time travel you can never exist in the same space as your other self.
I can’t even begin to describe what this books about! There’s a lot going on however I never felt confused or overwhelmed and I fell completely in love with the characters and the relationships. The writing flows beautifully and I loved the world building.
Definitely a book to add to my 2020 favourites!
Loved! 💕

It is always so refreshing to read a good book after a “difficult” one and this hooked me right from the start - so much so I stayed up till sometime past 7am reading it and only put it down because my brain literally shut down from lack of sleep.

The book is set in a future where the theory of the multiverse has been cracked. Cara is a traverser - someone who can travel between the multiverse. However there is a catch - you can only enter a world where the other you no longer exists. Cara is unique in that of 372 worlds known to exist, she is only alive in 8 of them. This means she can travel a lot more frequently and is in high demand. Traversers go to different worlds to gather information (population size, history, geography, natural events and disasters) so that the scientists in her world (Earth Zero) can learn and prevent disasters/mistakes/make economic gains etc.

Cara’s worlds seem to be made up of 2 cities - Wiley City (what seems like a biodome) and every thing else outside it which is called The Ash. The citizens of Wiley live the good life and have a lot of privileges the people in the Ash don’t. Cara was born and raised in the Ash but now has the privilege of living in Wiley because of her job. Without giving too much away, there are some central characters in the book and some characters that Cara comes across in every world she visits. Cara has to navigate the differences in each world and how she feels about these people. Because she gets to travel between worlds she’s aware of how one small change could affect the outcome of your life. In most of the worlds she’s died it, it’s because her mother is a drugged up prostitute who has in one way or another done something that has led to her death. In Earth zero, her mother finds religion so Cara survives. In each Earth she visits, she has to navigate the realities and motivations between the people she knows and utilise them to her advantage.

This book is thrilling. The world building is interesting but falls behind to the plot - which begs the question who are you truly? Would the current you be any different if your life turned out differently? Would you make the same decisions and choices? Would you be good or evil? For a debut book, the author has done a brilliant job! The characters are well developed - even the ones that are sub characters or we don’t see in the other worlds aren’t 2 dimensional. She does a great job of fleshing people out and their motivations without dragging it out or being repetitive. I also love that Cara is black or brown - even though it makes no difference to her character, it makes me love her just that smidge more.

This is super highly recommended in my book - I would give it a 4.8/5. I deducted a fraction purely because the world only seems to have 2 cities which is weird but whatever. Cannot wait to see what else Micaiah Johnson writes. It is also super refreshing to get a female bi-racial author writing science fiction. Again has nothing to do with the book but I don’t often see authors like her in this genre and I love it!

Well this book was fucking excellent. Like, really fucking excellent. I think it might be my favourite sci fi. Ever. God it was so good. From the plot twists 9% in that continued all the way through, to the deep social commentary on issues from gun violence to class to climate change, the exploration of trauma and survival, The Space Between Worlds managed to bring together so many different issues into one perfect sapphic scifi that'll I'll be thinking about for pretty much the next five years.

The Space Between Worlds is set on an Earth which has discovered multiverse travel. But there's a catch: you can only visit a parallel universe if the parallel you is already dead. Traversers, those who have died on other worlds, are hired to travel across the multiverse to get information. Cara is one of these traversers. But when one of the parallel Cara's is killed in mysterious circumstances, Cara is drawn into a plot that endangers the entire multiverse.

It's difficult to put into words how much I loved this book. I was hooked completely from the very first page. We're drawn into this incredibly detailed world, and Johnson has done such an epic job of the worldbuilding. There's an enclosed, rich city, protected from the harsh weather outside; and there's a Mad Max style desert, where the poorer individuals live overruled by a self-styled emperor. We're thrust into this world that has been ravaged by climate change, and it felt like a bleak look into our future so realistic and well detailed was this world. The Space Between Worlds subtly explores issues like climate change in a way that isn't in your face or preachy - it's anything but that. In fact, on the surface, there is no blatant discussion of issues like climate change or gun violence. But Johnson has woven these concepts throughout in subtle descriptions of the world: from the way people get around with tarps to protect from the sun, to the stark absence of guns at all, to the descriptions of acid in the air, Johnson weaves social commentary into the story with such a powerful impact.

But what's most powerful is the depiction of trauma, domestic abuse, and an individual who has survived but is still deeply affected and damaged by what she's been through. The way Cara is written is just phenomenal. She is such a brilliant, morally grey character. I longed for her to find her safety as much as I longed for her to get her revenge. I won't say too much about her (spoilers...) but it breaks my heart to see how wrecked and lonely she is and then to see her grow and survive what she's been through and learn how to use what she's been through against her enemies, it's so fucking perfect. Also she's bi and my heart is just singing to see a bi character get a story this epic.

The romance made my heart hurt (ofc). To see Dell and Cara constantly come close and drift apart, to see how their misunderstandings tear them apart when all I wanted to scream was PLEASE BE HAPPY TOGETHER was just 😭😭😭😭

To conclude: I have so many thoughts about this book. It left me with that feeling that really good books often do: feeling like I got run over by a car, or that a hole was punched through my chest, that emotional 'god I can't quite believe I read this' level of awe. I can't wait to see what Johnson does next.

This book is one of the best that I've read in such a long time. It touches on such avoided topics and themes, or ones that are often done poorly, and it's respectful, tactful, and realistic, even the aspects that change with the setting of the book are treated carefully and cleverly. The inclusion of minorities that aren't often given much of a chance within most books is beautiful and makes the story itself all the better for it, and it also made the whole thing seem so refreshing because it's rarely done and done well.

Cara, the main character, is someone who does the job of a traverser, someone who hops to other versions of Earth, but the catch is that someone can only jump to another world as long as that version of them is no longer living, and since she's died on so many other worlds, she's one of the few eligible for the job. The plot revolves around a handful of Earths that she's visited over the years, and the people that she knows from each one that play the roles of power people, which is all going well until she uncovers a secret from one world that sheds light on something unknown in her world. The plot builds up before reaching this moment, allowing us to discover other worlds and to see how it all works, letting us learn of other versions of Cara that have been and gone, and the people she's left behind in all of them compared to how things played out on her world. The pacing is done so well, everything we learn and uncover is carefully woven throughout the whole book until each one of those things becomes vital to surviving the bulk of the plot. No information is wasted.

And then there's Dell, the woman who is assigned as a watcher to Cara, someone who oversees every jump, pays close attention to her medical needs and requirements, and schedules when and where she'll be going next. But the thing is that the two of them have a past that comes to light later on, a complex relationship to begin with, and as the story unfolds we realise just how fragile things are between them. Their friendship is beautiful to see, however much their time is clouded by the work that they do, and the feelings that lie between them scream from the pages without it ever once taking away from the main plot yet still being a huge part of it. The relationship between the two of them is tragically beautiful, but it's worth every word on the page to witness it.

There are themes of family and what that can mean, friendship without realising friendship is there, and the many forms in which love and loyalty can be expressed. The topic of abuse is brought up, but it's handled with so much care, and it's described in such a realistic way that the author deserves an achievement for pulling it off where so many others have failed, especially considering the fact that there are multiple worlds with other versions of the characters it includes to contend with. There are themes that also deal with classism, which impacts upon the plot greatly and is handled in a refreshing way that sees straight to the root of the problem rather than all the branches that spread out from it, small hints of racism and homophobia amongst certain groups of people, but all of them are handled well, and there are so many positives that out-weight the negatives, and it's done in such a subtle way that it merges in with the plot rather than distracting from it whilst lacking the preachy vibe that comes across in a lot of books. It's blunt and unbiased, and these truths are reflected from our own world onto this one.

The story of the book, the characters and their relationships and ties, the differing versions of said characters and the events that surround them, the secrets that bring about some of the things that take place are all so cleverly pieces together, woven in and around each other and carefully stitched together, and are so well-written that it's beautiful to witness. The journey this book takes us on through Cara's eyes is a beautiful one with an ending that I might question from any other story, but one that works really well with this, and it feels complete, whole, however much I would love to spend more time in this world with these characters, like I would love to with all of the favourites, it doesn't feel like there's anything missing come the end. Everything is wrapped up nicely and left to our imagination.

I will definitely be buying myself a paperback copy of this book when it's released, as that's my preferred format, as well as keeping an eye on the author for any future releases, and I'll be recommending it to anyone who I might think is interested. It's officially one of my favourite books that I will no doubt read and re-read countless times.

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley I was privileged to read this copy of »The Space Between Worlds« by Micaiah Johnson, a book that I‘ve been hearing advance praise about. To that effect I was extremely curious to read it.

First of all, as much as I love the stunning cover of the American edition, I find the British dull and uninspired. Let‘s just hope that this is not the final version. The American cover catches your eye immediately and will promote sales much better. After finishing the novel, I actually pre-ordered a hardcover copy on Amazon.de, and I chose the American edition even though it was more expensive just for that cover picture.

»The Space Between Worlds« centers on the existence of a multiverse, i.e. a more or less endless number of parallel universes. Travelers between worlds are used to make predictions on the future development of stock markets in their original universe, for example. The catch is, however, that you can only enter a parallel reality where your twin is already dead. Since Cara has died in 372 of 380 documented worlds, she‘s identified as an ideal traveler between universes, which offers her a promising career opportunity and a new life away from the wastelands of her home. But when she visits a world where her counterpart has recently been killed under suspicious circumstances, she starts to investigate and uncovers a scheme that might not only endanger her own life but the whole multiverse, because she starts to interfere.

This may not be hard science fiction (»Dark Matter« by Blake Crouch comes a little closer to that on multiverse travel), rather semi-dystopian science fantasy, but the story is convincingly told. Cara seems a bit naïve at times, more like a teenager than a grownup woman, but that might be attributed to her rural family background. At the same time she‘s described as tough, ambitious, and complex. The novel is fast paced, full of suspension, action, intrigues, and even a love story which makes it a page turner hard to put down. The prose is beautiful and extremely readable, even when the author plunged into philosophy at some points. It‘s fascinating to meet the same characters in different worlds and see how they act or to read about a universe where the laws of nature differ from ours. Micaiah Johnson‘s world building offers a lot of sense of wonder.

I recommend this novel without reservation.

This book was truly amazing. I love multiverse stories and this one definitely stood up. It was very creative and original. The author created very complex worldbuilding and she did an amazing job. Cara was an excellent main character. I had high expectations for this book and I am really happy it did fulfill it. It was an amazing debut novel and I can't wait to read what Micaiah Johnson writes next.

What a great debut. An excellent sci-fi, gripping and entertaining.
I loved the great world building and character development. The plot kept me hooked and I loved every moment of it.
It's highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This is a very accomplished debut novel from Micaiah Johnson. It was a pleasure to discover a new Science Fiction voice that I will follow for years to come. It was difficult to believe this was a debut novel, the writing is assured and the plot perfectly paced. The concept, setting and strong characterisation grab the readers attention from the first page and never let go.
I don’t want to say too much to spoil the plot. I enjoyed knowing little about this novel and discovering a highly original multiverse story with a brilliant cast of characters.
This is certainly a novel that I will want to enjoy again and again. I’ve already be ordered a special limited edition signed hardback copy. Just wish it was the US cover.
Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the early copy.

Stunning! It's hard to believe that this is a debut novel. Imagine being able to visit alternate earths, the only downside being that your alter must be dead or else you risk dying yourself. This was fast paced and a delight to read, I especially loved the idea of the goddess holding the worlds in her hand, and her relationship with the traversers. Definitely a recommendation for fans of Blake Crouch and Becky Chambers.

I completely abandoned the other book I was reading the moment I picked this up, as I was engrossed pretty much from the get-go. I often love stories spanning multiple dimensions, and this was no exception - however, it was definitely not a soothing reading experience. For most of the book I was ready to only give this 4 stars, because it made me feel so uncomfortable and tense - but I found the ending to be very moving and quietly hopeful. The world building (especially considering there are so many worlds to incorporate!) is well polished - by focusing on two areas, rather than a globe-spanning epic, the reader is much more immersed in the story - the stakes are high here, but they're also intensely personal.