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bookishwondergoth'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
3.0
Cara is an excellent, flawed and deeply determined main character and I couldn’t help but root for her. She quite literally inhabits the space between worlds, not just by jumping between them, but also the city of Wiley and all its light-skinned, privileged wealthy inhabitants, and the darker-skinned, poorer inhabitants of Ashtown. Her confusion, guilt, disgust, pride and internalised classism is extremely well done; you can absolutely tell Micaiah Johnson studies this stuff, both at actual university and the university of life too.
All of the side characters, including the antagonists, were also really excellent.
The reason why I’ve rated this book 3/5 stars instead of 4/5 is that as a story, I was less interested in what was happening. It wasn’t exactly a struggle to read but I did still find it a little boring. And although there was a canonical reason as to why the worlds were all so similar, I would dearly have loved to see more unique worlds, and more numerous worlds on page in general. We primarily hang out on Earth 0 and Earth 175. Though Cara travels to other worlds, we don’t see much of her actually in them.
Overall this is a solid standalone about those who traverse worlds both in a science-fiction sense, and in a literal, social-mobility sense.
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Gore, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
blackcatkai's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
me: i dont like time travel
book: how about parallel universes?
me: .... go on
seriously, i didnt know how i was going to feel about this book going in as scifi is really not my go-to genre but i kept seeing it around and then my spouse told me how good it was so i finally gave it a try. and oh did Micaiah Johnson have me ENTHRALLED. this was fun, funny, shocking, stressful, and just wonderful. the pacing was just a smidge bit off for me in parts, but i am so glad i read it and i absolutely will read the next book when it comes out, thank you.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
Minor: Suicide and Grief
larbster90'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: Body horror, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Car accident
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism
Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content, Dysphoria, and War
lasersheith'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
Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, and Violence
Minor: Gun violence
kaitlinnoodles'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: Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
ronjaorsomething's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Grief, and Classism
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, and War
manicpixl'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: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and War
evenstr'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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Violence
Moderate: Drug abuse
Minor: Gun violence and Homophobia
paperbrownies'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? It's complicated
5.0
- f|f
- black mc, japanese coded li, nonbinary side character using they/them pronouns
HOLY ShIT!! this was exceptional!! 🤩
plot, characters, world building, the writing, the pace 5/5
the space between worlds is a delicious exploration of power and desire, to exist and to fight for you believe is right. it feels like one of those books that smacks you in the head with the harshness of reality despite it being a scifi book, with characters for whom i truly cared, and a story i kept thinking about, days after i finished reading the book!!
i'd be doing an injustice to this review (idk if you’d call it that bc this is just me shouting at you to go read this book) i did not mention the writing bc it was Beautiful and left me open like a raw wound!! 🤌
also the romance is top tier!! it doesnt take up a major portion of the book and is just the right amount of perfect, bittersweet and hopeful!!
YALL NEED TO GO READ THIS BOOK RN!!!
-cw: brief mention of an off-page murder, blood, violence, on-page death of a character, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, brief mention of drowning, child abuse, panic attack, grief, off-page death of loved ones, verbal abuse, detailed description of injury
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder
Minor: Gun violence
likeactualsoulmates'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
Let me just preface this by saying I went into this knowing very little because I KNEW I would love it. So when I read in the first chapter that it was a book about the multiverse and people were able to traverse them I was hooked. For the first few chapters, I was indeed bored, but as soon as we got to a huge revelation about Caramenta's life and being I couldn't stop reading from there. So if you're reading this and the first few chapters seem dull, give it a few more and see how invested the plot twists make you.
We meet a character absolutely selfish and fighting for their well-being, and it honestly is off-putting. I wanted to know more about how this person ended up valuing their benefit so strongly over others, and learn I did. Because many of Cara's character traits that seem offputting at first glance made so much sense once put in perspective with her character arc. The author did such a good job making a believable character reaction to her awful situation, I don't know if anything different would have felt right. Of course, Cara would value self-preservation at the point we meet her, and we get to go on her character arc in this book.
What really threw me off though was how free form the plot was, which after having read it all I believe is what best fits how to tell this story. But for a long, while we had no real end goal, we had just met these characters and we're going along on a ride with them. Slowly at after the mid-way point, things get set in motion and then is when we get our end goal. Once I learned to let go of reaching for an overarching plot and just enjoyed this ride with these characters I really started enjoying this book. Without getting into spoilers, there were many molar dilemmas and genuinely awful situations presented to our characters and we got to see all their reactions and what consequences their actions had.
If you enjoy sci-fi books with a darker theme and don't mind some gore, I would definitely recommend this book!
Now I'd like to make a shortlist with all the quotes I highlighted for this book.
- "It shames me more than it shames them, but it does shame us both."
- "I am always pretending, always wearing costumes but never just clothes."
- "Maybe it's just easier to think something is impossible than to try."
- "A rotating black hole does not collapse to a dot. That's the old-fashioned thinking. It collapses to a ring, a ring of neutrons. And if you fall through the ring of neutrons vertically, you wind up in Wonderland. You wind up on the other side of forever." -Michio Kaku
- "That was true power. Not to kill a man, but to kill a man in front of his family and force them to agree you did not."
- "You can't ever know another person, which is why you should never admire anyone."
- "Sometimes, focusing on survival is necessary. Sometimes, it is just an excuse for selfishness."
- " "A fallen angel is a demon.", "A being who can enact great change, either way." "
- "What does it mean to crave something toxic?"
- "Sometimes you have to bleed to know you're human."
- "Somehow using someone's need to keep them in line is less awful than using fear."
- "The only due powerful men recognize is a life- in service or in sacrifice."
- "Dear Brother from another time, today some stars gave in to the black around them & i knew it was you." -Danez Smith
This is grief because a powerful man killed someone I love but will never see consequences." - "Our dead are only weights on our backs when we won't let them walk beside us, when we try to pretend they are ours or they are not dead."
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and War