I rarely read Sci-Fi, because even though I love the futuristic, slightly more realistic than fantastic take on fiction, I rarely find a book that balances science and fiction well enough for me. Until now at least.

Cara is a traverser. Her job is to travel to one of the other dimensions close enough to her own to connect and bring back data. And Cara is valuable in what she does, because traversers can only go to worlds where their other-them is dead. And out of 381 worlds, Cara is alive on just eight.

There is so much to this book that I can't even begin to summarize it properly. The story unfolds, bit by bit, one problem building on the next, and still it's always the same. A bloodthirsty, power-hungry emperor seeking too much for the good of the world, needing to be stopped. Classism and Capitalism standing in the way of real connections, real freedom only in the "feral" lands.

I loved everything about this book. I loved the basis of the multiversal travel, I loved the setting, the perfect white Wiley city against the dust-filled, dirty, bloody Ashtown that somehow manages to have more and less morals at the same time. I loved the characters, all of them, because all of them felt real, they felt close and it hurt when someone died. So much so that you wished the multiverse opened up to escape to one of their other selves, find comfort in the knowledge that they're alive SOMEWHERE else.
Every part of this book felt exciting. The ever-present tension in the main relationship as much as in the one you almost wish would happen, the hurt, the healing, the coup, the revelations.
The way that this book completely turns around, good turning to bad and bad to good and ugh...I loved it so much.
Sometimes, just sometimes, things felt too smooth. Sometimes things felt too detached, problems solved too quickly when the scenes could have been made a little longer, fights a little more descriptive.
But I never once felt like I was missing something.

I saw other people complaining how some things were brought up again and again while others were never explained - runners for example. But to me that made perfect sense. After all it's Cara who tells this story, Cara who focuses on what she doesn't know and doesn't need to repeat what she's known all her life.

My only issue might be with the end, which bears the same problem I mentioned before. (view spoiler) then again, some part of me is a sucker for a happy ending :)

I loved reading this. And I would recommend it to anyone with just the slightest interest in multiverses and multiversal travel. It's great, it's strong and so perfectly subtly lgbt - other gender identities and sexualities never mentioned as something other, something special, just mentioned like the most natural thing in the world.

Thanks to Netgalley to providing me with the free book - I most likely will be buying it to have this beauty standing in my shelf :)

I really enjoyed this book and found it difficult to put down. The plot moves along at a fast pace with compelling characters. The only negative for me is that I wish there was a bit more world building, especially with respect to the setting's history.
4.5/5

This was a 2022 Hugo Awards Finalist for the Astounding Award, which is what moved it up to the top of my TBR List. I've been reading SF for decades and this is one of the most imaginative novels I have read in years. It involves parallel universes, a post-apocalyptic Earth, vast inequalities between classes and types of neighborhoods and worlds, trauma from sexual assault, and so much more.

While some of those sound (and are) grim, the story is hopeful in ways that I really did not expect.

It continued to surprise me right up to the last scene -- which ain't easy to do.

Good Job to the author. Highly recommended.

<i>Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I immediately fell in love with this book's premise. Furthermore, the caveat that multidimensional travel won't work if your counterpart is still alive is a really creative take on a way to avoid the paradox often created by these sorts of novels. However, despite all its promise and despite all its heart -- and it certainly has that in spades -- finishing this novel felt bittersweet.

Of the multitudes of characters introduced, many are beautifully complex and compelling to read about. Cara, Esther, and Mr. Cheeks in particular were wonderfully written, and had the time to shine. Others, however, such as Michael, David, Dell, Nik Nik, and even Jean left me wanting more. There is such a promise to each of these characters, but not enough time is spent developing their motivations, and for some to even develop beyond a superficial acknowledgement of their name.

There is also the spanner in the works of the plot itself. It felt, at times, like two or three novels worth of ideas crammed into one book. I thought I knew where the plot was going by about 30% of the way into the book, only for things to take a sharp turn about 70% of the way in. As such, the last act felt rushed. Too many ideas were being grappled with, and none really had time to develop with the detail and complexity that I was hoping for. I didn't have the emotional investment in events that I wanted to have, and even Dell and Cara's relationship fell flat as a result.

The way this book engages with ideas of classism, prejudice, privilege, fate, and the idea of being an outsider or (maybe just someone perpetually caught in between) is beautiful. Cara's list at the end of the first chapter was a cornerstone I found myself frequently coming back to as a beautiful theme woven just under the surface all throughout the text. I just wish there was more time to develop these ideas as well as to develop the world itself and the stakes at play.

If you're looking for a sci-fi that feels heavy on the social philosophy, this book is for you. I loved reading it, and know it will stay in my heart for a long time. However, I also have to acknowledge the drawbacks that kept it from being a truly spectacular read for me.

I wasn't able to read this before its publication, but it was so brilliantly done. Enough plot for 3 books and switching genres with each section. Perfection.

3.5 Stars

I'm not totally sure what to say about this book, it is not the sciency sci fi I expected. There was a lot of things going on and a lot of parts that were involved to move this along to the culmination of the story. It didn't feel clumsy or awkward though, which was good.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and really enjoyed Cara and Dell and Esther as characters.

I am always excited for a good sci-fi/fantasy read and this book did both genres well. I have enjoyed the multiverse trope recently but was worried that I might be tiring of it until I read "The Space Between Worlds." There was enough story and world-building in each world to keep me fully engaged. I even got caught by some (although not all) of the twists, which is unusual for me. This book is a wonderful stand-alone but I would be interested in returning to the world created. There were moments where I paused to highlight because the writing was beautiful, so I plan to return to this author.

Every dimension-hopping technology needs a gimmick. The tech Cara uses has a big limited: you can only travel to a dimension where the alternate version of yourself is dead. And if they're still alive, very soon, YOU won't be.

Cara is good at one thing: dying. She's died in nearly every universe her company, the Eldridge Institute, has discovered. Few finish growing up in Ashtown, and now that dimension hopping has given her a chance to live in safe, comfy Wiley City, Cara will do anything to stick around.

I read this (via a review copy provided by the publisher) in preparation for voting in the Hugo awards. And while this book was enjoyable at the end, the setup takes FOREVER. Yes, there's some sprinkling of Checkov's guns all about, but it's a SPRINKLING. There's a lot of trips between places, getting little tidbits of plot and the underlying conspiracy, but it's a trickle. So, I'm afraid it did end up a bit far down on my ranked voting. But, it is ranked, so who knows!

Great concept, needs additional worldbuilding and introductory material - seems confusing at times regarding the characters and relationships between them

4 Stars - Dark and gritty with great writing

Cara traverses the multiverse for a living, being one of few people very suitable for this job because she is dead on most of the other versions of Earth that can be visited. Because coming to a world where one already exists ends rather deadly - the universe doesn't like that kind of redundancy, apparently. The reason why Cara is pretty rare on other worls is because she did not grow up in the privileged city but in Ashtown on its outskirts, where life is hard (as are its inhabitants), the environment poisonous and laws are made by the reigning warlord.

It is this juxtaposition of Cara, who has grown up in a very harsh world, trying to make it in the squeaky clean, rich and shiny world that pays her bills that provides the foundation for the story. Who wouldn't want to earn the right to stay forever in a place where the sun, the plants, the soil, the warlord won't kill you eventually. And while this is science fiction on the surface, it is at heart a deep look into privilege, racism, ineqality and into how the circumstances in which you grow up make you the person who you are.
The setting of "The Space Between Worlds" is post-apocalyptic and it's really dark and truly gritty. Maybe a bit too dark for my personal taste when I was rather in the mood for something lighter, but that is hardly something I can blame the book for.

The writing I loved: it is beautiful and very sharp and this one is definitely on the literary side of the genre. The worldbuilding makes you work a little bit for piecing the bits of information together but it is by no means inaccessible. The plot isn't simple or straightforward and does meander a bit, but I thought that the pacing worked really well and enjoyed how the narrative unfolded. There were several unexpected developments for me and I always wanted to know how things would continue. The second half picked up in speed for me, or maybe I had just become used to the dark tone by then.

Oh, and I really want to give a shout out to the beautiful and very fitting cover!

Actually, this was on my TBR anyway, so I was very happy to receive a review copy from Random House via NetGalley. In any case, this is my honest opinion which I provide voluntarily, thank you very much!

Hugo adjacent, nominated for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. I've heard many good things about this novel, for a while now, so when it showed up on the Hugo list for the adjacent award it was a no-brainer to read. I expected world hopping and the Sliders-esque feel to travelling different dimensions, but there was far more too. Privilege vs need. How straddling two worlds can leave you feeling a stranger to both. The roadblock of assumptions. Nature vs nurture. Strong characters and fantastic worldbuilding. Lots of deep thoughts wrapped in a Mad Max/Cyberpunk dressing. Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy!

I honestly don't remember even getting this book. I don't normally open these types of books, so I thought I'd open my mind to it. It was very hard to grasp and understand for my taste. Which doesn't mean it's a bad book, just wasn't right for me.

I really enjoyed the Space Between Worlds. I liked how the book read like a mix between dystopian novels and sci-fi. There is a great comparison between the wealthy and those who have nothing. Cara is a very likable character, and I rooted for her throughout.

What a unique book. The premise engaged me and the twist was unexpected, although looking back it was well laid out. This is a book that I will definitely be recommending to friends and family.

This was just plain odd. It felt like a poorly edited book that came after The Hunger Games hype. I do not recommend this one for purchase.

I have been trying so hard to get out of my book comfort zone and thought this book would be a great one to do that since I don’t read much syfi. I honestly wanted to like it. But I just couldn’t get into it. Just because I didn’t like this book doesn’t mean it’s not the perfect book for someone else.

The Space Between Worlds is a type of SF that focuses more on social issues, mainly the divide between the privileged and the impoverished– the multiverse worlds building is an excuse for our protagonist to travel between the haves and have nots. Cara was born in Ashtown, which is basically a shanty town. She had a tough life and died young. But having died she gained the ability for interdimensional travel. Now between missions she lives in the affluent city with her handler, Dell, for whom she harbors feelings. There are many good things about this thought provoking book, but there were some issues with the pacing and the flow that bothered me along the way. Hence the 4 stars.
Thank you Netgalley and Crown for giving me this arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Space Between Worlds puts a new spin on a familiar SF idea – travel to parallel worlds – by combining it with a stratified class structure. The Eldridge Institute, using a machine invented by its founder Adam Bosch, sends people to parallel worlds, but travelers can normally only go to a world where their counterpart is already dead. This rules out most of those living in Wiley City, with its vaccines, low childhood morality, and easy living. So the travelers who can visit the most parallel worlds are those who grew up on the wrong side of the wall, whose families never had enough food, who lacked access to medical care, and faced the constant threat of violence – in other words the poor. These traversers copy data from the other worlds and bring it back to help the rich get even richer. They also bring resources from other worlds.

Cara, the narrator and main character, has had so many brushes with death that she can visit 372 of the 380 parallel Earths. She grew up poor, in a one room shack in an Ash-town in the wastelands outside the walls of Wiley City and in many worlds died because she was in the way. So she jumped at the chance to live in rich Wiley City and have a chance at citizenship even knowing she would be despised for her origins. She has a love-hate relationship with her handler, Dell, with whom she flirts constantly but thinks she cannot have a real relationship since Dell is from a rich Wiley City family. Her mentor tries to get her to study to become an analyst since the company is working on remote data methods that would make tranversers obsolete.

Early in the book, Cara reveals to the reader that she is not the original Cara from this world, but was born on another Earth, where she was Emperor of the Wastelands Nik Nik’s concubine until she met the dying original Cara on her first inter-dimensional trip. Eager to escape Nik Nik, she secretly took her alternate self’s place and believes no one knows the truth, although her sister suspects since the new Cara is much nicer to her.

Gradually, she learns that her company’s new product is not a way of accessing other worlds’ data remotely, but a way to open up the worlds to tourism by the rich, without being limited to worlds where their other selves are dead. But Cara discovers that the limitation still exists and the Eldridge Institute plans on murdering the tourists’ counterparts on other Earths so the Earth zero version could travel there. This leaves Cara with a moral dilemma especially when she learns the truth about Adam Bosch.

The real strength of the book is not the inter-dimensional traveling, but the sharp division between the haves and have nots. The author has invented a plausible reason for Cara, from the lowest of the low, to interact with both the rich elite of Wiley City and the criminal emperors of the Wasteland. Cara is a fascinating character with the strengths of a survivor who refuses to be a victim so the reader understands why she is willing to lie and deny who she is in order to stay in Wiley City and then cheers for her when she makes the decision to risk everything to do the right thing.

I recommend the book for any reader who likes a little social commentary mixed with an interesting story.

I absolutely loved this book!

I'm a sucker for sci-fi stories where there are parallel worlds or a multi-verse, so that was super fun!
There's practically no homophobia/queerphobia in this world (multi-verse?) so that was awesome!
I love our main character, Cara, and her "watcher", Dell. (I would totally read a book told from Dell's perspective!)

The book opens with this quote from a different book:
“In the far reaches of an infinite cosmos, there’s a galaxy that looks just like the Milky Way, a solar system that’s the spitting image of ours,w/a planet that’s a dead ringer for earth, a house that’s indistinguishable from yours, inhabited by someone who looks just like you, who is right now reading this book and imagining you, in a distant galaxy, just reaching the end of this sentence-Brian Greene, The Hidden Reality"

Other Quotes that pack a punch:

"The universe erases me, but it also remakes me again and again, so there must be something worthwhile in this image."

“The multiverse isn't just parallel universes accessible through science. They are in each of us, a kaleidoscope made of varying perceptions.”

Goodreads' synopsis:
"An outsider who can travel between worlds discovers a secret that threatens her new home and her fragile place in it, in a stunning sci-fi debut that’s both a cross-dimensional adventure and a powerful examination of identity, privilege, and belonging.

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 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 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."

Kara straddles many worlds. She grew up in a religious sect in a Mad Max-like community of have-nots, but now lives in the domed city of the haves. Her job is jump between universes and gather data. Navigating all of these worlds can be brutal, both physically and psychologically. They always leave bruises.