Stars: 5 out of 5

This is by far one of the best books I've read in 2020, and I have read over 90 books so far this year.

Here is the premise: multiverse travel is possible thanks to the technology discovered by a brilliant inventor on what is called Earth Zero. Unfortunately, in order to traverse the space between worlds and survive the integration into the new reality, the traveler needs to be dead on the other side. So basically, you can only travel to worlds in which the local version of you is already dead, otherwise it would be like trying to push yourself into a space that is already occupied. The results are... bloody and definitely fatal to the traversee.

So even though scientists are biting at the bit to go and explore different versions of reality, most of them come from wealthy backgrounds, which means they are alive in almost all those realities. So people from disadvantaged backgrounds make the best traversees. People who live in poverty and hunger, in war thorn villages, and places ravaged by disease.

Cara, our protagonist, is one of those people. She is dead in all but a handful of the 300 or so worlds that can be visited from Earth 0. She is worth something to the company she works for precisely because she is so worthless to the rest of reality that it's a miracle she survived at all.

I loved Cara as a characters. She is deeply flawed and has a huge chip on her shoulder. She is convinced that she is worthless, that she is scum, that doesn't deserve love, affection, or even happiness. Part of it is because of her upbringing, part of it is because she studied how all of the other versions of herself died, part of it is because she has a secret she is ashamed of.

This perception of unworthiness taints Cara's view of everything in the world as well as her relationships with people she loves. And it's infuriating and painful to watch sometimes. She immediately assumes the worse in any situation and acts on that assumption, often creating conflict where there wasn't any or hurting people who didn't mean any harm to her.

A lot of times I just wanted to shake her and tell her to just stop assuming and actually TALK to people. Especially when it comes to her relationship with Dell. She loves Dell, but she had decided that Dell doesn't reciprocate the feeling, that she is either indifferent or flat out hates her instead. And she decided that without even talking to Dell about it. Really? A lot of hurt feelings and misunderstandings could have been averted if those two had sat down and talked things through at least once.

It was very interesting and satisfying to see Cara grow as a person. She starts the book as someone only looking out for herself. Someone who is trying so hard to fit in with the citizens of the City that she is shunting everything that remind her of her roots. It's very fulfilling to see her realize that those roots make her who she is now. That she is worthy of love and admiration as a person she is, not just as a commodity that can hop between worlds.

I like that by embracing those roots she realizes that there is only so much that her moral compass would let her do, and when she stumbles into a dangerous plot and has a choice to make between going along and living in comfort and being ashamed of herself for it, or going with her conscience and trying to stop the people responsible, and probably die in the process, she chooses the later.

There are a lot of important themes in this book. What is the value of human life? What length would you go to to pursue your dream? Can people change, and more importantly, can your perception of people change based on their actions?

And the most important message of all, I think - you can find happiness if you accept yourself fully, flaws and all.

2020 has been a difficult year for all of us, and I found that message of hope was extremely timely and uplifting.

PS: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a struggle for me. Initially, I really enjoyed the writing, I liked the attitude of the main character, and the idea of traveling to other universes was super cool. As I continued into the story though, it's just terribly confusing. I ended up going back and re-reading things constantly because I felt like I missed something. There was a scene where the whole time I thought she was talking with her mother, then the next scene, she was leaving to go visit her mother, and I was like, wait, so who was that other scene with? And I had to go back and read it again. I'm not normally this confused in stories. I think that there were details missing that would have helped make things clearer.

The other thing that really bothered me was the character's age. She's in her mid-twenties, but she acts, speaks, and thinks like a teenager. I had a hard time believing her age, which made the love stories a bit awkward because I kept forgetting how old she actually was.

Overall, I did not enjoy this book, and I'm so disappointed that I didn't. I had high hopes for this one, and it just didn't work out.

I was provided a gifted copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

While the world building and characterization are amazing, it's slow going to untangle the actual plot from the details. I found it confusing and not quite worth the effort

The space between worlds is scfi that focuses on travel between the multiverse. This was fun and triller ride with so many twist and turns that make your head go around. Cara was interesting mc to follow, I thought her story was engaging and complex. Overall if your looking for a good scfi I recommend this one

*Catching up on old reviews*

I enjoyed this book. I'm not 100% sure on my thoughts about reading a future installment, if there is one, but I enjoyed it as a standalone. There were definitely some *gasp* moments and I loved the edgy sci-fi elements. I'd recommend it for fans of Dark Matter (Crouch).

I went into this extremely excited for the premise. The book features strong writing and character work, but after about 20% I struggled to keep up with the character and the happenings of the many different worlds. The many versions of the main character started to melt together a bit for me and I couldn’t keep track of what the main character had actually experienced. It’s an interesting approach, but personally I had difficulty keeping up and DNF.

I'm all for a YA dystopia novel (especially with sci-fi themes) but this book just didn't end up working for me. I had read a lot of the good reviews and high ratings on Goodreads, so maybe this is a case of just not living up to expectations.

The story revolves around a young woman who is able to travel to different (almost identical) worlds. This premise reminded me a lot of "Dark Matter" by Blake Crouch, so I was definitely able to get behind the framework for the novel. However, there were way too many characters (in the main world and otherwise), so I felt confused most of the time reading this. I also felt like I had to concentrate really hard and go back and reread passages, which is always the sign to me that I'm not really enjoying a book.

There were things I enjoyed of course - mainly a LGBTQIA+ romance and that this was written by an OwnVoice author. But otherwise, this might have just been the wrong fit for this reader.

An inventive look at the multiverse set in a utopian city surrounded by a mad max wasteland. The science of world traveling requires the most unlucky of all. Meet your hero.

I really enjoyed this book. It was entertaining and gave a good description of how world travel worked without going into an inordinate amount of boring detail. I found it intriguing just from reading the description and found myself really invested in the main characters story. I also loved that it wasn’t totally predictable. I’m hoping there are going to be more books and this becomes a series...because I can see it going either way.
I will say, I wish there was more about Cara and Dell in The Space Between Worlds. I loved their story and it left me WANTING!
If you like Sci-fi, this is a good one. It’s not crazy hard to understand but gives you just enough to get by!

If you like sci fi novels about alternate universes, scrappy protagonists, deceit, hope, and lady badassery, this one is DEFINITELY for you.

Any book that involves the multiverse (or parallel worlds) I'm all about. This one was very intriguing because you can't visit one of the worlds where you are alive. Which means if you travel between worlds and have many you are dead in a lot of places. This is how it was for Cara. When a version of Cara dies and opens up a new world the secrets she brings back from that world open up all kinds of problems. I hope this is a series! I would read everything I ever could about this. I loved the book from the beginning to the end. I loved the whole world building of an earth like ours, but in the future and different. I loved the idea of travelling in the multiverse and the issues it can cause. I loved Cara and wanted her to survive in one of the worlds. For me, this was a book well worth reading.

What is The Space Between Worlds? Well, its science fiction, of course. But, this book is more than that.
It is a story of a woman who "traverses" from one parallel world to another (hundreds of them!)
It is a story of a woman born on the worst side of town, striving to get to the "dream" city.
It is a story of good and evil (isn't it always?)
It is a story of seeing other people, as well as one's self, as they really are. The main character's opinion of her supervisor, her mentor, the head of the company, her mother, her sister, etc. evolves across time and worlds.
You may have read multi-verse, sci/fi before. This one is different.
Definitely worth your time.

Thanks, I read and enjoyed this. I may assign an interview with the author to a freelance writer and run the story in 11 newspapers and websites in the Southern California News Group including the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Daily News. If so, I will include links below.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is a fascinating book. It’s set in a world where parallel world travel is an option, but only if your doppelgänger in that world is dead. So the main character, Cara, has a job of traveling between worlds because her other “selves” are really good at dying. But then she lands in a world where she discovers a secret that could rock all the worlds. She has to decide if exposing the secret is worth it. Not only is the tech/sci-fi aspects of this book great, the characters are really fascinating too. Especially when there are multiple versions of the same character on different worlds. So if you like your sci-fi to be character driven rather than tech-y, this book is for you. I would definitely recommend. Good news – at least right now this is a stand alone book, no need to worry about more books coming (obviously this could change, but this easily stands on it’s own).

Okay this book is just too cool! Bi rep! multi demential plot and characters. space. romance. I loved this book! I really enjoyed the character development and the cometary on BIPOC lives. I'll definitely have Micaiah Johnson on my "to look out for" list!

I received a reviewer copy of The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson from the publisher from Random House Ballatine from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

CW: Abuse

What It’s About: There are alternative worlds and the scientists have finally found a way to travel between worlds. The people who do this are the traversers, the only rule is that you can only travel to worlds where the alternative you is dead. Cara only has 7 other selves living, but she accidentally stumbles into a huge controversy.

What I Loved: This book is expertly crafted and is a fantastic illustration of classism and corporate greed. The book is slow to build but all the pieces go together and make sense. There is a really lovely romance. I really liked the secondary characters. The world building is exceptional and the idea of visiting worlds and the impact that has on our global security, resources, and corruption. It is fascinating and just really great world building. The author writes beautifully.

What I didn’t like so much: The book was slowly paced in a way that made me think she was going to make this a series but it gets wrapped up very quickly and while it's satisfying, I think she could have expanded the world, but that's me being selfish.

Who Should Read It: People who love sci-fi/fantasy. People interested in alternative worlds. People who want more LGBTQ representation in a book. People who love stories with hidden messages and commentary.

General Summary: Traveling through alternative worlds and taking down global corruption.

There are some cool elements in this book but for me, it was way too dense of a story. There was just so much going on that it wore me down. I can certainly see some people really enjoying this read, what with the different dimensions and the thriller aspect, but I just couldn't get into it. It sort of reminded me of that old TV show Fringe (I guess it's not that old). That is actually why I wanted to read, but it just didn't do it for me. It's all good.

I quite liked the idea that this book proposes. I couldn't wait to explore the multi-earths and all the possibilities; I was sorely disappointed. I understand the need to have each earth with the same people but I didn't expect it to be so closely knitted that only a few key things changed from earth to earth.

I liked the main character Cara, though her inner voice, the one telling the story, felt off in age. She was an adult with a very child like way of telling us what happened. There was a disconnect here between the world she was trying to develop for us to imagine and the actual one she inhabited.

It was not confusing to follow and the initial plot was actually a great premise, just lacking a great execution and follow through. Great foundation as they say, poor building on top.

I really feel like a nice heavy hand at editing and this could have been much better.

I did like the writing style at times and would give this author another go....in a different novel though.

*thank you netgalley and publisher for allowing me a review copy*

This review is a tough one to write because overall the book is good but there was something missing to put it at 5 stars and I can’t figure out what that thing is. Part of it is the ending - it didn’t fit with the tone and reality of the book. I can’t say more without spoilers but it didn’t fit. World building is excellent and so is character development. I will buy the next book by this author. Also, this is the author’s debut novel and it is worth reading.