This was one of my most unexpected reads of 2021, in the best way possible. The ending alone makes this book worth it. But there is still much more to get hooked on if you like a bit of existential dread, a touch of action, and all the emotions that comes with the end of the world - this will not disappoint.

An amazing landscape is brought to life in this novel by debut author Marissa Levien. Dive into this luscious novel and explore both the familiar and the exotic locales of the escape ship known as the world. As Myrra is on the run to save herself and her young charge Charlotte, we go on a tour through the city of New London, the fantastical underwater Vegas-like city of Palmer, the aged and worn all-but-abandoned tourist town of N’bot, and the ancient-like city of Kittimur with its heat, colors, and monks’ songs.

Our heroine Myrra is peppy and smart – a fun joy to observe. Her relationship with Charlotte is sweet and tender, in contrast to the hard-scrabble approach to life that Myrra normally takes, due to her hard upbringing as a “contract worker” – providing unpaid labor as a young girl in rough settings such as a laundry and a butcher. Due to her rough life, she is wary of most everyone, yet we see her growth throughout the novel, as she makes a friend in an unexpected way.

Excellently rendered, When the World Gives Way is recommended for anyone who enjoys interesting prose and amazing imagery. Sci Fi and Literary Fiction lovers can also get on board. There is mystery, action, and adventure here as well. And, it might just be a great one for your next book club.

Will Myrra and Charlotte, and those she picks up along her journey find a way out before The World Gives Way? Pick up your copy today and enjoy the journey of this wonderful landscape. And don’t miss the lush surprises and a possible twist as the story moodily glides to a clashing conclusion.

A big thank you to author Marissa Levien, narrator Christine Lakin, Hachette Audio’s imprint Redhook, and NetGalley for providing a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for this honest review.

To grab a copy of The World Gives Way for yourself, head on over to www.BookShop.org – the online bookstore that gives 75% of each book’s profit margin back to local, independent bookshops. Find yours at https://bookshop.org/lists/best-fiction-of-2021.

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I first heard about this book after a recommendation from another author. I was hesitant to pick it up, but I -- like seemingly so many other readers -- was pleasantly surprised.

In The World Gives Way, Levien introduces us to a near-future world. In order for humanity to survive, a group of people built a huge spaceship -- the world -- to travel 200 years across the galaxy to a new home. We focus on two alternating storylines. The first follows Myrra, a young contract worker (with a mere 50 years left on her contract), who must flee with the young daughter (Charlotte) of the recently-deceased Carlyle family (her previous employers) after she learns a dangerous secret. The second follows Tobias, a young security agent tasked with hunting down Myrra and Charlotte.

It was a quieter novel, one that focused on the people and their interactions more than on the science (though there was plenty present). The characters all felt so real -- with their complex fears, hopes, dreams, ideas, goals -- they were very well fleshed-out.

I honestly had no idea where the story would go next from page to page, and it kept me on my toes. There were a lot of interesting aspects to this world -- I especially liked the chapters that explained the origins of different areas of the world and why they were created as they were.

This was a quiet and unassuming book, but one that really packed a punch. The ending was perfect for the story (no spoilers!), and I think everything worked really well together.

I also really liked the narrator, who did a really good job of bringing both Myrra and Tobias to life!

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

I loved this book—first of all, the narration was well-done. The narrator had a melodic voice which made it perfect for my commute. The novel wasn't what I was expecting when I finished it. It had all the elements I was anticipating: futuristic, high-stakes, desperation, and suspense. The characters felt real; their goals, wants and responses were realistic to what I would expect my own to be as as they barrel into the inevitable.
As they face insurmountable odds, death, destruction — these characters change. Myrra is challenged at each turn whether to take Charlotte with her, whether to continue on regardless, and the impact her mother's abandonment has made on her all these years later. Tobias finds himself reevaluating what it means to have a "good life" and finding that he may have had the wrong idea all along.
The ending got me. I truly loved it—my heart simultaneously broke and healed a few times as I read this, and I highly recommend.
I received a copy of this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The plot was very unique and the world building and the narrative seemed very interesting. Mira and Tobias were very likeable characters and especially Charlotte. The World ending and all coming to an end and how to make oneself acquainted with the idea of death was very innovative and heart warming to read. Although I am not a big fan of sad endings but this one did not quite have a happy or a sad ending, but probably an open ending. The narrator did a fantastic job and the author's writing was quite simple and gripping to read. I was always on edge figuring out how this book will end and the ending definitely did not disappoint me. A great sci-fi read.
I just reviewed The World Gives Way by Marissa Levien. #TheWorldGivesWay #NetGalley

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one but I enjoyed it. It kept me interested the whole time and I didn’t want it to end

My thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

It is the end of the world as Myrra Dal knew it. The couple to whom her services she had been contracted were dead, The floating world that was supposed to have been their salvation had an irreparable crack. in the ship's hull Everyone on board was doomed.

After the death of her "employers," Myrra decides to escape her indentured servitude and sets out on an odyssey. .She takes the orphaned daughter of her former "employers" and sets out to find her mother, and a good place to settle back and await her death.

Myrra is eventually captured by Tobias. She tries to convince him that the ship is breaking apart, that death was inevitable for them all. Tobias believed in the system, but what good would it do them, she reasoned, when they were all going to die in the very near future?

So many people have given this slow-moving, introspective novel glowing reviews. While I was impressed with the world-building, I must confess that I wasn't all that interested in the mechanics and politics of this futuristic floating world. I was more interested in observing the psychological and emotional impact of the news of their inevitable demise on the inhabitants of this gigantic ship. Ultimately, this was a dry, meandering read for me. I am not a huge fan of fantasy or science fiction, but I was intrigued by the concept of this novel. For me, the big question was always: what would be each individual person's thoughts and actions as they waited for the end to come?

The ending of this novel was quite touching: there were, of course, plenty of tears and warm final thoughts. Obviously, this novel had to have one of those endings that I tend to dislike: it was all just so hopeless. Mind you, I was warned by the blurb of this inevitable, hopeless ending, so I suppose I can't complain when that is exactly what I got, can I?

This book wasn't what I expected but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was quite thought provoking and the world was well-realized.

In a Nutshell: This would be a great book for sci-fi beginners who want to try a dystopian novel with detailed sci-fi embellishments without going overboard on the technical jargon.

Story:
Myrra is a contract worker whose family has been in servitude since generations due to a bond signed by her great-grandmother a century ago. With 50 years to go on this contract, Myrra has to continue working with the Carlyles, her uber-rich, politically-influential owners. But one night, when both the Carlyles end up killing themselves, Myrra finds herself free but at a huge cost: a horrible secret that made them take their own lives, even willing to leave their infant daughter alone. Now Myrra has little Charlotte, a gateway to freedom, and nowhere to go. Is it too late for her? Will she be able to embrace and accept the truth about her fate?
Can’t reveal much more because I don’t want to give out spoilers, but the secret is so, so bad that it’s really good! :D
The story comes to us in the third person perspective of Myrra and Tobias, one of the investigating officers on the Carlyle case.

Where the book clicked for me:
• For a debut work, the scale of the story is really well-created. All the locations in the story are detailed out in such vivid detail that the scene comes alive in your mind. I loved every single locale described in the book, and the names given to them.
• The lead characters are pretty likeable, and quite realistic. They aren’t shown to be perfect but depicted with human strengths and flaws, making it easier to connect with them.
• Reading this book while in a pandemic is a philosophical experience in itself. There are so many poignant lines in the second half that left me lost in thought. (No, the book isn’t about a pandemic.)
• There is no forced romance. A big hurrah for that.
• The ending. Oh My God! A whole star for that ending. I wish I could tell you about it, I so want to talk about it, but my lips are zipped. All I can say is how happy I was that the book stuck to its natural flow and gave it a logical ending. With the way the narrative was going, I was mentally prepared for yet another last-minute, farfetched twist in the tale. But the manner in which the author brought things to a close took my breath away and I just sat for a few minutes, dumbfounded.


Where the book could have been better:
• The first half of the book is fast, almost thriller-like, with quick changes in scenes, character perspective shifts between Myrra and Tobias and a rush from one event to another. In the second half, the pace becomes slow and the writing becomes more like a drama, sometimes even turning philosophical. If you can’t realign yourself to this shift in pace and genre, you’ll be disappointed with either the first half or the second half.
• Some parts in the second half felt like personal philosophical advice being given by the author. I could have happily done without those.
• While still in third person, the writing suddenly peppers us with "let's consider" and "let us" and other such phrases. This is not in what the characters are saying but in the background scene description. Such ad-hoc use of the first person imperative marred the overall writing flow of those chapters.
• Though the character sketching was more or less okay, Myrra seemed far too prescient considering her lack of formal education or learning opportunities. I couldn’t come to terms with the depth of her knowledge, especially as she was said to be hardly schooled and had no access to books or technology. The extent to which she grasped technical stuff by overhearing conversations was unrealistic.

So there were areas of improvement for sure. But I still think this is a pretty good debut work and would love to read more by this author. The pros far outweighed the cons for me, and I think I’m also being more generous because of that choice of ending.

The audio book is about 13 hours long, and is narrated by Christine Lakin. She is fabulous with her narration. I think her “male voice” is one of the best I’ve heard from a female narrator. She doesn’t deliberately convert her tone to a guttural bass but just voices Tobias in a natural-sounding way. I don’t know what she did, but I enjoyed it. Getting the reader to concentrate from the first scene to the last in such a lengthy audiobook without any rewinding needed is a big plus point for the narrator.

Thank you, NetGalley and Hachette Audio, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

It's a 4.25 from me.

After the first couple chapters, this book slowed down and dragged a bit. However, once it sped up, it got really good! I really loved the premise. I liked the characters although I think they could’ve used a little better development. Even though we were given their histories, I don’t feel like they really had personalities. I give this book 3.5 stars but I’m rounding it up.

Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Myrra lives on a spaceship the size of Switzerland, one that’s been shooting through space for over a hundred years. The entire world she knows—the only world her parents and grandparents knew—is this spaceship. And it’s failing.

The World Gives Way is a debut sci-fi dystopian novel, and it’s exactly what I needed right now. I love dystopian stories and I’ve been trying to get more into science fiction, plus with the secretive elements and dramatic irony, this book was right up my alley.

Myrra is an indentured contract worker, has been since she was five, working for the highest bidder. She was most recently working for the Carlyles when she found out the world she lives on is cracked and failing, and there’s no way to fix it. Humanity has only two months left until everything ends. When the Carlyles end up dead, Myrra takes on the responsibility of caring for their now-orphaned daughter, Charlotte. She takes Charlotte and sets out on a journey, which is the bulk of this novel.

We have another POV, that of Tobias, an employee at the New London Security Bureau. He’s assigned to solve the mystery around a case involving a wealthy government official and his wife found dead, their daughter missing, and their servant on the run after stealing some of the couple’s items. Sound like anyone we know?

I loved the juxtaposition of switching between chapters from the woman on the run and chapters from the man who’s looking for her. This made for lots of good moments when I as the reader knew more than the characters and was excited to see how the story would play out.

This is a light sci-fi, one that I would recommend for beginners to science fiction. For much of the story, you actually forget it’s science fiction because the story doesn’t focus on that. The spaceship is set up like earth, with simulated seasons and weather and sky patterns. There are mountains and seas and beaches and caves and various cities with a train system that connects them all. It feels like earth for the most part, but then little details pop up here and there to remind the reader that the story doesn’t actually take place on earth. I really liked that because while I do love science fiction, I really struggle to read space-based science fiction, and this didn’t feel like it took place in space at all.

There’s also the dystopian aspect that earth is no longer habitable so the human population is on its way to a new planet to live, one that will take hundreds of years to get to. We don’t get much detail on what caused the people to emigrate from earth, which is something I would have liked to learn, but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment too much. There is also not much detail about the logistics of a spaceship that big being built and how that all came to be, but we do get to see some of the behind-the-scenes workings of the ship, and I did enjoy that part.

The World Gives Way was unlike anything I’ve read before. I loved it; I loved the setting and the journey and the characters and the non-traditional but inevitable ending. This book is about finding hope in hopeless situations and making the best of it.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in sci-fi or dystopian novels. Marissa Levien wrote a wonderful story and I know I’ll be watching out for other books from her in the future. The audiobook narrator also performed splendidly and really made the story come to life for me.

Sci-Fi isn't usually my genre of choice. I was drawn to the availability of the audiobook, the description and the cover. I enjoyed listening to the audio, it was well done and the narrator did a great job.

Myrra's employers commit suicide and place a two year old in her care. Instead of talking to the police, she tries to escape (from her 50 year employment contract).

The book was really creative in how the world was described.

I felt a little put off when everyone is panicking and the protagonists just happen to come across water, power bars, diapers and vehicles at opportune times. But if this is my biggest complaint, then it was pretty good ... right?

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher (Redhook Books) and the author Marissa Levien for the opportunity to review The World Gives Way: A Novel in exchange for an honest review. Publication date is 15 June 2021.

I feel bad for this but I called it at 44%. At that almost halfway point I still wasn't invested in the plot - although the premise of this book was really interesting - or the characters. The dual pov didn't really do it for me, especially when one was such a chore for me to get through I put the audiobook on more than 2x speed just to get through it. I also wasn't a fan of the info dumping. I thought the narrator did a good job though, it was just the execution of the story and the logic of the characters weren't doing it for me. But all those aside, I would be open to trying this again in another format.

Without giving anything away, “The World Gives Way” describes the intersection of the lives of two strangers at the end of the world. Overall I really enjoyed this book. The characters’ plight forced me to think about what truly matters and consider the implications of the destruction of the vulnerable environment that we all live in. One thing I really enjoyed about this book was the cinematic descriptions. I could clearly visualize this as a film or tv series. I know it’s a trope that “The book was better” when talking about adaptations but in this case, I would likely disagree. As a person who primarily reads for character depth, I was disappointed in the predictability and lack of nuance the characters displayed but was compelled to the end by the engaging plot.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ALC.

This was very... Hmm. Well, it's not a hopeful book by any means. And I don't think that's what I was expecting (from the brightly colored cover to teasing mentions of freedom in the synopsis) but it also felt undeniably realistic in that way too. I like that we don't see some last-ditch surprise that goes against reality and the tone as we know it up to this point. And indeed, there's something beautiful about the way Myrra embraces what she has, her life as it has been, and where she came from.

The other thing that's very much worth noting is a plethora of very strange yet arresting images that we get amidst dreams of disaster. Levien so brilliantly follows the spiral of someone's imagination, whether it's entirely logical or not. One of my favorites is from very early on when a character is trying to come to grips with the idea of being sucked out into space and thinking that the water in her eyeballs might freeze and shatter, sending glittering shards into the black. Obviously that's not how that would go, but the idea is that this character's panic is sinking deep claws into her imagination and spinning images of terrifying and illogical things in the wake of uncertainty.

And that looming uncertainty shows us so much about our characters and the other people they see. How people want to be anywhere but where they are, how panic feasts on infrastructure and morality, how the rich vs poor react.

It's not a light or easy read, and there were a few connections I think I missed along the way, plus the idea of intimacy automatically leading to romantic/sexual relationship/attraction... But I devoured it anyway. And I enjoyed the ride.

On the audio specifically: I really enjoyed Christine Lakin's narration style. She does very well distinguishing different characters while also still allowing emotions and mannerisms to come through the narration.

Unfortunately, I don't really have much to say about this book. For such a dramatic plot twist, the story felt surprisingly unexciting.

Not all was bad. The writing was OK, the protagonists likable enough and the premise had a lot of potential.

But to me, the pacing felt really slow and full of turns and details I didn't really care about. The way the book started, I was expecting much more from it.

Thank you to the #NetGalley and to the author and publisher for providing me with an audiobook version of The World Gives Way by Marissa Levien in exchange for an honest review.

This book was good, not my favourite but a solid read.

Here is the thing about this book, I think I barely read the description of this book and requested an ARC based on the cover alone.

I was not expecting this book to be as dark as it was and I liked that. I found the concept great, I found it well written I just had a hard time connecting to the characters. This book is extremely character-driven, it actually reminded me of Circe and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue in terms of pacing but unfortunately the miss here for me was that I just didn't care about the characters.

Myrra and Tobias are the central characters in this book and the heartbreaking journey they go on as their world threatens to literally break apart should have made me feel something. Instead, I found myself not feeling much of anything. I wanted this book to break my heart, I wanted this book to leave me feeling reflective and introspective but alas, I just moved on to another book.

It was not bad, and some have and will feel connected to these characters and the journey they go on. I will happily recommend this book to people who like a character-driven book or just love a "the world is ending" trope. With this as a debut, I think Levien has all the tools to create a killer sophomore novel but this was just ok for me. I truly think this book should be optioned into a movie, I think it would be an excellent one. I feel like in two hours this narrative could play out in a way that is truly impactful, that relies more on the plot than the characters to carry the story.

The World Gives Way: A Novel by Marissa Levien
Narrated by Christine Lakin
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Sci Fi & Fantasy
Publication Date: June 15, 2021

There are some books that stay with you long after you finish them and I know that The World Gives Way by Marissa Levien is one of them!

This book was so much more than I expected! Set in a future world, I was expecting a bleak dystopia, instead I found a story with rich characters and a lively world filled with secrets.

I loved the depth and dimension of this book and I didn’t want it to end. I absolutely loved the characters! They felt so real!

I’m trying to be careful about what I say because I do not want to give away spoilers, but I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves books set in the future, sci-fi, police dramas, fiction….honestly, this has something for everyone. And most of all, there is a wonderful story that I found to be captivating!

I listened to the audiobook and the narration by Christine Lakin was incredible! She gave each character a distinctive voice and brought the story to a new level!

The World Gives Way will be published on June 15th so make sure you get your ore-order in! You don’t want to wait to read this one!!!

I'm so grateful to Marissa Levien, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Peak escapist sci-fi with a truly ingenious twist.

Loved:
• Secrets, injustices and a struggle for freedom as a futuristic dystopia spectacularly unravels.
• Gird your loins, strap in, and keep your hands firmly inside the car because the stakes are set to 100 from the word go.
• Christine Lakin offers a subtly wistful performance that allows the writing to shine through.
• The mix of action and intrigue with thought provoking commentary on social mobility and prejudice is so effortless it is surely the stuff of magic.

Could Have Loved More:
• While most of the plot moves at a steady pace, Myrra’s stay at the hotel felt slower and out of step, almost like the eye of the storm.

Shall I compare thee to:
If Margaret Atwood and George Lucas had directed The Day After Tomorrow.

Big thanks to Net Galley, Hachette Audio and Redhook for providing me a copy in return for an honest review.

The Short Version: A dramatically ambitious debut novel about finding meaning in nothingness. A book that has all the right notes but is a little more music theory than a beautiful symphony.

The Long Version: I got to listen to the audiobook version of this novel thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio.

Myrra is an indentured servant on a spaceship flying to a new world. When they arrive in 50 years she’ll be set free, but until that time she works for the Carlyles. One night, the Carlyles ask her to take care of their infant daughter, Charlotte, and when they’re suddenly gone, Myrra is forced to reckon with what’s happened and where to go from there.

This was a weird and tough one for me. Most of the time I felt rather MEH listening to it, but when I looked at my notes and really thought on it, there wasn’t much of anything glaringly poor or wrong about this book.

The protagonists were both likable. They had layered stories that informed their actions pretty well. Their character arcs made sense and were nicely drawn, coming to sensible and satisfying conclusions.

The prose was well written, though the third person limited occasionally drifted into more of an omniscient tone, and there were moments with too much telling vs. showing.

The plot moved at a reasonable pace and given all the circumstances, each move made logical sense even if there were a few convenient plot twists.

I wanted to say that this book just never hooked me, but that would be inaccurate. The first few chapters were a firecracker start, and instantly establish life or death stakes. The ending too, was really something great. I feared for a lot of the book we were headed toward a fairy tale ending, but the author spared that injustice and wrote something tragic and beautiful instead.

So what went wrong? Sounds pretty awesome so far right? In the end, I think it was a lot of little things that nagged at me.

Considering the high stakes, the middle of the book sagged pretty hard. Myrra was on a journey of discovering meaning, and while it’s not like nothing happened, there was this feeling of “so what?” constantly cloying at me.

This book examines big topics and big questions, so there were a number of moments where the story felt melodramatic instead of profound, like it was close to something greater but was pushing too hard.

Myrra too was flawed in her construction because she did not seem flawed enough. She was an uneducated servant, and while she was ambitious and clever, she’s written essentially flawless. She has to improvise a plan once the Carlyles go missing, but every move works out in her favor and she’s always one step ahead. She seems too prescient at times as well and I couldn’t get behind her like I wanted to.

This is definitely not a book for die hard sci-fi fans as the sci-fi aspects are mostly window dressing and set pieces. Additionally, as Myrra travels to the new parts of the world, there are short chapters that explain the composition and construction of each region which was very clunky as a world building technique.

The narrator of the audiobook did not help in this situation either as far as I can tell. It may be because the last three audiobooks I listened to had pretty killer narrators enhancing the story, but here everything felt muted. Considering the life and death stakes, the moments of emotion were more foothills than peaks and valleys. The narrator did do a nice job differentiating character voices and each felt distinct and easy to track. Overall though I wasn’t pulled in by her.

I think there may be two things going on here that left me feeling differently than some other reviewers. First is that perhaps this book is a mirror of the reader. For the more glass half full crowd, the ones who find beauty in the mundane, this is a rich emotional journey and a sure fire winner. For the glass half empty group however, the entirety of the journey feels pointless and it’s a struggle to find the meaning Myrra is searching for. The second possibility is that those reading the book can put their own emotion into it whereas I was having mine filtered through an audiobook narration that did not convey the richness of narrative.

Overall a solid 3 out of 5. If you’re in a book rut and need a safe read that’s unlikely to bomb, this is a good choice. I definitely recommend a print or digital version so you can pour your own emotion into it. Again, do not recommend for hardcore sci-fi fans...I would expect this to come up short to that crowd.

Component Ratings
Idea/Concept: 4 out of 5
Female Protagonist: 3 out of 5
Male Protagonist: 3 out of 5
Pacing: 3.5 out of 5
Prose: 3.5 out of 5
Plot: 2 out of 5
World Building: 2.5 out of 5
Narrator Performance: 2.5 out of 5
Dialogue: 3.5 out of 5
Ending: 4.5 out of 5