The space between worlds by micaiah johnson
The Space Between Worlds
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
EDITORS’ CHOICE • An outsider who can travel between worlds discovers a secret that threatens the very fabric of the multiverse in this stunning debut, a powerful examination of identity, privilege, and belonging.
WINNER OF THE COMPTON CROOK AWARD • FINALIST FOR THE LOCUS AWARD •
“
Gorgeous writing
,
mind-bending world-building
,
razor-sharp social commentary, and a main character who demands your attention—and your allegiance.”—Rob Hart, author of
The Warehouse
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR—NPR,
Library Journal,
Book Riot
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 dystopian 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 what once made her marginalized has finally become an unexpected source
Why this book:
When I asked my friend Alison what book in the past few years she’d read that had impacted her, she responded immediately with this book. I mentioned it to my friend Luke, an avid Sci Fi reader who responded “Fantastic book.” Reviews on line are mixed, from very positive, to strong down checks.
Summary in 3 sentences
The novel is written from the first person perspective of a paid universe traverser who travels to different versions of Earth that simultaneously exist in parallel, to gather information. We also learn about the version of earth that she lives in, which is a dystopian future vision of the America we live in today. In traversing these multiple realities, our protagonist is learning not only about other versions of our earth in parallel universes, but also about herself and her world of friends, enemies, relations, and trusted confidants, and she and the story evolve from confronting different versions in different realities, of the people she knows in the world from which she is travelling.
My Impressions:
Very imaginative book – a Sci Fi novel which includes a lot of different and creative ideas and content.
Title:
The Space Between Worlds
Author: Micaiah Johnson
336 Pages
Published August 4th 2020 by Crown
Representation for: Black bisexual main character, sapphic Japanese love interest, f/f relationships, Black side characters, and non-binary side characters
Trigger Warnings: on-page violence and descriptions of past abuse, both emotional and physical
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
Cara grew up in the wastelands, the dusty resource-desert the lower classes call home, but now, as an important commodity to the Eldridge Institute, she lives in Wiley City where the skyscrapers loom tall and the streets are fully swept. But Cara’s path to citizenship is tied to dangerous work traveling the multiverses and gathering data for the Institute. This is how she learns that survival makes her unique among her doppelgängers, who seem fated to die young, and valuable to her employer which seeks access to as many alternate worlds as it can reach. But there’s one mysterious Cara death among the many that catches the traverser’s attention and makes her wonder if there’s something more urgent and personal to be learned from her assignments, and if the game afoot has broad and catastrophic implications.
Beyond Cara’s survival instincts and tenacity giving scenes that thrilling edge, the chemistry between Cara and her handler, Dell, crackled on the page. I kept anticipating scenes between the women, and that moment where flirtation blossoms into romance. Moreover, they symbolize that being allowed to live in Wiley City doesn’t mean you’re given the same privileges and standin