The Space Between Worlds

by Micaiah Johnson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book had a really interesting way of world-building that I enjoyed a great deal. You are dropped into the setting without really getting any explanation and you are never really handed it through the whole book either. It starts a bit confusing, but context clues really put the pieces together and everything makes sense. I really admire this and found it to be a really big draw to this book, though the characters were also interesting and helped keep things flowing well.

Full Review with Spoilers

I’m a sucker for character driven stories, and while this book does have well written characters, this wasn’t what really sold me on it. We are dropped in the middle of a very deep and somewhat complicated future with an equally complicated story. I love that the author doesn’t try to get us established with a lot of droning exposition to explain everything. We get just enough information in the beginning of the book to get us going. As you read, the confusion starts to clear and the details start falling into place. The author did this so well that it constantly felt like getting to learn a twist I wasn’t expecting. And of course the actual plot twists where just as interesting. The narrative kept me on my toes the whole time.

Cara was a really fun character to follow through this book. She was witty, snarky and emotional in the best ways. The books concept was amazing, but I do think it wouldn’t have had the same impact with a different character. I loved her interactions with the supporting characters too, especially her love interest Dell. The entire supporting cast really shines and where so important in demonstrating the nature of multiverse travel. Getting to see multiple versions of the same person, like her sister Esther or Dell, was fun. Watching Cara try to separate what she knew of one version of a person from another was interesting. She was so fixed on each person essentially being the same across all different versions of Earth the she struggled more than she should have. This is especially true of her ex Nik Nik.

Overall

This was a really fun sci-fi with a unique world and even more unique way of presenting it that hooks you and keeps you interested the whole way through. I constantly wanted to keep reading just to see where it was going and find out what secrets where still left to uncover.