I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson Published by Hodder & Stoughton on 4th August 2021
Genres: Love & Romance, Science Fiction, Supernatural, Time Travel
Pages: 323
Format: eARC
Source: from Netgalley
Goodreads
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A multiverse-hopping outsider discovers a secret that threatens her home world and her fragile place in it--a stunning sci-fi debut that's both a cross-dimensional adventure and a powerful examination of identity, privilege, and belonging.
CARA IS DEAD ON THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FOUR WORLDS.
The multiverse business is booming, 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 diseases, from turf wars, from vendettas they couldn't outrun.
But on this earth, Cara's survived. And she's reaping the benefits, thanks to the well-heeled Wiley City scientists who ID'd her as an outlier and plucked her from the dirt. Now she's got a new job collecting offworld data, a path to citizenship, and a near-perfect Wiley City accent. Now she can pretend she's always lived in the city she grew up staring at from the outside, even if she feels like a fraud on either side of its walls.
But when one of her eight remaining doppelgangers dies under mysterious circumstances, Cara is plunged into a new world with an old secret. What she discovers will connect her past and future in ways she never could have imagined--and reveal her own role in a plot that endangers not just her world, but the entire multiverse.
This book has such an interesting concept. I love a little bit of sci-fi especially if there’s a bit of romance thrown in too. I requested this from Netgalley but I also got this beautiful edition from Illumicrate in my monthly box.
If you aren’t a big sci-fi person I would say that this is a great book to ease you into it. It’s not too heavy on the sci-fi in my opinion.
The world-building in this story is amazing. I loved seeing Cara jump between worlds. It was so cool to see how the worlds were the same but different. The little things that changed had a big impact on the wider picture. I found this fascinating.
Cara is such a complex and interesting character. I really liked her. I’m really struggling to explain without giving away too many spoilers but Cara is so much more than she initially seems.
I also really love Cara’s sister. She is such a good character. She’s also super smart.
My only gripe with this story is that I wanted to see more worlds. We only get to see a handful of the 300 odd worlds that Cara can visit. I’d love to see some novellas or spin-offs that show us more. This book had such a satisfying ending that I wouldn’t want to see anything that happened to the universe after but I would definitely be interested in the past.
I really enjoyed this debut from Micaiah and I can’t wait to see what she brings next!
About Micaiah Johnson
Micaiah Johnson was raised in California’s Mojave Desert surrounded by trees named Joshua and women who told stories.
She received her Bachelor of Arts in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside and her Master of Fine Arts in fiction from Rutgers-Camden. She now studies American Literature at Vanderbilt University where she focuses on critical race theory… and automatons.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
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