If You Could Have One Chance... or Hundreds (The Space Between Worlds sci-fi REVIEW)

Imagine you, but on a different Earth… one perhaps not so very much changed, just not quite the same. Now, imagine you in a dozen such worlds. In a hundred. Or, in The Space Between Worlds (Micaiah Johnson’s dazzling debut), 382 different versions of you, on 382 different Earths. 

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In a not-so-distant, dystopian future, traveling within the multiverse is possible—not for the average Joe, mind you, being crazy-expensive—but doable. [Let’s back up for a sec, though, to break down “multiverse”: consider our universe, then assume that—since space is literally infinite—multiple universes essentially identical to ours probably exist within that vast expanse, including multiple earths populated by our doppelgängers… who may—or may not—behave as we do, given the vagaries of human decision-making, behavior, and whatnot. Yeah?]

Anyway, back to traversing the multiverse. For the few people allowed to do so, it’s a job: go to whatever Earth the assignment calls for, download a record of whatever has transpired since the last visit, note any major changes, then hightail it back to the travel pod to be whooshed home again.

The catch? Travel is only possible to other ‘verses where the other “you” has already died; if anyone attempts—whether accidentally (monumental oops), or on purpose (heaven forbid)—to travel where their counterpart still exists, one of the two WILL. DIE. (Space, it seems, really frowns on two versions of anything occupying the same place at the same time.)

That brings us to our hero, Cara. After a hardscrabble upbringing in a dirt-poor town on the outskirts of wealthy Wiley City, Cara was recruited by the prestigious Eldridge Institute to join their team of travelers. Why? Because it turns out more versions of Cara are dead on those 382 other Earths than any other person… rendering her able to travel more places than anyone else. So, while she’ll never “fit in” among the natives of the elite Wiley City—being the dark-skinned, badass, hard-drinking, death-metal-meets-goth traveler that she is (and thus nothing like the pale, proper, white-clothed, elitists inhabiting said city)—she gets to enjoy a certain freedom (and definitely, a much nicer place to live and better food to eat) by dint of her unique position, to the point that she’s working toward one day acquiring permanent citizenship there.

It all seems within her grasp… until the trip that changes everything. Visiting an Earth for the first time—one in which that version of her has only just recently died—she uncovers a very big secret… one that reaches through all the planes of space, and threatens to rip the multiverse apart. And, lucky Cara, she’s also the only one who might be able to stop that from happening.  

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I’m just gonna put this out there: The Space Between Worlds is unequivocally going to tie for my favorite-book-of-2020. Really, this one is THAT. GOOD.

First, it’s a GREAT yarn, full of fantastic world-building, a small cast of genuinely engaging characters, and a compelling story that never drags. And, if that was all it were, it’d be a fine sci-fi story.

That’s really only sort of scratching the surface, though, because The Space Between Worlds also seamlessly incorporates SO MANY aspects of humanity, and confronts societal injustices head on; race relations, sexual orientation, gender identity, poverty, elitism, politics, megalomania, religion, family, the powers (and faces) of love (and the list goes on)… all are wound inextricably through every page, and every breath. 

The Space Between Worlds—much like its hero, Cara—doesn’t pull its punches… in the very best way possible. This is sci-fi with a statement to make, and I loved every single bit of it. I think you will, too.

~GlamKitty

 

(This is an easy recommendation for sci-fi, urban fantasy, dystopian, and psychological thriller fans.)