The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
(Format used for this read: Print–hardback)
My selected reads from my Book Of The Month picks *rarely* let me down, yall.
I have found some of the most AMAZING books thru them….AND I just freakin’ ADORE getting that blue box in my mailbox every 4 weeks.
(If you wanna check out what I’m talking about, click the link right there to see the wonderfulness of this subscription!
https://www.mybotm.com/rcthh8xwcnf?show_box=true )
And yes, I am STILL buying books in print.
I just can’t make that e-book transition yall….I JUST CAN NOT DO IT.
I like to turn the actual pages, hold the cover in my hands….reading is just not the same to me on a screen, my friends.
I know I’ve said this multiple times before, but it is always worth repeating.
And do not ask me why I have ZERO problems with audiobooks but such big ones with e-books….
Because I seriously have no clue.
Makes no sense…but it’s my truth and I’m owning it.
There are some mysteries in this world that will forever remain unsolved….this shall be one 😁
So….usually my BOTM picks are glorious and interesting…even if I go against the grain of my typical genre picks, I am MOST OF THE TIME pleasantly surprised by trying something out of the ordinary for me.
This book right here had the perfect set up for me to love it…
A strong female protagonist, dystopian theme, “medium level” sci-fi, deeply conflicted characters, and layers of social commentary.
See what I mean in the official summary:
“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 of power. 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 feel at home in either place. So long as she can keep her head down and avoid trouble, Cara is on a sure path to citizenship and security.
But trouble finds Cara when one of her eight remaining doppelgängers dies under mysterious circumstances, plunging her into a new world with an old secret. What she discovers will connect her past and her future in ways she could have never imagined—and reveal her own role in a plot that endangers not just her world but the entire multiverse.”
All signs pointed to YES for my literary enjoyment of this book.
But I do not know what went wrong….because I did NOT enjoy it.
THIS WAS THE ONE I KEPT TELLING YALL ABOUT IN MY OTHER REVIEWS.
The book I was just draggggggging myself thru at a sloth’s pace.
I can’t put my finger exactly on what it was particularly but I just absolutely could NOT get drawn into this book.
I kept thinking each chapter I would get more invested in the characters or events would pull me in deeper…but there was some kind of disconnect for me… I never felt really devoted to this book like I usually do with my reads.
I would read something and be like “Okay….here it comes…I am totally about to get super intrigued with this next thing that is about to happen….”
Annnndddddd…..then nothing.
Over and over again.
Let me put it this way…
When I was reading in bed at night, I would drift off after only a few PAGES instead of after a few CHAPTERS, which is my standard nocturnal behavior.
EVERY FRIGGIN NIGHT I would read just a few pages…and sleep would come.
Over and over again.
It took me a bagillion forevers to get thru this book yall….well, maybe just a couple weeks but to ME that FEEELS like a reallllly long time just to finish a little over 300 pages of fiction.
The whole idea of other Earths existing out there with a different version of ourselves in each one really does get your brain thinking though.
I found myself going down the rabbit hole thinking “What if that COULD REALLY HAPPEN?” “What if that is happening RIGHT NOW?” “What would I look like on other Earths?” “What would be different in our current events or society structure?”
My own thought process surrounding the thematic idea for the book entertained me more than the ACTUAL words in the book itself 🤣
I did appreciate that the author dug into many different layered issues regarding multiple marginalized groups. Biases and injustices based on economic status, sexual orientation, racial identity, and gender are all examined in numerous ways as the story unfolds. I felt that she did a good job addressing some of the struggles and particular nuances and tensions that are held regarding the mentioned people groups.
But….
Even though there were all kinds of aspects set up for me to be all about this book, I just WASN’T that into it.
I don’t even think it was a bad book…and I don’t think I even want to tell people not to read it….
But it wasn’t for me this time.
That’s all I got.
🤷♀️