The Space Between Worlds

By: Micaiah Johnson

Narrated by: Nicole Lewis

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 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.

“Clever characters, surprise twists, plenty of action, and a plot that highlights social and racial inequities in astute prose.”—Library Journal (starred review)

Critic reviews

­“[The Space Between Worlds] remained two steps ahead of my imagination, rattling it out of complacency and flooding it with color and heat. . . . Profoundly satisfying.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

“The Space Between Worlds is fascinating, complicated, compelling . . . a jewel of a novel.”—Locus

“[The Space Between Worlds] gripped me from page one and I couldn’t stop reading until I reached the final page.”—The Nerd Daily

“This book took me on one hell of a ride. . . . A really fun and thought-provoking read.”—Becky’s Book Blog

“Sliding Doors meets Mad Max . . . a fast-paced, compelling read.”—SciFiNow

“Sharp and gripping. If you love queer SFF . . . then definitely pick up The Space Between Worlds.”—Utopia State of Mind

“The Space Between Worlds is a riveting and detailed parallel universe sci-fi novel with a lot to say about fortune, privilege and belonging.”—Dr. Alice Violett

“The Space Between Worlds is an incredible debut . . . tightly focused and paced like a rocket launch.”—The Quill to Live

“Micaiah Johnson’s debut is a punk album, presenting a world where even our possibilities are colonized. I loved every twisting minute of it.”—Alex White, author of A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe

“The Space Between Worlds lands squarely in my sweet spot: 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

“A gritty, riveting, and ultimately hopeful novel about the people, choices, and relationships that make us who we are—in this world, and in those we can only imagine.”—Kameron Hurley, Hugo and Locus award–winning author of The Light Brigade

“Johnson’s world-hopping debut uses science fictional tools and an exciting plot to address urgent questions of privilege and position. . . . A compelling stand-alone debut that will leave readers thrilled, thoughtful, and anticipating the author’s next book.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Johnson bursts onto the scene with this thought-provoking, high-concept sci-fi debut that impresses with exceptional worldbuilding and a distinctive protagonist.”—Publishers Weekly

“This exciting debut is intelligently built, with clever characters, surprise twists, plenty of action, subtly detailed worlds, and a plot that highlights social and racial inequities in astute prose.”—Library Journal (starred review)

Pretty good

Gripping narrative with less science fiction than I'd like. In fact all the science fiction elements are glossed over which makes sense narratively because the protagonist is just an unsophisticated "trash person" who doesn't understand how any thing works.

Feels kind of lazy though with respect to the world building that nobody has even interesting speculations on how the multiverse traveling actually works, and basically anything outside Cara's direct experience is unknown.

There's some interesting class differences between the walled cities and the desert wasteland on the other side, very significant with respect to the various character development and occasionally inverted or distorted by the protagonist through her narrow lens (mainly how she sees Dell).

I enjoyed this story but there are only like 10 characters that have any development at all, which is surprising given a book that spans many different earths but Cara's experience on each earth is pretty limited and only perhaps three of them have any significance to the story.

It's good, I just felt there could have been a lot more in the sci-fi world exploration about the ways in which the various earths differ, how the industrial extraction from one world to another works (I felt like that could cause political tensions in real life), etc.

Definitely not hard-core science fiction, very fluffy science fiction but like I said the story is pretty good so maybe give it a shot.

buy this book and listen to it over and over

I can't tell you how much I loved this book, you just have to listen to it yourself. Lewis's voice brings Johnson's words to a life so vivid you'll taste ash on your own lips. The writing is gorgeous and draws you in like the embrace of a secret that wants to tell itself. Bravo! Bravo!

wonderful and beautiful

I've had trouble getting back into a book lately. I would listen for a bit and lose interest. This book? I finished in 2 days. It is riveting, funny, profound, and above all else inspires the wonder that I so crave from good sci-fi. These characters build a world, and 382 others, that you won't want to leave behind, but when you do it will be contenment, not sadness you feel.
A must read.

Engaging, twist-filled sci-fi with strong characters

This is a firecracker of a debut novel. It’s sci-fi that knows its genre well enough to know what conventions to lean into and what tropes to subvert and give fresh life. The strong, well-paced plot will grab anyone who likes or is curious about parallel universe fiction, and the complex, morally ambiguous characters will delight readers who prefer character-driven stories. Nicole Lewis does an excellent job narrating; her character voices are distinct and recognizable without ever tilting into caricature.

Science fiction, emergent strategy and social justice

I’m new to science-fiction and Micaiah Johnson’s The Space Between Worlds was the perfect place to start. I was inspired by adrienne maree brown and the animating principle she champions in her books: emergent strategy as a truth and a way to social justice.
With Walidah Imarisha, brown is the editor of Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements. Octavia E. Butler, the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, is an inspiration to many, including brown.
Some years ago, at a sustainability conference in New Mexico, I came to understand that science-fiction can activate creative imaginings of a more just world.
If you can dream it…