The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

‘My mother used to say I was born reaching, which is true. She also used to say it would get me killed, which it hasn’t. Not yet, anyway.’

Born in the dirt of the wasteland, Cara has fought her entire life just to survive. Now she has done the impossible, and landed herself a comfortable life on the lower levels of the wealthy and walled-off Wiley City. So long as she can keep her head down and avoid trouble, she’s on a sure path to citizenship and security – on this world, at least.

Of the 380 realities that have been unlocked, Cara is dead in all but 8.

Cara’s parallel selves are exceptionally good at dying – from disease, turf wars, or vendettas they couldn’t outrun – which makes Cara wary, and valuable. Because while multiverse travel is possible, no one can visit a world in which their counterpart is still alive. And no one has fewer counterparts than Cara.

But then one of her eight doppelgängers dies under mysterious circumstances, and 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 earth, but the entire multiverse.

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The Space Between Worlds puts a new and interesting spin on the idea of the multiverse. On Earth 0, scientific genius Adam Bosch has discovered alternate worlds that are similar to, but not quite like, our own and how to travel between them.  These are numbered from 1 to 380, with 1 being the most similar to ours, and 380 the least.  The first attempts to travel between these worlds quickly highlight a restriction – a person can’t travel to another world if they are still alive there.  This makes the main protagonist, Cara, extremely valuable, as she is dead on all but eight of the 380 worlds discovered so far.

The setting of the novel – on any of the versions of Earth that Cara visits – is distinctly dystopian and society is divided into the haves and have nots.  I loved the world building, in which Wiley City is an affluent, walled-off city and home to residents who have secure jobs, access to reliable medical care, and protection from the extreme weather that this near-future world experiences.  The areas outside of the city – Ashtown and the Rurals – are distinctly poorer and have few benefits to offer their residents.  Typically ruled over by a self-declared emperor, Nik Nik, these are largely lawless places where people live in fear of Nik Nik’s enforcers – the runners – and where one must fight to survive.  Cara is originally from Ashtown and it’s why she can travel to so many other worlds – her life in each version of Earth is difficult and results in a violent death more often than not. 

Cara is an interesting character and one who is definitely flawed but who always strives to do the right thing, even when it’s not the easiest path to take.  She’s impulsive, and so don’t always think through the consequences of her actions, but her heart is in the right place.  Throughout the novel, Cara battles with a sense of belonging, or lack thereof.  Having escaped Ashtown to live in Wiley City (a perk of the job and her value as a traverser) she’s achieved more than most, but there’s a sense that however valuable she is, she will never be truly considered one of them.  This seems to disappoint her, although there’s also a sense of pride at where she’s come from and for having had to fight to get where she is.  It’s interesting to see these two sides war with each other as she tries to decide where her loyalties lie. 

One thing that the novel does particularly well is explore the disparity between rich and poor.  Cara and the others who traverse are typically from the poorer areas, and are valued purely because their lives are so difficult and so often result in an early demise.  This is taken advantage of and while they are rewarded for the job they do and the risks they take, they will never be seen as equals, and are told as little as possible when travelling to a new world.  Adam Bosch and his company are benefitting from the blood, sweat, and tears of the traversers and feel no qualms about dropping them when they are no longer needed.  The position the traversers hold is incredibly tenuous, and one that Cara and her fellow travellers have to make the most of while they can.     

The Space Between Worlds is a science fiction novel, although the science is light touch and doesn’t try to get into the details of how traversing operates.  Indeed, those who do traverse seem to experience it spiritually as well as physically, and they have their own beliefs and superstitions relating to their journeys.  I did find the novel a little slow to start, but it soon picks up once the scene is set, and Johnson has a few surprises up her sleeve which takes this beyond a pure sci fi and adds an element of mystery and intrigue that I thoroughly enjoyed. If I had any slight criticism, it’s that I felt that the secondary characters were perhaps a little underdeveloped and that more could have been done with them.  Despite that, I’d happily read another novel from this author, whether it’s something completely new or another novel set in the same world(s).