The Space Between Worlds

Starred review from June 1, 2020

The multiverse is real. From Earth Zero, there are people trained by the Eldridge Institute as traversers: people who can safely go to the other 379 Earths and gather data to help influence the economic security of their home. "Safely" means they do not have living doppelgangers on the other Earths, which means the least privileged can go. This includes Cara, who grew up in the Wastes in Ashtown, and is now on her way to citizenship in the affluent Wiley City. She doesn't fit in either place. When Cara is sent to a world where her counterpart has died under mysterious circumstances, she finds a new realm that contains a secret--one that will have force her to make choices that will not only reveal some of her own past and determine her future security, but will also affect the multiverse. VERDICT 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.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 29, 2020
Johnson bursts onto the scene with this thought-provoking, high-concept sci-fi debut that impresses with exceptional worldbuilding and a distinctive protagonist, but suffers under the strain of too much plot. The tale gets off to a strong start, introducing Caramenta, a queer, black woman with a complex family history, who uses tech that grants her access to the multiverse to collect data from alternate Earths that will benefit Earth 0, the “original.” Her exploration has one catch: the technology only allows her to visit Earths where the alternate version of herself has already died. Luckily (or perhaps unluckily) for Caramenta, her alternate selves die quite often, opening up 375 worlds for her to explore—and a discovery she makes on one of them could change the course of history. Though the ambitious plotting becomes difficult to untangle as the timelines, characters, and versions of Earth multiply, Johnson’s meditations on privilege and inequality ring true. Despite occasional melodramatics and some hazy political structures, this immersive, original adventure is sure to please readers looking for smart, diverse science fiction. Johnson is a writer to watch.

July 15, 2020
Johnson's world-hopping debut uses science fictional tools and an exciting plot to address urgent questions of privilege and position. In a desolate post-apocalyptic future, narrator Cara is a "traverser" for the Eldridge Institute of Earth Zero, which has discovered 382 alternate worlds. Because interworld travel is lethal to would-be traversers who have "dops" still alive on the Earth they're visiting, Eldridge employs "trash people" who have died on most other worlds and can therefore survive travel to other realities. Cara, who hails from a bleak wasteland dominated by sinister emperor Nik Nik, has died on almost every known world. When Cara visits an Earth very different from her home, she makes discoveries that could change multiple worlds. Even on Earth Zero, Cara lives an in-between life; her black skin and Ashtown heritage mark her as an outsider in the domed confines of glittering and exclusive Wiley City and may make impossible her dreams of romance with her beautiful handler, Dell. Johnson employs Cara's situation to forthrightly examine questions of privilege, trauma, assimilation, colonialism, and upbringing. While the story takes time to get going and certain aspects of the setting feel derivative, the characters, voice, and twists all demand readers' attention. A compelling stand-alone debut that will leave readers thrilled, thoughtful, and anticipating the author's next book.

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August 1, 2020
Johnson's debut explores parallel universes through the eyes of Cara, who is a traverser, a member of an exclusive team that can travel across the multiverse, but only to worlds where she has already died. Cara's former life was in the wastelands outside Wiley City, where each day was a struggle to survive. In her new life, she travels to similar worlds to retrieve information for her employer, the Eldridge Institute, which they use to mine resources across the multiverse, giving local wastelands some time to recover. When a new world opens up to Cara, her life comes crashing down as the striking similarities between her multiple lives converge. Cara must draw from her experience across the multiverse, and navigate the mess her relationships have become as she meets multiple variations of friends and enemies. As her current and former lives become hopelessly entangled, Cara makes life-altering decisions that affect her and those around her. While setting a comfortable pace, The Space between Worlds ensnares readers with the secrets from Cara's past and her innovative problem solving.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)