The Space Between Worlds Annotation

Author: Michaiah Johnson

Title: The Space Between Worlds

Genre: Science Fiction

Publication Date: August 4, 2020

Number of Pages: 336 pages

Geographical Settings: The fictional cities of Wiley City and Ashtown in the United States

Time Period: The fairly near future

Series (if applicable): Stated to be the first in "The Space Between Worlds" series

Plot Summary: In the setting of this book, multiverse travel is possible, at least between the 400-or-so worlds that are similar enough to so-called Earth Zero. However, the problem of running into your parallel self in another world is seemingly avoided by one key fact: you can only travel to worlds where your other self is dead. This detail makes people who live lives in which they're likely to die uniquely valuable because they can travel to more potential worlds.

Cara is one such person, having grown up in the harsh land of Ashtown that surrounds the high-tech, walled-off, and wealthy Wiley City. For various reasons, the Caras of other worlds have a high mortality rate which makes her the perfect traverser, a person employed by the Eldridge Institute to travel across the multiverse. Cara thinks she has a pretty good life now, including an apartment and a place in the elite Wiley City.Along with Dell, her beautiful but icy handler, Cara brings back data for the Eldridge Institute and its mysterious leader Adam Bosch. She's gotten away from her difficult upbringing in Ashtown and moved up in society. 

But the past has a way to come back and haunt her, even if the details of that past have almost 400 variations across the multiverse. Throughout the novel, Cara gets deeply involved in secrets beyond what she ever imagined, all while trying to hide some of her own. 

Subject Headings:

    Multiverse-Fiction

    Interplanetary Voyages-Fiction

    Doppelgangers-Fiction

    Murder-Investigation-Fiction

Appeal: 

• Story Line - The story line of The Space Between Worlds starts out with a seemingly simple premise about multiverse travel, but spawns into so much more across the novel. Issues of identity and belonging, and of status and social rank become apparent as well as the novel morphs from something of a soft science fiction title to a dystopia. As Wyatt and Saricks (2019) write, in science fiction, "there are seldom clear-cut answers to what is right and wrong" (p. 95). This is very true of The Space Between Worlds, with moral ambiguity being a key through-line as well. Characters are complex and layered, influenced by a myriad of factors and don't operate on clear black-and-white terms. As in most sci-fi, the story line is deeply significant to the story as a whole.
• Frame/Setting - The Space Between Worlds certainly focuses on the "what if" concept of framing. What if multiverse travel was possible, what if we could catch glimpses of other lives we could have lived, what if we could know a single person across countless worlds and lives. Johnson doesn't dwell too much on the "hows" of the science, focusing more of the ramifications of the science than how it came to be. There's some jargon, but nothing hard for the reader to come to terms with. The setting is the harsh and brutal wasteland of Ashtown, the religious and hardscrabble Rurals, and the shiny, futuristic, walled Wiley City. These locales remain relatively the same throughout the different worlds with only the details changing therein. 
• Language/Style - Johnson writes beautifully, with language that pulls the reader in and compels them to keep reading. Her prose isn't overly wrought or flowery but descriptive and thoughtful all the same. Some sentences are so perfectly written they make you stop and savor them. "The multiverse isn't just parallel universes accessible through science. They are in each of us, a kaleidoscope made of varying perceptions."
• Tone - The Space Between Worlds deals with dark subject matter including abuse, murder, and endless social injustice. Despite this, there's an edge of hope in its tone. Cara never gives in fully to despair and neither does Johnson as she writes. The darkness is presented tersely and sometimes bleakly, but the book doesn't dwell there for too long. There's always a spot of light and a softly hopeful tone. And above all, the book is thought-provoking. Outside of Cara's adventurers and experiences, Johnson seems to be asking us to consider the deeper implications of her novel and world. The reader is meant to consider the social injustice of the world, the delineation between the haves and have-nots of Wiley City and Ashtown respectively. We're meant to think about the what-ifs of this universe that doesn't look so different from our own. How would we have acted in Cara's shoes, or in the shoes of any of the side characters?
• Characterization - Wyatt and Saricks (2019) write that in science fiction "generally the issues, story, and frame are given greater attention than the creation of dimensional, fully realized characters" (p. 98). While these details are clearly important to the novel, The Space Between Worlds may be an outlier in science fiction because the characters are its heart and soul. The main character, Cara, drives the entire story along through her multiverse adventurers. Even her other selves, the Caras of other worlds, play a key role in the story. She's a fully realized character with motivations, drives, flaws, and a unique personality that endears her to the reader. The side characters, too, are immensely well-drawn. Dell, Cara's handler, and Esther, her sister, stand out as two of the strongest side characters who help drive the story and motivate Cara. But many others like Cara's mother, the mysterious Adam Bosch, Mr. Cheeks, and Nik Nik are compelling and detailed characters that refuse to be relegated to furnishings for the novel.
• Pacing - The Space Between Worlds occupies a place a bit closer to physical action and adventure in the scheme of science fiction, granting it a faster pace overall. Of course, there are some slower segments where the focus is on the characters where the pace is a bit more leisurely.

Three terms that best describe the book: Multiverse, Thought-provoking, Developed Characters

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