2022 Astounding Award for Best New Writer (nominee)
2021 Astounding Award for Best New Writer (nominee)
2021 Locus Award for Best First Novel (nominee)
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)
Genre: Science Fiction
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)
Genre: Science Fiction
Praise for this book
"Johnson's debut is a rare bird in any reality: a novel that is twisting, suspenseful, and profound." - Max Gladstone
"The Space Between Worlds lands squarely in my sweet spot: gorgeous writing, mind-bending world-building, razor-sharp social commentary, and a main character that demands your attention—and your allegiance." - Rob Hart
"A gritty, riveting, and ultimately hopeful novel about the people, choices, and relationships who make us who we are - in this world, and in those we can only imagine." - Kameron Hurley
"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
"The Space Between Worlds lands squarely in my sweet spot: gorgeous writing, mind-bending world-building, razor-sharp social commentary, and a main character that demands your attention—and your allegiance." - Rob Hart
"A gritty, riveting, and ultimately hopeful novel about the people, choices, and relationships who make us who we are - in this world, and in those we can only imagine." - Kameron Hurley
"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
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