Micaiah Johnson鈥檚 debut novel, The Space Between Worlds, is a witty, deep and savvy tale about travelling through the multiverse.
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Cara is a young woman who travels across a multiverse of 380 Earths for her job as a 鈥渢raverser鈥�. Each time she arrives at a new version of the planet, she has to collect vital information about what makes that Earth unique before bringing it back to her bosses.
A traverser can only visit an alternate Earth if they are already dead in that universe. Luckily for Cara鈥檚 job prospects, there aren鈥檛 very many versions of her still alive. She grew up in a brutal and fascistic wasteland, and so only eight versions of her are still going. This means she is free to traverse almost every Earth in the multiverse, making her a valuable employee.
The Space Between Worlds is set primarily in two places, each of which is visited across multiple realities. The first is the rich and clean Wiley City, where Cara now lives, and the other is the wild,聽Mad Max-style wastes of Ashtown that she hails from. Both places are on Earth, but it isn鈥檛 clear when the novel is set.
Read more: How to think about鈥� The multiverse
The book explores a lot of exciting possibilities about alternative realities, but it soon becomes clear that exploration and world-building on a multiversal scale isn鈥檛 its goal. Instead, it is a surprisingly intimate novel about facing down one鈥檚 demons. It muses on questions of identity, nature vs nurture and the consequences of our actions.
Although there are a few awkward steps in its world-building process, the novel never falls under the weight of too much complexity. The characters are sharply written and the way that the plot twists and turns is gripping. There are intense and weighty revelations from page one.
At times, the book is reminiscent of Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter鈥檚 The Long Earth, and at others, it is closer to Luiza Sauma鈥檚 Everything You Ever Wanted.
The Space Between Worlds is a fresh and interesting take on the multiverse. On this version of Earth, anyway.
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