Group Reads Discussions 2023: "Space Between Worlds" First Impressions *No Spoilers*

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

Come talk about your initial, general impressions!

Please save all discussion of particulars, details from the story, character choices, plot questions, etc. for the full spoiler thread.

Content warnings for those who want them: (view spoiler)[ rape, child abandonment & neglect mentioned, domestic abuse, death on an infant mentioned, murder, gang violence, strangulation, physical assault, drowning (hide spoiler)] from Trigger Warning Database. (More about CWs here.)

[David]

Just started. I love the concept.

[Kevin]

I loved this book so much. As soon as I finished it I set out to go on a Micaiah Johnson tear. I was pretty bummed to discover it's her only book so far, but I eagerly await the next.

[Monica]

I am listening to the audiobook. There are lots of characters to keep up with. I confess to being much more interested than expected in this tale.

[Esther]

Kevin wrote: "I loved this book so much. As soon as I finished it I set out to go on a Micaiah Johnson tear. I was pretty bummed to discover it's her only book so far, but I eagerly await the next."

Same here. I keep checking to see if there is a second book on the horizon.
I love paralel universes but sometimes it can be hijacked for literary philosophising or general silliness and for me that is disappointing.
This book fulfilled my expectations and more. A brilliant debut.

[Sarah, The Unsettled]

There is a second book announced (Ashtown)! Though I don’t think it has a release date yet. The goodreads page is very empty for that one.

[Kirsi]

I just started, but I already like it. The idea is intriguing.

[Cheryl]

I'm only at the stage of looking forward to it. It's on my nightstand, but the stack is tall this month with BotM's.

[Banshee]

I started reading this around 2 weeks ago and I'm only about 50 pages in. The ideas are interesting, but there feels something off for me, maybe in the writing style? Every time I reach for this book, I start dozing off after 10-15 minutes. I hope it gets better.

[Esther]

I enjoyed this book from the beginning and it was always going to be at least 4 stars but at one point something clicked and it entered the 5 stars orbit and just kept getting better.

[Andy]

I just started but can tell I'll read through this very quickly! It's s a great book so far.

[Cheryl]

p. 36, might have to dnf because so grim... won't if you can tell me it gets more nuanced, with more optimistic bits....

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Hmmm...there's lots of joy and hope in snippets... but I'm super enjoying the nuanced look at hard living.

[Cheryl]

but the detailed descriptions of Nik Nik's abuse, ugh

And her mentor, Jean, calls her "our best girl" which strikes me as extremely disrespectful, but apparently he's a good guy.

So many books are about hard living. Real life is getting harder and harder for a lot of people. Enough. I'm out.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

that's fair, Cheryl! hopefully the next book you read is a good one :)

[Beth]

The other alternate-world stories that I've dealt with--that I can think of off the top of my head anyhow--have been playful, so this is different.

probably just me: (not really a spoiler) (view spoiler)["[the] space between worlds" was name-called twice in the first chapter, and I hope that stops, because both times it stuck out, like it was the movie title in huge letters on the screen after the brief introductory sequence. (hide spoiler)]

[Richard]

This was an awful lot grimmer than I was expecting from what I thought was going to be a multiverse romance. Still very enjoyable as long as you don’t mind portrayals of some of the darker sides of human nature.

[Kirsi]

I've been reading this slowly, and good lord it's a lot darker than I was expecting. Still very good, though.

[Bonnie]

Kirsi wrote: "I've been reading this slowly, and good lord it's a lot darker than I was expecting. Still very good, though."

Yes! Imagining Ashtown and the Rurals as a Paolo Bacigalupi-ian hellscape.

Through the first two chapters. Very intriguing so far, I like the setup. Reminded of the TV show Orphan Black a bit.