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The Space Between Worlds #2
Those Beyond the Wall
Faced with a coming apocalypse, a woman must reckon with her past to solve a series of sudden and inexplicable deaths in a searing sci-fi thriller from the Compton Crook Award–winning author of The Space Between Worlds.
Scales is the best at what she She is an enforcer who keeps the peace in Ashtown, a rough, climate-ravaged desert town. But that fragile peace is fractured when a woman is mangled and killed within Ash's borders, right in front of Scales's eyes. Even more incomprehensible is that there was seemingly no murderer.
When more mutilated bodies start to turn up, both in Ashtown and in the wealthier, walled-off Wiley City, Scales is tasked with finding the cause—and putting an end to it. She teams up with a frustratingly by-the-books partner and a brusque-but-brilliant scientist in order to uncover the truth, delving into both worlds to track down the invisible killer. But what they find points to something bigger and more corrupt than they could've ever foreseen—and it could spell doom for the entire world.
Scales is the best at what she She is an enforcer who keeps the peace in Ashtown, a rough, climate-ravaged desert town. But that fragile peace is fractured when a woman is mangled and killed within Ash's borders, right in front of Scales's eyes. Even more incomprehensible is that there was seemingly no murderer.
When more mutilated bodies start to turn up, both in Ashtown and in the wealthier, walled-off Wiley City, Scales is tasked with finding the cause—and putting an end to it. She teams up with a frustratingly by-the-books partner and a brusque-but-brilliant scientist in order to uncover the truth, delving into both worlds to track down the invisible killer. But what they find points to something bigger and more corrupt than they could've ever foreseen—and it could spell doom for the entire world.
376 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 12, 2024
411 people are currently reading
19886 people want to read
About the author
Micaiah Johnson
6 books1,513 followersMicaiah Johnson was raised in California's Mojave Desert surrounded by trees named Joshua and women who told stories.
She received her Bachelor of Arts in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside and her Master of Fine Arts in fiction from Rutgers-Camden. She now studies American Literature at Vanderbilt University where she focuses on critical race theory... and automatons.
She received her Bachelor of Arts in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside and her Master of Fine Arts in fiction from Rutgers-Camden. She now studies American Literature at Vanderbilt University where she focuses on critical race theory... and automatons.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 585 reviews
July 26, 2024
"The emperor is like one of the reptiles outside of town—the ones whose names start with useless information like red-eyed or striped yellow belly but end with dragon or monster, which is what you actually need to know."
I thought it was one thing and it turned out to be something else entirely. (The blurb is the equivalent of saying π = 3.14. I mean, I suppose so...). I am positive that Johnson is going to get accolades for this one. She's taken her anger and written something intense, absorbing, and impactful. I'm definitely glad I bought it and I definitely will read it again.
"It didn’t matter which version was true. They were all real. Stories should never be believed, but they should always be trusted."
My one complaint, and this will be what breaks it for some people, is that the metaphor is too overt at times. I always hated the 'Aesop's Fables' type of stories. But I rolled my eyes and continued onward, propelled really by the plot and the emotion of the main character, Mr. Scales (who is female) and not her philosophical thoughts. After all, she herself admits she's not necessarily a deep one:
"I’m not what you’d call a thinker. I’m exactly as existential as a wasp. I eat, I fuck, I sting back what stings me."
I would have liked a little more world-building to make it feel more rooted but it works anyway because the lead is who she is. I also would have preferred Johnson stay away from using the words 'thirsty' and 'hoodie' because they were too non-sequitur for the culture--it put me in mind of Gideon the Ninth. And, frankly, a few more commas might have helped the readability, but the lack of punctuation works for the voice. However, this isn't so much a mystery to be solved as a pivotal moment in time: this is like Mad Max: Furiosa, or Kameron Hurley's Nyx on her very best day.
"There's a story from before the walls of a woman who escaped her captors and took her four children with her. When they finally caught up to her, she looked them in eye and sawed through the throat of the nearest child. It scared the captors so bad they left her alone with the other three. Seeing what she would do to her own made them too afraid to test what she would do to them. Do you see it? The emperor is the woman, Ashtown the children, and Wiley City the captors. Runners? We’re the saw."
Four and a half fingers, rounding up for the sheer fucking power and difficulty putting it down.
I thought it was one thing and it turned out to be something else entirely. (The blurb is the equivalent of saying π = 3.14. I mean, I suppose so...). I am positive that Johnson is going to get accolades for this one. She's taken her anger and written something intense, absorbing, and impactful. I'm definitely glad I bought it and I definitely will read it again.
"It didn’t matter which version was true. They were all real. Stories should never be believed, but they should always be trusted."
My one complaint, and this will be what breaks it for some people, is that the metaphor is too overt at times. I always hated the 'Aesop's Fables' type of stories. But I rolled my eyes and continued onward, propelled really by the plot and the emotion of the main character, Mr. Scales (who is female) and not her philosophical thoughts. After all, she herself admits she's not necessarily a deep one:
"I’m not what you’d call a thinker. I’m exactly as existential as a wasp. I eat, I fuck, I sting back what stings me."
I would have liked a little more world-building to make it feel more rooted but it works anyway because the lead is who she is. I also would have preferred Johnson stay away from using the words 'thirsty' and 'hoodie' because they were too non-sequitur for the culture--it put me in mind of Gideon the Ninth. And, frankly, a few more commas might have helped the readability, but the lack of punctuation works for the voice. However, this isn't so much a mystery to be solved as a pivotal moment in time: this is like Mad Max: Furiosa, or Kameron Hurley's Nyx on her very best day.
"There's a story from before the walls of a woman who escaped her captors and took her four children with her. When they finally caught up to her, she looked them in eye and sawed through the throat of the nearest child. It scared the captors so bad they left her alone with the other three. Seeing what she would do to her own made them too afraid to test what she would do to them. Do you see it? The emperor is the woman, Ashtown the children, and Wiley City the captors. Runners? We’re the saw."
Four and a half fingers, rounding up for the sheer fucking power and difficulty putting it down.
March 31, 2024
I blurbed this book, and this is what I said:
"A bold, beautiful, gut punch of a story, at turns ferocious and poetic—and sometimes both at once."
AND I MEANT IT.
I do want to additionally note that the great strength of this book is its characters, who are pretty much universally complicated people in the sense that their "complications" or flaws actually cost them things. Often we see characters who are technically flawed, but their flaws don't actually enter the narrative in a significant way, and I find it far more satisfying when they do. This book succeeds on that level and I was impressed with it.
I also stopped to screenshot a few lines because I found them to be really lovely, and here's my favorite one:
"Once he's gone, I slide backward through the hologram of what looks like finished steel and slip into the dark the city doesn't know is under its skin."
Anyway, if you haven't read the first in this series, now's the time. I really enjoyed it, but I have to say, I liked this one even more.
edit: I forgot to say that the thread of romance in this book made me feel absolutely unhinged (in a positive way)-- it's not a big focus but HI I LOVED IT
"A bold, beautiful, gut punch of a story, at turns ferocious and poetic—and sometimes both at once."
AND I MEANT IT.
I do want to additionally note that the great strength of this book is its characters, who are pretty much universally complicated people in the sense that their "complications" or flaws actually cost them things. Often we see characters who are technically flawed, but their flaws don't actually enter the narrative in a significant way, and I find it far more satisfying when they do. This book succeeds on that level and I was impressed with it.
I also stopped to screenshot a few lines because I found them to be really lovely, and here's my favorite one:
"Once he's gone, I slide backward through the hologram of what looks like finished steel and slip into the dark the city doesn't know is under its skin."
Anyway, if you haven't read the first in this series, now's the time. I really enjoyed it, but I have to say, I liked this one even more.
edit: I forgot to say that the thread of romance in this book made me feel absolutely unhinged (in a positive way)-- it's not a big focus but HI I LOVED IT
March 4, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I’m going to start this review by saying that I absolutely LOVED The Space Between Worlds. I gave it 5 stars and considered it one of the best books I read in 2022. I reread it a few weeks ago to prepare for this book and while there were a few things that bothered me that didn't the first time, I still really enjoyed it and consider it a great read and an extremely impressive debut.
However, this book? I hated it. I’ve already canceled my pre-order. I considered DNFing but I had to know how it ended, in order to fully compare it to the first book. And so I can confidently say this book did not do the first book justice, and in some ways ruined my impression of the first book retroactively.
Five main reasons this didn’t work for me:
1. The narrator, Mr. Scales, is EXTREMELY annoying. She is so confidently wrong about so many things, which was especially irritating when it was regarding events of the first book that she was literally present for. It seems like this book was actually written for people who didn’t read The Space Between Worlds. She constantly acts like the direct violence of the runners and emperor is so much better (and more civilized?) than the systemic indirect violence of Wiley City, even though the emperor and runners were constantly brutally torturing people for the smallest of infractions. It’s like we’re supposed to forget about Cara’s lifelong trauma from the runners’ violence because Scales said it was necessary to keep Ashtown in check. Her narration style is stream-of-consciousness rambling with random social justice rants that sound like 2020-era Instagram posts with no relation to the plot (there was an entire ACAB rant for no reason). Information about her background is withheld from the reader until just past the halfway point, and until then, Scales is breaking the fourth wall and actually taunting the reader with various lies about her life, which felt especially irritating compared to the first book that revealed Cara’s background 8% in! And the worst part for me is the heavy focus on cringey romances. Literally everything about Cheeks and Scales’ relationship and Cross and Scales’ relationship is truly godawful and made me want to scream, especially because of the ending for both characters. Everything Scales does just shows how extremely immature she is, and she doesn’t change throughout the book at all (other than the nonsensical change with Cross).
2. The characterization and interactions of the characters here that were in The Space Between Worlds were completely different from what they were in that book, and there was no explanation or background as to why. This book did Cara SO DIRTY. I did not like that Scales portrayed her as both an annoying wise god-like elder figure and out-of-touch idealistic. Not to mention Cara bickering with Adam like a child. Honestly, just the fact that Adam was alive ruined the ending of The Space Between Worlds for me. That was the perfect note of ominous revenge with no clear resolution, but suddenly this book has Nik Nik worrying over Adam and trusting him with everything. What happened in between the bombing of the hatch in book 1 and this book to make their relationship like that?? We never learn. And why is the abusive Nik Nik portrayed as a loving brother and lover? I also didn’t like how the religion of the Rurals that seemed fairly positive in Space was portrayed as evil and manipulative in this book. Esther and Michael seem no different from any evangelizing Christian in the real world, but in the first book their traditions were completely different and honestly quite beautiful. I feel like the only character who really felt the same between books was Dell, which is really saying something imo.
3. A lot of the plot hinges on magical elements that were not explained and felt extremely out-of-place in a supposed science fiction book. And this was explicitly commented on by Cara for some reason, so I know it was on purpose. But why include a magical truth serum and a way to see into the future of other worlds, when that was never possible in the first book?
4. The messaging was extremely blatant, which was true in The Space Between Worlds as well, but here it wasn’t even written well. Everything was so simplistic and black-and-white to the point that I found it borderline offensive. The sex trade was portrayed as healing, a female Wileyite getting mad at being called mister was compared to transphobia, the aforementioned runner violence was portrayed as a good thing, and Scales repeated over and over that it’s okay for stories to be lies in order to support a cause (never mind the fact that that’s how misinformation is spread all over the Internet in real life).
5. There were a few scenes that didn’t make sense and seemed to contradict what was described earlier in the book. I can’t talk about the specifics without spoilers but a lot of the runner logic did not make sense to me. It’s hard to understand the motivations of people who beat up some people for just saying one thing wrong or just loving the wrong person but then wholeheartedly trust others who have proven time and time again to be shady. Not to mention that the science of a big part of the ending wasn't explained and doesn't seem possible to me.
Long story short, this book sucked, and at this point, I don’t think I’m going to read anything else from Micaiah Johnson. I guess I’ll have to think of The Space Between Worlds as a one-off. Extremely disappointing considering this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year.
I’m going to start this review by saying that I absolutely LOVED The Space Between Worlds. I gave it 5 stars and considered it one of the best books I read in 2022. I reread it a few weeks ago to prepare for this book and while there were a few things that bothered me that didn't the first time, I still really enjoyed it and consider it a great read and an extremely impressive debut.
However, this book? I hated it. I’ve already canceled my pre-order. I considered DNFing but I had to know how it ended, in order to fully compare it to the first book. And so I can confidently say this book did not do the first book justice, and in some ways ruined my impression of the first book retroactively.
Five main reasons this didn’t work for me:
1. The narrator, Mr. Scales, is EXTREMELY annoying. She is so confidently wrong about so many things, which was especially irritating when it was regarding events of the first book that she was literally present for. It seems like this book was actually written for people who didn’t read The Space Between Worlds. She constantly acts like the direct violence of the runners and emperor is so much better (and more civilized?) than the systemic indirect violence of Wiley City, even though the emperor and runners were constantly brutally torturing people for the smallest of infractions. It’s like we’re supposed to forget about Cara’s lifelong trauma from the runners’ violence because Scales said it was necessary to keep Ashtown in check. Her narration style is stream-of-consciousness rambling with random social justice rants that sound like 2020-era Instagram posts with no relation to the plot (there was an entire ACAB rant for no reason). Information about her background is withheld from the reader until just past the halfway point, and until then, Scales is breaking the fourth wall and actually taunting the reader with various lies about her life, which felt especially irritating compared to the first book that revealed Cara’s background 8% in! And the worst part for me is the heavy focus on cringey romances. Literally everything about Cheeks and Scales’ relationship and Cross and Scales’ relationship is truly godawful and made me want to scream, especially because of the ending for both characters. Everything Scales does just shows how extremely immature she is, and she doesn’t change throughout the book at all (other than the nonsensical change with Cross).
2. The characterization and interactions of the characters here that were in The Space Between Worlds were completely different from what they were in that book, and there was no explanation or background as to why. This book did Cara SO DIRTY. I did not like that Scales portrayed her as both an annoying wise god-like elder figure and out-of-touch idealistic. Not to mention Cara bickering with Adam like a child. Honestly, just the fact that Adam was alive ruined the ending of The Space Between Worlds for me. That was the perfect note of ominous revenge with no clear resolution, but suddenly this book has Nik Nik worrying over Adam and trusting him with everything. What happened in between the bombing of the hatch in book 1 and this book to make their relationship like that?? We never learn. And why is the abusive Nik Nik portrayed as a loving brother and lover? I also didn’t like how the religion of the Rurals that seemed fairly positive in Space was portrayed as evil and manipulative in this book. Esther and Michael seem no different from any evangelizing Christian in the real world, but in the first book their traditions were completely different and honestly quite beautiful. I feel like the only character who really felt the same between books was Dell, which is really saying something imo.
3. A lot of the plot hinges on magical elements that were not explained and felt extremely out-of-place in a supposed science fiction book. And this was explicitly commented on by Cara for some reason, so I know it was on purpose. But why include a magical truth serum and a way to see into the future of other worlds, when that was never possible in the first book?
4. The messaging was extremely blatant, which was true in The Space Between Worlds as well, but here it wasn’t even written well. Everything was so simplistic and black-and-white to the point that I found it borderline offensive. The sex trade was portrayed as healing, a female Wileyite getting mad at being called mister was compared to transphobia, the aforementioned runner violence was portrayed as a good thing, and Scales repeated over and over that it’s okay for stories to be lies in order to support a cause (never mind the fact that that’s how misinformation is spread all over the Internet in real life).
5. There were a few scenes that didn’t make sense and seemed to contradict what was described earlier in the book. I can’t talk about the specifics without spoilers but a lot of the runner logic did not make sense to me. It’s hard to understand the motivations of people who beat up some people for just saying one thing wrong or just loving the wrong person but then wholeheartedly trust others who have proven time and time again to be shady. Not to mention that the science of a big part of the ending wasn't explained and doesn't seem possible to me.
Long story short, this book sucked, and at this point, I don’t think I’m going to read anything else from Micaiah Johnson. I guess I’ll have to think of The Space Between Worlds as a one-off. Extremely disappointing considering this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year.
Want to read
November 6, 2021OMG THIS EXISTS???
I NEED IT NOWWWWWWW!! *cries*
I NEED IT NOWWWWWWW!! *cries*
Want to read
November 30, 2022Dear Lord please let this be a Mr. Cheeks and Esther story 🤞
May 6, 2024
Giving Those Beyond The Wall a star rating has been a huge challenge for me. I've been struggling to work through this novel for weeks at this point. What follows is my personal subjective experience of this book, not a discussion of its objective merit.
Those Beyond The Wall is set in the universe of Micaiah Johnson's debut, The Space Between Worlds. It has a different protagonist, so it's not a sequel in the strictest sense. But reading The Space Between Worlds before Those Beyond The Wall would certainly help if you are considering picking this up.
Those Beyond The Wall is science fiction about real-world issues that are deeply personal to the author. She has a message and experience that should be heard. The novel includes references to real-world events from the past decade throughout the novel, starting with the author's note at the beginning of the book.
The references to real-world events were at times so thinly veiled that my mind would immediately get pulled out of the story, and I would start thinking about politics, race, resistance movements in the US, and a variety of disturbing but very real events from the last ten years or so. Every time I got pulled out of the story, it took me a serious amount of time and effort to get into the flow of the story again.
If my thoughts drifted off to a real-world event for even just one sentence while reading Those Beyond The Wall, I would miss some detail. This then made it very hard to understand what was going on in the story.
Still, I was determined to get into the novel. I restarted this book five or six times. And yet my efforts didn't make Those Beyond The Wall an enjoyable experience for me. Reviews of it seem polarized, so some readers will enjoy the novel. If you liked reading The Space Between Worlds, then consider sampling the first couple of chapters of this novel to decide if it's right for you.
Many thanks to the author, Del Rey and Penguin Random House for providing me with a free advance reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Those Beyond The Wall is set in the universe of Micaiah Johnson's debut, The Space Between Worlds. It has a different protagonist, so it's not a sequel in the strictest sense. But reading The Space Between Worlds before Those Beyond The Wall would certainly help if you are considering picking this up.
Those Beyond The Wall is science fiction about real-world issues that are deeply personal to the author. She has a message and experience that should be heard. The novel includes references to real-world events from the past decade throughout the novel, starting with the author's note at the beginning of the book.
The references to real-world events were at times so thinly veiled that my mind would immediately get pulled out of the story, and I would start thinking about politics, race, resistance movements in the US, and a variety of disturbing but very real events from the last ten years or so. Every time I got pulled out of the story, it took me a serious amount of time and effort to get into the flow of the story again.
If my thoughts drifted off to a real-world event for even just one sentence while reading Those Beyond The Wall, I would miss some detail. This then made it very hard to understand what was going on in the story.
Still, I was determined to get into the novel. I restarted this book five or six times. And yet my efforts didn't make Those Beyond The Wall an enjoyable experience for me. Reviews of it seem polarized, so some readers will enjoy the novel. If you liked reading The Space Between Worlds, then consider sampling the first couple of chapters of this novel to decide if it's right for you.
Many thanks to the author, Del Rey and Penguin Random House for providing me with a free advance reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
June 1, 2024
If the first book was a dystopian venture, the sequel is a mission. The story-world is split into the climate-controlled bubble of the Wiley City Haves and beyond the Wall, the desert filled with people suffering from swamp water and a toxic sun. Mr. Scales is one of the lead runners (soldiers) for Emperor Nik who rules the Wasteland. Her job at the moment is to help investigate why Ashtowners are being killed. Invisible powers are leaving behind brutalized bodies and a team of former foes work together to combat what’s coming for them all.
Some reviews mention that the main character is not as likable as Cara in the first book. But Those Beyond the Wall has the characters that are needed to be true to this story. Sometimes, if I wasn’t taking breaks, it felt like too much because there’s a rawness in the telling. Ashtown can be visceral and violent. Pain from long ago causing the pain of the present and eventually this same pain spilling into the future. But there is also love and loyalty present. Mr. Scales’ philosophy is basically, I am ugly, I am unloved, and I don’t give a fuck. Unapologetically, herself but also dead set on duty. Goose bumps with this character. One of my favorite lines of hers, “Jealousy is a poison you make for others but drink yourself“. I will be thinking about Mr. Scales for a while.
The writing is stellar once again but I did have to re-listen to some of the chapters because of multiple moving parts in the storyline. The narrator, Angel Pean, shines. I would definitely recommend but this book has to be read after The Space Between the Worlds or it won’t make sense. Mr Scales is queer if anyone is interested but there is no romance. She is hardcore devoted to her path.
Some reviews mention that the main character is not as likable as Cara in the first book. But Those Beyond the Wall has the characters that are needed to be true to this story. Sometimes, if I wasn’t taking breaks, it felt like too much because there’s a rawness in the telling. Ashtown can be visceral and violent. Pain from long ago causing the pain of the present and eventually this same pain spilling into the future. But there is also love and loyalty present. Mr. Scales’ philosophy is basically, I am ugly, I am unloved, and I don’t give a fuck. Unapologetically, herself but also dead set on duty. Goose bumps with this character. One of my favorite lines of hers, “Jealousy is a poison you make for others but drink yourself“. I will be thinking about Mr. Scales for a while.
The writing is stellar once again but I did have to re-listen to some of the chapters because of multiple moving parts in the storyline. The narrator, Angel Pean, shines. I would definitely recommend but this book has to be read after The Space Between the Worlds or it won’t make sense. Mr Scales is queer if anyone is interested but there is no romance. She is hardcore devoted to her path.
March 8, 2024
GAH! It's beautiful and powerful and toothy and damn near perfect and that's why I'm finishing it at a quarter to 2. RTC
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This is so damned good. I finished it at almost 2AM and am still thrumming with loving it. It's weird reading the synopsis/blurb shortly after finishing the novel, because it does *not* capture what you're in for even a little bit. Maybe the publisher is trying to avoid spoilers for the first book, but that summary makes it sound like "unlikely investigating duo" or "quirky team thrown together for a quest that will become found family." "Brutal punk rock Mad Max clash of civilizations" might be closer to the ticket. The themes of how power behaves and the far-reaching psychological & generational impacts of stark inequality from The Space Between Worlds are present in this book too, but Those Beyond the Wall is showing more teeth--and it's great.
If it's been a while since you read The Space Between Worlds, you may be struck by how much more difficult it is to feel sympathy for the main character in this book, Mr. Scales, than it was with Cara, the protagonist of TSBW. That may be in part because you're recalling Cara as you left her at the end of the book, not as you started it (recall how Cara got to Earth zero in the first place). I read the two books back-to-back and my initial feelings about both protagonists, starting out, was doubt that I was going to want to spend much time with them.
It's true that Mr. Scales, our MC, is an enforcer for a warlord emperor in a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland--it would weird if she had good coping mechanisms. She is, ah, real rough around the edges. But the people living outside the wall are barely eking out an existence within sight of a glass-walled city of plenty; this is not a world or a set of circumstances that lends itself to likeable, unbroken people. But just like you saw Cara grow in the first book, if you stick around you'll get to see Mr. Scales grow too (you may still not like her, but it will be different than it was before). Johnson's ability to make a character matter to me whether or not I like them is a form of genius.
Just as in The Space Between Worlds, we have a morally complex and flawed main character whose reliability as a narrator varies wildly based on whether the situation at hand tugs on any of her broken/underdeveloped pieces. Both Cara in TSBW and Scales in TBtW ascribe attitudes and motivations to others that the reader can see are influenced by self-loathing/internalized-classism/trauma. But they're very different people and it is a completely different experience being along for a ride in this world in Scales' head.
This is very character-based sci-fi. It's fiction that concerns itself most with people and systems: how they work and break or mend. Johnson crafts such beautiful, true, revealing sentences that I must have highlighted a third of the book. Her observations on people and the effects of trauma are stunning; those on how language and social norms obscure what types of harm get labeled violence, and how state-sanctioned brutality hides in plain sight, are spot-on and pull no punches. This is speculative and it's powerful, but it's worth mentioning that the science is absolutely handwavium. If that's important to you, this might not be the book for you. But if your willing suspension of disbelief had no trouble with the maybe-science/maybe-uncanny not-really-a-dichotomy of the first book, you're likely to be just fine.
The ramp-up of tension and action is even more intense than in TSBW: I had a lot of trouble putting this down and making good choices about sleep while I was reading it.
I adored the dedication and the author's note before the story begins--my skin is prickling now recalling it. This is a personal story for the author, more so than TSBW, and the reader feels it intensely. It's fabulous--go read it. 4.5 stars
I received an ARC from Netgalley & the publisher in exchange for my opinions, which I'm never short of.
------------
This is so damned good. I finished it at almost 2AM and am still thrumming with loving it. It's weird reading the synopsis/blurb shortly after finishing the novel, because it does *not* capture what you're in for even a little bit. Maybe the publisher is trying to avoid spoilers for the first book, but that summary makes it sound like "unlikely investigating duo" or "quirky team thrown together for a quest that will become found family." "Brutal punk rock Mad Max clash of civilizations" might be closer to the ticket. The themes of how power behaves and the far-reaching psychological & generational impacts of stark inequality from The Space Between Worlds are present in this book too, but Those Beyond the Wall is showing more teeth--and it's great.
If it's been a while since you read The Space Between Worlds, you may be struck by how much more difficult it is to feel sympathy for the main character in this book, Mr. Scales, than it was with Cara, the protagonist of TSBW. That may be in part because you're recalling Cara as you left her at the end of the book, not as you started it (recall how Cara got to Earth zero in the first place). I read the two books back-to-back and my initial feelings about both protagonists, starting out, was doubt that I was going to want to spend much time with them.
It's true that Mr. Scales, our MC, is an enforcer for a warlord emperor in a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland--it would weird if she had good coping mechanisms. She is, ah, real rough around the edges. But the people living outside the wall are barely eking out an existence within sight of a glass-walled city of plenty; this is not a world or a set of circumstances that lends itself to likeable, unbroken people. But just like you saw Cara grow in the first book, if you stick around you'll get to see Mr. Scales grow too (you may still not like her, but it will be different than it was before). Johnson's ability to make a character matter to me whether or not I like them is a form of genius.
Just as in The Space Between Worlds, we have a morally complex and flawed main character whose reliability as a narrator varies wildly based on whether the situation at hand tugs on any of her broken/underdeveloped pieces. Both Cara in TSBW and Scales in TBtW ascribe attitudes and motivations to others that the reader can see are influenced by self-loathing/internalized-classism/trauma. But they're very different people and it is a completely different experience being along for a ride in this world in Scales' head.
This is very character-based sci-fi. It's fiction that concerns itself most with people and systems: how they work and break or mend. Johnson crafts such beautiful, true, revealing sentences that I must have highlighted a third of the book. Her observations on people and the effects of trauma are stunning; those on how language and social norms obscure what types of harm get labeled violence, and how state-sanctioned brutality hides in plain sight, are spot-on and pull no punches. This is speculative and it's powerful, but it's worth mentioning that the science is absolutely handwavium. If that's important to you, this might not be the book for you. But if your willing suspension of disbelief had no trouble with the maybe-science/maybe-uncanny not-really-a-dichotomy of the first book, you're likely to be just fine.
The ramp-up of tension and action is even more intense than in TSBW: I had a lot of trouble putting this down and making good choices about sleep while I was reading it.
I adored the dedication and the author's note before the story begins--my skin is prickling now recalling it. This is a personal story for the author, more so than TSBW, and the reader feels it intensely. It's fabulous--go read it. 4.5 stars
I received an ARC from Netgalley & the publisher in exchange for my opinions, which I'm never short of.
January 17, 2025
”Possibilities, when you get down to it, are rainbows, beautiful, and meaningless.”
From its earliest beginnings, its deepest roots, science fiction has been a tool used to address social and cultural issues. H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are but two of the best known, early examples. With her impressive duology (The Space Between Worlds and Those Beyond the Wall) Micaiah Johnson joins this time honored tradition. She spins a great, gritty tale, full of action and suspense, love and violence, but were you to excise from the story her overriding themes of racism, classism, and privilege (along with a more minor, but still potent one of transphobia) nothing would remain but a hollow shell. Johnson is not at all subtle is delivering her message, but neither is she ham-fisted and awkward with it. Her social message rings out clearly while functioning seamlessly within the fascinating story she is telling. It is impressive work.
Those Beyond the Wall is a sequel, part two of what feels to be a completed duology that began with The Space Between Worlds. It’s not impossible to read it independently, but I would not advise it. Not only did Johnson do most of her world building in the initial novel, but she there introduced powerful characters, infused with complex backstories and emotional resonances that are important in this book. A reader needs that background to fully appreciate this story. Indeed, though the novels are narrated by different first person protagonist, and are divided by about a decade of in world time, they feel more like a single story divided into two volumes than anything else. You need to read these books together.
Several final, important notes are necessary. One: Johnson has a true mastery for writing compelling characters. She seems to have a particular knack for creating massively damaged and flawed people who remain strong and resilient in the face of their past or ongoing traumas. Two: a minor theme that runs through her story is the conflict between science and religion which Johnson handles in a deft way. Instead of representing this as a dichotomy between irreconcilable differences, a zero sum game, she presents it with a lens similar to quantum mechanics — a wave/particle duality where the observer become part of the answer. I found this impressive and satisfying. Three: despite the fact that this book is harsh, gritty, and sometimes near grim dark, full of violence, murder, duplicity, systemic racism and classism, Those Beyond the Wall falls firmly into the tradition of optimistic science fiction rather than its pessimistic dark mirror. Johnson tells a story that believes in the possibility of redemption, both personal, and for our world.
Separately, I would rate the individual books of Johnson’s story 3.5 stars (rounded up), but the 5 star rating I am giving this book reflects my opinion of the impact of the combined duology. Together, these books tell a thrilling, fascinating, and significant story.
From its earliest beginnings, its deepest roots, science fiction has been a tool used to address social and cultural issues. H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are but two of the best known, early examples. With her impressive duology (The Space Between Worlds and Those Beyond the Wall) Micaiah Johnson joins this time honored tradition. She spins a great, gritty tale, full of action and suspense, love and violence, but were you to excise from the story her overriding themes of racism, classism, and privilege (along with a more minor, but still potent one of transphobia) nothing would remain but a hollow shell. Johnson is not at all subtle is delivering her message, but neither is she ham-fisted and awkward with it. Her social message rings out clearly while functioning seamlessly within the fascinating story she is telling. It is impressive work.
Those Beyond the Wall is a sequel, part two of what feels to be a completed duology that began with The Space Between Worlds. It’s not impossible to read it independently, but I would not advise it. Not only did Johnson do most of her world building in the initial novel, but she there introduced powerful characters, infused with complex backstories and emotional resonances that are important in this book. A reader needs that background to fully appreciate this story. Indeed, though the novels are narrated by different first person protagonist, and are divided by about a decade of in world time, they feel more like a single story divided into two volumes than anything else. You need to read these books together.
Several final, important notes are necessary. One: Johnson has a true mastery for writing compelling characters. She seems to have a particular knack for creating massively damaged and flawed people who remain strong and resilient in the face of their past or ongoing traumas. Two: a minor theme that runs through her story is the conflict between science and religion which Johnson handles in a deft way. Instead of representing this as a dichotomy between irreconcilable differences, a zero sum game, she presents it with a lens similar to quantum mechanics — a wave/particle duality where the observer become part of the answer. I found this impressive and satisfying. Three: despite the fact that this book is harsh, gritty, and sometimes near grim dark, full of violence, murder, duplicity, systemic racism and classism, Those Beyond the Wall falls firmly into the tradition of optimistic science fiction rather than its pessimistic dark mirror. Johnson tells a story that believes in the possibility of redemption, both personal, and for our world.
Separately, I would rate the individual books of Johnson’s story 3.5 stars (rounded up), but the 5 star rating I am giving this book reflects my opinion of the impact of the combined duology. Together, these books tell a thrilling, fascinating, and significant story.
April 21, 2024
A darker, more radical, and violent follow up to THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS, which feels necessary given that the world has seemingly gotten darker and more violent since then. Mr. Scales is a ferocious and uncompromising protagonist that will make comfortable readers uncomfortable in a necessary kind of way. Despite all its uncompromising grittiness, there are moments of great tenderness and love in the novel. A triumphant sequel!
April 25, 2024
I feel for the author and the messages she was trying to communicate, but this was not it. Johnson comes in with a heavier handed political message this time (police, capitalism, transphobia, and colonization are all bad) that she splices into the narrative at times that often feel out of place and slow down the narrative. Wiley City and Ashtown--and their respective populations--lose a lot of the diversity and nuance previously established in The Space Between Worlds, with Wiley City now representing all that is wrong with our own world and Ashtown becoming some rough-around-the-edges leftist paradise. But when you position the good guys as the society that used to "liquefy" children's bodies by driving over them for amusement and is now ruled by a literal fascist dictator that demands blood sacrifices, maybe you're not saying what you think you're saying.
The author had a moving note in The Space Between Worlds about the power of speculative fiction and how it has the potential to shape a new reality. So I guess my question is, why idealize a society that is structured entirely around violence? Can we not dream of better solutions? Can we not dream of better worlds?
The author had a moving note in The Space Between Worlds about the power of speculative fiction and how it has the potential to shape a new reality. So I guess my question is, why idealize a society that is structured entirely around violence? Can we not dream of better solutions? Can we not dream of better worlds?
May 17, 2025
Oh Micaiah Johnson, the genius that you are!
This book is so full of rage, so so full to the brimm with anger and a need to burn the world down to the ground. But also full of passion and full of love.
Those Beyond the Wall is set around a decade after its predecessor and flips so many concepts that we might have taken as truths in The Space Between Worlds on their heads. Who the heroes are, who the villains are, the definition of good and bad. Being submerged in this world from the perspective of a runner sheds a new light on everything, puts everything in the grey zone, raises the question of how far is too far? How far are we willing to go in the path of destruction for the greater good? And what’s great about it, is that the book offers many different moral perspectives, some of which are direct opposites of one another, without painting either one in a certain light, the reader can fully and independently form their own opinion. And do you know the craft it fucking takes? To not be spoon fed the book’s message? This is what every author who writes about revolution wishes they could achieve and the author achieves it perfectly, she puts trust in the reader to be able to piece it together. I could write a book about this book but I will leave it here.
On a side and lighter note: loved seeing Cara again, and knowing her and Dell and married and HAVE KIDS? My heart is full and spilling!!
This book is so full of rage, so so full to the brimm with anger and a need to burn the world down to the ground. But also full of passion and full of love.
Those Beyond the Wall is set around a decade after its predecessor and flips so many concepts that we might have taken as truths in The Space Between Worlds on their heads. Who the heroes are, who the villains are, the definition of good and bad. Being submerged in this world from the perspective of a runner sheds a new light on everything, puts everything in the grey zone, raises the question of how far is too far? How far are we willing to go in the path of destruction for the greater good? And what’s great about it, is that the book offers many different moral perspectives, some of which are direct opposites of one another, without painting either one in a certain light, the reader can fully and independently form their own opinion. And do you know the craft it fucking takes? To not be spoon fed the book’s message? This is what every author who writes about revolution wishes they could achieve and the author achieves it perfectly, she puts trust in the reader to be able to piece it together. I could write a book about this book but I will leave it here.
On a side and lighter note: loved seeing Cara again, and knowing her and Dell and married and HAVE KIDS? My heart is full and spilling!!
November 22, 2024
A book that was too angry for me… my favourite niche?!
DNF at 60% :((
Mr. Scales is an Ashtown Runner (soldier) for Emperor Nik who rules the Wasteland.
When people start being turned inside out, an investigation is underway, all signs pointing to an invasion from the multiverse travel that was the focus of the first book. What didn’t help was the abrupt different characterisations of the characters of book one compared to this one inexplainable by a time jump.
Whilst it was said you don’t have to read book one to understand this, I would argue you definitely do. It takes place a few year book one with the main characters becoming side characters. However, I read book one when it released and didn’t remember the specifics and still felt myself hung up and confused on aspects of this book.
This book was more angry and violent than book one if that was possible.
Anger directed at the wealthy Wiley City. The abuse of power. The manipulation of propaganda. Severe dislike against specific individuals because of what they come from or stand for.
It is frustrating because I loved what the author was trying to do in certain places. Some quotes were so poignant and really hit me and I had to pause to reread.
"You saved me," I say. "No one else was going to," she says, and I wonder if she knows how special she is. How many people would use no one else is doing it as an excuse not to act, rather than as motivation.
Sometimes, the message and the metaphors were too heavy-handed and made me roll my eyes. Being spoon-fed what to think about our current political climate ruined the ability to discuss discursive themes.
The nods to real-world events were sometimes thinly-veiled and made me get yanked out of the story.
The world-building holds a lot of promise, yet this was neglected and the focus was on the words to label the people, careers, and class.
I wanted more show, not tell.
I didn’t want to pick it up because I didn’t want to ruin my experience of book one years later.
I sadly regret that I did.
It felt like it was promoting a society that functions on violence as better than the comparative hated capitalistic City.
It was too blunt, too confusing, too angry. And I love raging books.
Saying that, I will still definitely read whatever the author publishes next! Hopefully, a totally new universe or direction!
As long as someone is stretching to reach you, you'd better bend to reach them.
I remind myself that wanting to shift someone else's boundaries is a burden and a threat, not a gift or a compliment.
Bookstagram
DNF at 60% :((
Mr. Scales is an Ashtown Runner (soldier) for Emperor Nik who rules the Wasteland.
When people start being turned inside out, an investigation is underway, all signs pointing to an invasion from the multiverse travel that was the focus of the first book. What didn’t help was the abrupt different characterisations of the characters of book one compared to this one inexplainable by a time jump.
Whilst it was said you don’t have to read book one to understand this, I would argue you definitely do. It takes place a few year book one with the main characters becoming side characters. However, I read book one when it released and didn’t remember the specifics and still felt myself hung up and confused on aspects of this book.
This book was more angry and violent than book one if that was possible.
Anger directed at the wealthy Wiley City. The abuse of power. The manipulation of propaganda. Severe dislike against specific individuals because of what they come from or stand for.
It is frustrating because I loved what the author was trying to do in certain places. Some quotes were so poignant and really hit me and I had to pause to reread.
"You saved me," I say. "No one else was going to," she says, and I wonder if she knows how special she is. How many people would use no one else is doing it as an excuse not to act, rather than as motivation.
Sometimes, the message and the metaphors were too heavy-handed and made me roll my eyes. Being spoon-fed what to think about our current political climate ruined the ability to discuss discursive themes.
The nods to real-world events were sometimes thinly-veiled and made me get yanked out of the story.
The world-building holds a lot of promise, yet this was neglected and the focus was on the words to label the people, careers, and class.
I wanted more show, not tell.
I didn’t want to pick it up because I didn’t want to ruin my experience of book one years later.
I sadly regret that I did.
It felt like it was promoting a society that functions on violence as better than the comparative hated capitalistic City.
It was too blunt, too confusing, too angry. And I love raging books.
Saying that, I will still definitely read whatever the author publishes next! Hopefully, a totally new universe or direction!
As long as someone is stretching to reach you, you'd better bend to reach them.
I remind myself that wanting to shift someone else's boundaries is a burden and a threat, not a gift or a compliment.
Bookstagram
June 28, 2025
I AM BEREFT (but in the best way?).
real talk, I knew at less than 20% in this was one I needed to own in physical to join its twin. And she’s in the mail already. I WAS SO UNPREPARED FOR THE GLIMPSES OF CARA AND DELL THAT WE GOT HERE, AND I WILL NEVER ONCE RECOVER FROM THEM!!!!!!
This author is now a must read and very likely a must buy from me. The first book slapped me in the gut in the very best way, and this one just came back and did it all over again. God, her way with words, characters, and world building is astoundingly, achingly fantastic. I am going to reread these two books for the rest of my life.
real talk, I knew at less than 20% in this was one I needed to own in physical to join its twin. And she’s in the mail already. I WAS SO UNPREPARED FOR THE GLIMPSES OF CARA AND DELL THAT WE GOT HERE, AND I WILL NEVER ONCE RECOVER FROM THEM!!!!!!
This author is now a must read and very likely a must buy from me. The first book slapped me in the gut in the very best way, and this one just came back and did it all over again. God, her way with words, characters, and world building is astoundingly, achingly fantastic. I am going to reread these two books for the rest of my life.
February 23, 2024
Nothing will ever be as perfect as the first one, but this is pretty damn close.
March 2, 2024
Light spoilers for The Space Between Worlds
Those Beyond the Wall is a sequel to Micaiah Johnson’s 2020 debut scifi novel The Space Between Worlds (which I loved), and although its new narrator might make you think they’re not directly connected, it soon becomes clear that you really need to read the first book first. If you have read it before, consider giving it a reread before you dive into this one.
Both of these books tell of a rather dystopian future America seemingly dissolved into powerful city-states eking out an existence in the wasteland. The novels focus on one city in particular, the cold and gleaming Wiley City, and its surrounding shantytown society, Ashtown. Wiley City surrounds itself with the eponymous walls, brutally policing their borders and ensuring its citizens lives of relative comfort and safety at the expense of those suffering in the wastelands, with the citizens predictably divided most often along racial lines (with Wiley City primarily being home to White and Asian people and Ashtown home to brown and black people). These books are not exactly subtly in their politics, though Those Beyond the Wall takes it even further, with a (in my opinion, somewhat cringe) foreword explicitly drawing attention to the book’s angry and overt politics and several overt rants given directly to the reader from the POV character’s thoughts. I don’t necessarily think casting subtlety to the wind is a bad thing, and the book does end up offering a truly radical argument in favor of targeted political violence, but it does get grating at times.
While Johnson’s first book was an exhilarating thriller coiled tight around a compelling mystery, a well-crafted scifi setting, and some cogent takes on privilege and power, Those Beyond the Wall is a much messier thing. It lacks the clean structure and propulsion of the first book, instead lashing out at multiple targets, muddling through a central mystery that lacks the urgency and compulsion of its predecessor. Its POV character, Mr. Scales, is a high-ranking “runner” (a mafioso knight driving a Mad Max car) loyal to the brutal emperor of Ashtown, Nik Nik. The story’s central mystery concerns a recent spat of gruesome, unexplainable murders, but most of the book’s actual word count is spent on Mr. Scales, her thoughts, and her relationships with Nik Nik, her unrequited crush and fellow runner Mr. Cheeks, and a former-religious extremist-turned runner Mr. Cross. I liked Mr. Scales as a protagonist, and Johnson remains pretty great at creating these flawed characters that leap vividly from the page in just a few scenes. However, this intense focus on Mr. Scales’ thoughts and subjectivity keeps the greater mystery in the background, seemingly lurching back in forth in importance and yet expecting the reader to be deeply invested in its answer.
Those Beyond the Wall’s most daring feat, however, is presumably also going to be the thing that probably upsets the most readers. Mr. Scales - whose so often thinks in political speeches that could be ripped from 2024 leftist activists’ social media posts - believes strongly in Ashtown’s superiority to Wiley City, especially as it relates to her emperor and fellow runners’ brutal hierarchical rule. Its hard to disentangle Johnson’s personal values and opinions from Mr. Scales’ thoughts - especially since Johnson speaks to the reader directly in the aforementioned foreword - which makes Mr. Scales’ critique of the first book’s protagonist Cara especially fraught. Cara is someone born of both worlds, used by Wiley City and yet also brutalized by Ashtown, who ends the first book with an understanding of both worlds and a clear view on Wiley City as the ultimate perpetrator of the issues. Yet in this book, she’s often viewed by Mr. Scales as having succumbed to the soft, bourgeois life of Wiley City - and it’s hard not to feel like Johnson agrees with her, turning against her previous character and embracing this new violent protagonist, ready to bathe in righteous blood. In Mr. Scales’ eyes, there are no innocents in Wiley City - everyone there is benefiting from the city’s oppression of Ashtown. And Ashtown’s violence and paranoia are necessary to survive; if it creates monsters, then they should live up to their reputation and be monstrous against their creators.
It’s possible - and possibly even the intention - to view both these books as in conversation with each other, as each presenting a different approach to the injustice of white supremacist capitalism. But its also framed as an angry repudiation of the first book, one that keeps the original’s burning righteous anger and well-crafted characters, but sacrifices a compelling story, any degree of subtlety, and interesting scifi ideas on the pyre of that rage. I’ve been feeling that rage lately too, looking out at the world around me. I want more books to able to channel that, to unsettle the complacent and inspire the radical. I found Those Beyond the Wall to both reflect my own beliefs and make me feel unsettled, complicit, shaken. It will likely linger with me as the future unfolds around us all. I just wish it managed to tell a story as well as the first book did.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts expressed are my own.
Those Beyond the Wall is a sequel to Micaiah Johnson’s 2020 debut scifi novel The Space Between Worlds (which I loved), and although its new narrator might make you think they’re not directly connected, it soon becomes clear that you really need to read the first book first. If you have read it before, consider giving it a reread before you dive into this one.
Both of these books tell of a rather dystopian future America seemingly dissolved into powerful city-states eking out an existence in the wasteland. The novels focus on one city in particular, the cold and gleaming Wiley City, and its surrounding shantytown society, Ashtown. Wiley City surrounds itself with the eponymous walls, brutally policing their borders and ensuring its citizens lives of relative comfort and safety at the expense of those suffering in the wastelands, with the citizens predictably divided most often along racial lines (with Wiley City primarily being home to White and Asian people and Ashtown home to brown and black people). These books are not exactly subtly in their politics, though Those Beyond the Wall takes it even further, with a (in my opinion, somewhat cringe) foreword explicitly drawing attention to the book’s angry and overt politics and several overt rants given directly to the reader from the POV character’s thoughts. I don’t necessarily think casting subtlety to the wind is a bad thing, and the book does end up offering a truly radical argument in favor of targeted political violence, but it does get grating at times.
While Johnson’s first book was an exhilarating thriller coiled tight around a compelling mystery, a well-crafted scifi setting, and some cogent takes on privilege and power, Those Beyond the Wall is a much messier thing. It lacks the clean structure and propulsion of the first book, instead lashing out at multiple targets, muddling through a central mystery that lacks the urgency and compulsion of its predecessor. Its POV character, Mr. Scales, is a high-ranking “runner” (a mafioso knight driving a Mad Max car) loyal to the brutal emperor of Ashtown, Nik Nik. The story’s central mystery concerns a recent spat of gruesome, unexplainable murders, but most of the book’s actual word count is spent on Mr. Scales, her thoughts, and her relationships with Nik Nik, her unrequited crush and fellow runner Mr. Cheeks, and a former-religious extremist-turned runner Mr. Cross. I liked Mr. Scales as a protagonist, and Johnson remains pretty great at creating these flawed characters that leap vividly from the page in just a few scenes. However, this intense focus on Mr. Scales’ thoughts and subjectivity keeps the greater mystery in the background, seemingly lurching back in forth in importance and yet expecting the reader to be deeply invested in its answer.
Those Beyond the Wall’s most daring feat, however, is presumably also going to be the thing that probably upsets the most readers. Mr. Scales - whose so often thinks in political speeches that could be ripped from 2024 leftist activists’ social media posts - believes strongly in Ashtown’s superiority to Wiley City, especially as it relates to her emperor and fellow runners’ brutal hierarchical rule. Its hard to disentangle Johnson’s personal values and opinions from Mr. Scales’ thoughts - especially since Johnson speaks to the reader directly in the aforementioned foreword - which makes Mr. Scales’ critique of the first book’s protagonist Cara especially fraught. Cara is someone born of both worlds, used by Wiley City and yet also brutalized by Ashtown, who ends the first book with an understanding of both worlds and a clear view on Wiley City as the ultimate perpetrator of the issues. Yet in this book, she’s often viewed by Mr. Scales as having succumbed to the soft, bourgeois life of Wiley City - and it’s hard not to feel like Johnson agrees with her, turning against her previous character and embracing this new violent protagonist, ready to bathe in righteous blood. In Mr. Scales’ eyes, there are no innocents in Wiley City - everyone there is benefiting from the city’s oppression of Ashtown. And Ashtown’s violence and paranoia are necessary to survive; if it creates monsters, then they should live up to their reputation and be monstrous against their creators.
It’s possible - and possibly even the intention - to view both these books as in conversation with each other, as each presenting a different approach to the injustice of white supremacist capitalism. But its also framed as an angry repudiation of the first book, one that keeps the original’s burning righteous anger and well-crafted characters, but sacrifices a compelling story, any degree of subtlety, and interesting scifi ideas on the pyre of that rage. I’ve been feeling that rage lately too, looking out at the world around me. I want more books to able to channel that, to unsettle the complacent and inspire the radical. I found Those Beyond the Wall to both reflect my own beliefs and make me feel unsettled, complicit, shaken. It will likely linger with me as the future unfolds around us all. I just wish it managed to tell a story as well as the first book did.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts expressed are my own.
August 10, 2024
This book chewed me up and spat me out. It was electric and absolutely scathing from page one. I was a little apprehensive going into this, because I loved the first book and got everything I needed from it. This book gave me everything I didn’t know I needed. I’ll be thinking about it forever.
I think this will be my favourite book of the year. I just don’t see anything topping this.
I think this will be my favourite book of the year. I just don’t see anything topping this.
April 28, 2024
2.5 stars. I really enjoyed The Space Between Worlds, so was really looking forward to this second instalment, even though the main character is not Cara. The author's writing, world and characters feels more edgy than the other fantasy/sci-fi books I normally read and the protagonist is always a complex, kick-ass female.
The first 75% of the book delivered on most of these expectations, but I was expecting some growth from the main character who, unfortunately, became more and more self-righteous - so much so, that I lost all sympathy for her. I understand that the story is a political message focusing on racial oppression and violence, but in my world two wrongs definitely do not make a right.
The Story: A searing sci-fi thriller about a woman reckoning with her past to solve a series of sudden and inexplicable deaths in the face of a coming apocalypse.
The first 75% of the book delivered on most of these expectations, but I was expecting some growth from the main character who, unfortunately, became more and more self-righteous - so much so, that I lost all sympathy for her. I understand that the story is a political message focusing on racial oppression and violence, but in my world two wrongs definitely do not make a right.
The Story: A searing sci-fi thriller about a woman reckoning with her past to solve a series of sudden and inexplicable deaths in the face of a coming apocalypse.
February 18, 2025
was unsure in the middle of this how i felt but the ending was so good and wrapped up everything perfectly <3
November 28, 2024
Those Beyond the Wall is a sequel to The Space Between Worlds, which I read three and a half years ago. Unfortunately I remembered much less about it than the sequel assumed that I did. It took me a while to catch up, as I'd completely forgotten that Adam Bosch was a very important character, only vaguely recalled who Nik Nik was, and lacked important world-building details. Mostly this is on me and my voracious speed-reading habit, but the switch in protagonist added to my confusion. The Space Between Worlds is narrated by Cara, a 'traverser' who travels between alternate universes. While she does turn up in Those Beyond the Wall, protagonist duties have shifted to Scales. She works as an enforcer in Ashtown (which has a distinctly Mad Max vibe) and, crucially, doesn't know what's happening with the plot for a while. Thus it took me a while to get my head around what was going on. Once that happened, I found events pretty involving. However, I still got more from The Space Between Worlds, which explored the many worlds conceit in a unique and fascinating fashion. I think Those Beyond the Wall could have benefited from splitting the point of view at times. Nonetheless, Scales is an appealing character, the action scenes are great, and there are some memorably macabre world-building details. Once I'd got into it, I found the brutal politics of Ashtown and Wiley City compelling and the last few chapters really tense and exciting. I strongly advise reacquainting yourself with The Space Between Worlds before reading Those Beyond the Wall, to avoid spending the first half struggling to catch up. I would have done so had I been able to.
March 20, 2024
I next-level loved the author's debut (and first book set in this world!), The Space Between Worlds. So needless to say, I was thrilled to hear there would be more coming from this world! Now, I did not love this one quite as much, I have to admit. But I did like it! My biggest complaint about this one is the lack of world jumping, really. We're pretty grounded, and that is not a terrible thing, but I did love the concept of the many worlds!
Anyway, this has a very dystopian feeling to it, which I dug. Scales is a badass character, but also has a vulnerable side, which I loved. She's very rough around the edges, but in this world, I guess you have to be. The first half dragged a bit for me at times, but by the second half, I was definitely invested. I was not sure at first what the character connection to the first book would be, but trust me, it is there, and will become evident in due time! The ending was also really solid, which for me made up for the slower pace of the start and the lack of world jumping shenanigans. Also, there were a lot of times that the story gave me a The 100 vibe, which I am obviously always here for. So while this one didn't quite hit the same, it was still a solid story, and I eagerly await more from the author!
Bottom Line: A pretty solid sequel with a little less excitement, but still a world and characters I definitely grew to care about.
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
Anyway, this has a very dystopian feeling to it, which I dug. Scales is a badass character, but also has a vulnerable side, which I loved. She's very rough around the edges, but in this world, I guess you have to be. The first half dragged a bit for me at times, but by the second half, I was definitely invested. I was not sure at first what the character connection to the first book would be, but trust me, it is there, and will become evident in due time! The ending was also really solid, which for me made up for the slower pace of the start and the lack of world jumping shenanigans. Also, there were a lot of times that the story gave me a The 100 vibe, which I am obviously always here for. So while this one didn't quite hit the same, it was still a solid story, and I eagerly await more from the author!
Bottom Line: A pretty solid sequel with a little less excitement, but still a world and characters I definitely grew to care about.
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
November 15, 2023
It pains me to rate this only 3 after how much I loved Johnson’s debut, but where The Space Between Worlds was a hot knife striking fast and true (to the point where you didn’t realize you were bleeding until that knife was already gone), Those Beyond the Wall was a wildly swinging baseball bat: it could deal real damage if it landed exactly right but without several targeted strikes it’ll only bruise.
The first half was chaotic, giving us a muddy picture of who Mr Scales is and what we’re going to be disrupting with the plot. (Meanwhile, if I was the type to annotate, the first pages of The Space Between Worlds would have been marked up all to hell.) Scales has a tendency to break the fourth wall and take a colloquial tone with the reader that feels like performance - keeping even us at arm’s length - so that when she begins to break down and reform, I felt less invested. I also spent a huge portion of the book trying to figure out what role if any Scales played in the last book, which kept me partially distracted from the plot anyway.
We get some really good and interesting moments at the 50% mark and in the last 25% of the book, but even those moments couldn’t create enough of a cohesive story to drive the book.
Johnson herself describes this book as “angry” - and that is the truth of it. It highlights oppression and violence and the impracticality of a bloodless revolution, talks about media martyrs and oppression and the myth of peace. And there are no “good guys” in this story, which feels more true than anything else.
{Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy; all thoughts are my own}
The first half was chaotic, giving us a muddy picture of who Mr Scales is and what we’re going to be disrupting with the plot. (Meanwhile, if I was the type to annotate, the first pages of The Space Between Worlds would have been marked up all to hell.) Scales has a tendency to break the fourth wall and take a colloquial tone with the reader that feels like performance - keeping even us at arm’s length - so that when she begins to break down and reform, I felt less invested. I also spent a huge portion of the book trying to figure out what role if any Scales played in the last book, which kept me partially distracted from the plot anyway.
We get some really good and interesting moments at the 50% mark and in the last 25% of the book, but even those moments couldn’t create enough of a cohesive story to drive the book.
Johnson herself describes this book as “angry” - and that is the truth of it. It highlights oppression and violence and the impracticality of a bloodless revolution, talks about media martyrs and oppression and the myth of peace. And there are no “good guys” in this story, which feels more true than anything else.
{Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy; all thoughts are my own}
February 26, 2024
2 stars. I'm sorry, I didn't like this one. I was so much looking forward to it given that The Space Between Worlds was one of my top 5 reads of its year and I gave it 5 stars. This book is set in the same world, but the feelings and characters (even the ones you thought you knew) were completely different. It has important messages, but they are delivered by a flatly dislikable character and written in a way that completely removes you from the story. I think I just need to pretend this one didn't happen so it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of The Space Between Worlds. If you haven't read that one, go read it instead - it's fantastic.
Thank you Edelweiss for the ARC.
Thank you Edelweiss for the ARC.
April 21, 2024
even better than the first
Read
March 30, 2025It’s no surprise The Space Between Worlds is one of my favourite science fiction books. And because of that I have a lot of mixed feelings on this sequel/companion novel, and I have absolutely no idea what to rate it. I have tried to make sense of my thoughts below.
First off, this book is an angrier, more violent book which I really liked. It is a clear response to the violence of the last 5 years and I found the commentary on political violence as sometimes necessary for resistance and revolution particularly relevant and powerful. Johnson also remains absolutely one of the best at creating flawed characters. The main characters, particularly Mr Scales, Mr Cheeks and Mr Cross, were fascinating to follow. Johnson’s ability to write yearning remains unmatched as well - the yearning of Mr Scales with regards her relationship to Cheeks and Cross (but particularly Cross) was fantastic, and very reminiscent of Dell/Cara from The Space Between Worlds.
Those Beyond the Wall speaks directly to the current world and violence of the last 5 years, it is a raging scream against what is happening. But it does so at the expense of everything we learned about the characters and worldbuilding in The Space Between Worlds. Both in regards to mischaracterisation of those in TSBW (Nik Nik is particularly egregious) and the lack of nuance in its idolisation of the Ashtown hierarchical structure and violence, and the abusive language used to justify the violence against their *own* people (“we hurt you because we love you”).
If this book existed on its own, I would probably love it. If this was a standalone, there would be no issues with Nik Nik’s previous characterisation, there would be less issue that there is suddenly far less depth and nuance to the analysis of the world. The black and white portrait of Ashtown vs Wiley City would not matter because we have never been taught anything else about this world. It would not matter because it would make sense that this book is exactly as unquestioning, as angry, as violent, because the main conversation would be with the world in which it was written, where sometimes it is necessary to become the thing you hate in order to destroy it.
But The Space Between Worlds does exist. And Those Beyond the Wall’s main conversation is with The Space Between Worlds because it is a direct companion and sequel. We have learned far more about this world than Those Beyond the Wall shows but we seem forced to forget what we know of TSBW for TBTW to work. This could have been just as brilliant as TSBW with just a little more acknowledgement of the fact that book exists.
First off, this book is an angrier, more violent book which I really liked. It is a clear response to the violence of the last 5 years and I found the commentary on political violence as sometimes necessary for resistance and revolution particularly relevant and powerful. Johnson also remains absolutely one of the best at creating flawed characters. The main characters, particularly Mr Scales, Mr Cheeks and Mr Cross, were fascinating to follow. Johnson’s ability to write yearning remains unmatched as well - the yearning of Mr Scales with regards her relationship to Cheeks and Cross (but particularly Cross) was fantastic, and very reminiscent of Dell/Cara from The Space Between Worlds.
Those Beyond the Wall speaks directly to the current world and violence of the last 5 years, it is a raging scream against what is happening. But it does so at the expense of everything we learned about the characters and worldbuilding in The Space Between Worlds. Both in regards to mischaracterisation of those in TSBW (Nik Nik is particularly egregious) and the lack of nuance in its idolisation of the Ashtown hierarchical structure and violence, and the abusive language used to justify the violence against their *own* people (“we hurt you because we love you”).
If this book existed on its own, I would probably love it. If this was a standalone, there would be no issues with Nik Nik’s previous characterisation, there would be less issue that there is suddenly far less depth and nuance to the analysis of the world. The black and white portrait of Ashtown vs Wiley City would not matter because we have never been taught anything else about this world. It would not matter because it would make sense that this book is exactly as unquestioning, as angry, as violent, because the main conversation would be with the world in which it was written, where sometimes it is necessary to become the thing you hate in order to destroy it.
But The Space Between Worlds does exist. And Those Beyond the Wall’s main conversation is with The Space Between Worlds because it is a direct companion and sequel. We have learned far more about this world than Those Beyond the Wall shows but we seem forced to forget what we know of TSBW for TBTW to work. This could have been just as brilliant as TSBW with just a little more acknowledgement of the fact that book exists.
April 26, 2024
Rec. by: Jess, and the space between worlds
Rec. for: The righteously angry
In the Acknowledgements at the end of Those Beyond the Wall, Micaiah Johnson reveals that she hadn't expected to write a sequel to The Space Between Worlds. I find that refreshing, actually—all too many authors seem to have their first dozen best-sellers plotted out before the pixels are even dry on their first sale.
Those Beyond the Wall takes some sharp turns from its predecessor, too—these books are not just halves of a single whole split in twain by marketing. This new book is much darker in tone, much angrier. Johnson goes into some reasons for that in her initial Author's Note, and I can confirm from my own brief experience in Nashville (I lived there for one year back in the 1980s) that it was even then a town still struggling with having become a city; a city where de facto segregation still builds walls (sometimes even visible ones); a metropolis where the rights of property routinely steamroll over the rights of people.
Much like every city I've lived in since. Much like Johnson's Wiley City (and Ashtown beyond its walls), on an alternative Earth—or a future one—that's not as separate from our own as I'd like to believe.
Science fiction has always been rather more about the present than about "the" future, anyway.
We know what's going wrong before Mr. Scales does, because we've read The Space Between Worlds and she hasn't. But there's something wrong with the way things are going wrong. What we remember of traversing between alternatives betrays us... and the body count is mounting.
This book does show some signs of having been written—or at least copy-edited—in haste; I noticed phrases like "wheel weld" (instead of "wheel well") and "referential tap" (instead of "deferential tap"), for example. But those were relatively infrequent.
The parallel worlds in Those Beyond the Wall are neither numbered nor named—we don't know whether Wiley and Ashtown are Earth Prime or somewhere in the hinterlands of alternity. But I suspect the latter.
Those Beyond the Wall is full of raw emotion, and the action is often brutal—too brutal, perhaps understandably so, but it's not always easy to read.
But then there are lines like this one, which (as far as I can tell) is original to Johnson, though the sentiment's been expressed before:
Those Beyond the Wall comes to a fitting end. Not well—Scales and her family (found and otherwise) have lost too much for that—but as well as could be expected.
And if Micaiah Johnson does turn out to be willing to dive a third time into that oily black well of possibilities... I will follow her in.
Rec. for: The righteously angry
In the Acknowledgements at the end of Those Beyond the Wall, Micaiah Johnson reveals that she hadn't expected to write a sequel to The Space Between Worlds. I find that refreshing, actually—all too many authors seem to have their first dozen best-sellers plotted out before the pixels are even dry on their first sale.
Those Beyond the Wall takes some sharp turns from its predecessor, too—these books are not just halves of a single whole split in twain by marketing. This new book is much darker in tone, much angrier. Johnson goes into some reasons for that in her initial Author's Note, and I can confirm from my own brief experience in Nashville (I lived there for one year back in the 1980s) that it was even then a town still struggling with having become a city; a city where de facto segregation still builds walls (sometimes even visible ones); a metropolis where the rights of property routinely steamroll over the rights of people.
Much like every city I've lived in since. Much like Johnson's Wiley City (and Ashtown beyond its walls), on an alternative Earth—or a future one—that's not as separate from our own as I'd like to believe.
Science fiction has always been rather more about the present than about "the" future, anyway.
"I hate it," I say. "So it's perfect. Let's go."
—p.61
We know what's going wrong before Mr. Scales does, because we've read The Space Between Worlds and she hasn't. But there's something wrong with the way things are going wrong. What we remember of traversing between alternatives betrays us... and the body count is mounting.
Stories are powerful, and none are more powerful than the ones you let others tell you about yourself.
—p.126
This book does show some signs of having been written—or at least copy-edited—in haste; I noticed phrases like "wheel weld" (instead of "wheel well") and "referential tap" (instead of "deferential tap"), for example. But those were relatively infrequent.
How much can you change and get away with it, before you turn into someone else, before it's some kind of murder?
—p.137. Epigram for Part Two, attributed to Richard Siken, War of the Foxes
The parallel worlds in Those Beyond the Wall are neither numbered nor named—we don't know whether Wiley and Ashtown are Earth Prime or somewhere in the hinterlands of alternity. But I suspect the latter.
Those Beyond the Wall is full of raw emotion, and the action is often brutal—too brutal, perhaps understandably so, but it's not always easy to read.
But then there are lines like this one, which (as far as I can tell) is original to Johnson, though the sentiment's been expressed before:
"Exlee says jealousy is a poison you make for others but drink yourself."
—p.209
Those Beyond the Wall comes to a fitting end. Not well—Scales and her family (found and otherwise) have lost too much for that—but as well as could be expected.
And if Micaiah Johnson does turn out to be willing to dive a third time into that oily black well of possibilities... I will follow her in.
March 31, 2025
When I heard about Those Beyond the Wall, I wasn't sure that The Space Between Worlds needed a sequel. It's arguably a perfect novel as a standalone. After reading it, I can say book one still stands well on its own, but Those Beyond the Wall feels like a natural conclusion. It takes a wider scope at the systemic issues in this world. It's messy, but that's not a complaint—it's a reflection of the messiness of reality.
Micaiah Johnson is definitely a new favourite author, and I look forward to whatever she writes next.
Full review at the Lesbrary.
Micaiah Johnson is definitely a new favourite author, and I look forward to whatever she writes next.
Full review at the Lesbrary.
August 5, 2024
This pains me to say, but I'm DNFing at about 27% or just over 100 pages in.
I absolutely loved The Space Between Worlds. It was my favorite book the year it came out.
However, I did not like this one. I did not like the narrative voice. I did not understand what was going on (in plot or character relations). I usually can forgive a lot of the plot if I care about the characters. But here I wasn't.
I also don't see how this connects to the first book. Maybe this should have been a standalone because I came in with expectations that were not met. I really wanted to try more with this, but it took me a few days to read the first 100 pages, and I keep avoiding picking it back up.
I know that the author's note said that this was a book that was written to express her anger, which is very valid, but I just don't think that this is doing what I thought it was going to.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I absolutely loved The Space Between Worlds. It was my favorite book the year it came out.
However, I did not like this one. I did not like the narrative voice. I did not understand what was going on (in plot or character relations). I usually can forgive a lot of the plot if I care about the characters. But here I wasn't.
I also don't see how this connects to the first book. Maybe this should have been a standalone because I came in with expectations that were not met. I really wanted to try more with this, but it took me a few days to read the first 100 pages, and I keep avoiding picking it back up.
I know that the author's note said that this was a book that was written to express her anger, which is very valid, but I just don't think that this is doing what I thought it was going to.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
April 2, 2024
I kept thinking that it would get better as I kept reading. It didn't.
This was a terrible continuation of the story from book 1, which I really enjoyed. Characters that should be dead, aren't. Characters that were terrible people are suddenly supposed be seen through a different lens and sadly, it just doesn't work. The narrator isn't likable and never becomes likable, she goes through no character development, even with all the things going on that should've prompted some serious self reflection and change. She breaks the 4th wall here and there, and it's super annoying.
The only thing I liked about the book is , but the journey to get there just wasn't worth it.
This was a terrible continuation of the story from book 1, which I really enjoyed. Characters that should be dead, aren't. Characters that were terrible people are suddenly supposed be seen through a different lens and sadly, it just doesn't work. The narrator isn't likable and never becomes likable, she goes through no character development, even with all the things going on that should've prompted some serious self reflection and change. She breaks the 4th wall here and there, and it's super annoying.
The only thing I liked about the book is , but the journey to get there just wasn't worth it.
May 21, 2024
4.8— a hell of a follow up book. Stunning.
In this book, we follow familiar characters and see different versions but on a much bigger scale.
This author does a fantastic job with gritty dystopian futures and extreme socioeconomic injustice in such a realistic character focused believable way.
In this book, we follow familiar characters and see different versions but on a much bigger scale.
This author does a fantastic job with gritty dystopian futures and extreme socioeconomic injustice in such a realistic character focused believable way.
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