The Space Between Two Deaths tells the story of Ziz (and her family), who live in ancient Sumeria. The only thing that seperates the living from the dead, is a thin veil. When the Earth is split in two and a giant ravine opens up because the Netherworld is too full of the dead, we follow Ziz and her family on an adventure to the Netherworld. Here they hope to find freedom in their lives.

This book just wasn't for me. It read like a mythology and is told from multiple perspectives. I couldn't really relate to Ziz, which is probably because I just wasn't that drawn into this book from the beginning. When I read the synopsis, I had quite high hopes of liking this book and reading something new to me. However, it just wasn't for me.
The story building was quite good, I loved the description of the Netherworld and the Earth.

While I enjoyed the story for it's setting in Sumeria, unfortunately I didn't experience the "full immersion" that I typically want and enjoy in historical fiction. This was my first story to ever be located in Sumeria and I was just expecting more descriptors for my mind's eye. I enjoyed the chapter's with the Crow's POV. It added additional insight in an original way. However I didn't feel a connection with any of the characters which lead me to feel indifferent towards their journey throughout the book.

The story is told from multiple perspectives and reads like mythology. The story takes place in two worlds, our world and the Netherworld. Ziz, one of the protagonists is a young girl who has already been promised to a solider. She rages against the confines of her gender role in her society. We also get to read from the perspective of the crow, who is an usher for people between the two worlds.

In the end, this is really a story about women looking for agency. For Ziz, she has to completely let go of her sense of self to gain her independence.

I think the characters in this story are easy to dislike. However, if we keep in mind that all of the women were living as second class citizens it’s easier to understand their behaviors and decisions.

The Space Between Two Deaths sounded interesting, but it wasn't to me. Some aspects were neat, but the whole story wasn't compelling to me.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

gger Warning:
mass suicide, gore, attempted cannibalism, slavery, domestic abuse, ableistic language, child marriage

This book is very special. The story is set in the Time of the Sumerians focusing on the lives of a farming family. Temen, the father and head of the family; Meshara - the mother, and Ziz - the daughter of both of them, only 10 years old.
One day the father comes home and tells his daughter he arranged a marriage for her. She's going to marry a soldier, whether she wants it or not. Her mother doesn't know that information, and Temen doesn't tell it her because she disappears the next day. Garash, the landowner and Ziz's future father-in-law, appears to talk to Temen about the wedding but he's killed by a tiger. Both Temen and Garash are dead and roam the netherworld.
First of all, say that this book is not for everyone, and second, to enjoy this book you have to understand the intention of the author.
It should be noted that more than a book, I have read it as if it were a story, a fable.
The story begins in a rather strange way. In itself, 85% of the book is strange, dark, and complicated. At first, you don't empathize with any of the characters. We have Teman, a rather foolish man who just wants to assert his word and the power that was bestowed upon him, simply because he was born as a man.
Meshara only works in the field because her husband hates it. She subjugates herself to the power of her husband and feels privileged to be married to Temen, even though he hit not only her but her daughter.
Ziz, who loves neither her father nor her mother and tries to live her own life.
I've had a hard time understanding these characters until the end comes. And I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this book was written by a man.
This book tells the story of women who were subjugated to their husbands, deprived of their freedom, of their power, unable to decide for their own lives. Meshara never cared about her daughter because she wanted to savor some of that freedom that was taken from her. A captive woman who never knew what it was like to choose her destiny, who never knew it was true love, could not love her daughter properly.
Ziz, a girl deprived of all love and freedom, hit by her father, the men of the market, even sexually abused by a boy, never belonged to herself. His only wish was freedom, not belonging to anyone, being free. And if she has to sacrifice the most valuable thing for it, she would do it.
It's a pretty sad book that at the end of the story brings out all the emotions. It's a cry of freedom, it's a cry in a world where women live in continuous silence. Where to be free they need to mutilate themselves and even take their lives.
On the other hand, the story is quite intriguing and interesting. It has a touch of magic and fantasy. We will sail between two worlds, one of the dead, accompanied by a crow, and one of the living, where we will see how the life of Meshara and Ziz transcurs.

Tw/// mass suicide, gore, attempted cannibalism, violence, domestic abuse, murder

This was a such a unique tale. We follow a family in Sumeria as they navigate between death and life. A crow unexpectedly thrown into the chaos of another. A young girl Ziz, already in the precipice of marriage. A mother, a widow, Meshara navigates society when a woman’s worth is determined by that of the men around her. This is a haunting tale about independence and freedom, and somewhat grief. I adored this book from the start but i have some criticisms as well.

One of the best features of this book, i would say is the perspective of the crow. It was so unique and so well done. Its voice felt distinctive, well defined and even humorous at times. The character work I enjoyed most was through this crow, of its understanding of humans and something about the way the entire perspective was written just had a hold on me. The writing style while accessible, was not beautiful, yet it was unique and distinctive. I did not enjoy it especially with the human chapters, but it felt uniquely fitting with that of the crow, adding to the somewhat meandering plot. And thats the other thing, the story was not driven by plot, at least for me, it was driven by the world. This was so new and the concept so intriguing i kept wanting to know more. The sombre undertone on a perplexing and humorous writing fitted the mysteries of the space between deaths even more and i enjoyed the world building so much. I also do appreciate the themes explored in the book, while it may not be the best it still was a fresh perspective and that was really enjoyable.

That said, there was no real solid plot to it. The prologue showed a glimpse of something that could have been so great, and I thought the book would focus on the aspect of colonialism, but it was more of a coming of age story filled with a lot of gore, with (human) characters that barely scratched the surface. The character arcs were not compelling enough for me and that took away from my enjoyment.

This was still a good read and i would definitely recommend for people wanting to read about a new world, but this probably would not be for everyone.

Thank you to GenZ Publishing for granting me with an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

What a strange book. Wow. Totally unexpected. It read like mythology, the style and setting, and that was probably the author’s intent. It was a good book, kept my attention throughout, good mixture of action and world building. Kind of creepy feeling, too, especially the underworld scenes. I honestly am in awe of the author for pulling this off, even if it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea - and that is the reason it gets four stars instead of five: it’s not a book I’d like to reread or read a sequel of. I was impressed by it, but didn’t like it as a reader, as a personal preference.

Did the blurb deliver what it promised? Yes, definitely.
Did I love it? I liked it quite a lot.
Did I love the characters? I liked them. I didn’t identify with them, didn’t love them, but they were well-crafted and believable.
Was the ending satisfying? Yes. Not exactly a happy ending but satisfying nevertheless.
Overall impression: Good! I flew through the book, didn’t skip any passages, was intrigued and pleasantly surprised.

tw: (spouse) abuse, body gore, suicide, violence
While I love dark and weird, this story didn’t do it for me. The majority of characters are too unlikeable for me to care and the one character that spiked my interest didn’t have the depth I would like. I also generally don’t enjoy stories without climax, and I think I expected something else from reading the summary (just ... more, I guess? More otherwordly stuff).

I’d like to thank the publisher for giving me a chance to read in advance.

The book follows the perspectives of multiple different people, each experiencing their own story, but the stories nicely weave together. Ziz was an interesting character, because of how rebellious she was, despite her age, and how she didn’t want to be confined to the roles society created for her because of her gender.
I found Ziz’s mum, Meshara, to be very unlikeable. While she was trying to protect herself and her daughter from their past, she showed more selfish behaviour as the story developed, caring more for the riches she was surrounded by than for her own daughter.
The one character I disliked more than Meshara is Temen, Ziz’s dad. To me he seemed like a pessimistic, cranky dude who seemed to complain about everything. It might be that I didn’t invest enough time into understanding his character, but to me he was quite forgettable and I don’t care too much for him.
The last important character was the crow, which I found very interesting because of its connection to the netherworld, though I would have liked to learn more about its origin.

The plot of the book wasn’t very interesting to me. I felt like the characters just lingered in one place and the story didn’t contain much action. The author most likely intended for the plot to be on the slow side, but in this particular case, I didn’t quite enjoy it. In addition, I felt like the ending of the story was a bit rushed and it felt anticlimactic to me, but that might also be because I was growing a bit tired of the plot.

The synopsis got me really excited for the world building of Sumeria, it wasn’t as lively as I had hoped it to be. I would have liked to see even more of the religion, the myths and of how this ancient society worked, since I felt like we got a limited view. That which we did get to experience was very interesting to me though.

I liked the supernatural aspect of the story, but I wish we got to experience more of the netherworld. There were many events in the netherworld that left me rather confused, and I wish those would’ve been explained a bit more. On the other hand, that might drag out the plot even further, which is something that already bothered me.

One minor thing that I want to add is that this book had a couple of very explicit scenes in it. I personally didn’t see the need for them, but then again, scenes like this make me feel uncomfortable so I’m pretty biased when it comes to this.

Over all I must unfortunately say that this wasn’t a book for me, but if the synopsis sounds interesting to you, be sure to pick it up. Just a reminder that the book does contain some very explicit scenes, so be careful if that makes you feel uncomfortable.

This was an amazing book. My favorite cosmic horror of this year. Such a unique story filled with supernatural elements. Folk horror/cosmic horror at it's best.

With a thin veil separating the living and the dead, Ziz finds themselves pulled into a mystery entwined with the underworld when her father becomes obsessed with talking to his deceased ancestors.

I found this interesting, interweaving mythology I'm unfamiliar with and adding hints of more common lore. The tone of the novel feels very much like an old fairy tale, or a fable, with a strong moral message behind the glamour of fabulism. I just wish this had been expanded on more, as the world building just feels a little lacklustre in places. The plot is also quite slow and the pacing a little off at times, feeling rushed.

Ziz is a great character, bold and adventurous yet naive to the dangers she faces. However, my favourite character is the crow. To follow their perspective as a reluctant guide to the underworld was distinctly unique, and they're suitably morose and reticent in their task.

Some great ideas, but it falls a little flat in delivery.

A page turner deep into the night - you won't put this one down!. This was a very pleasant surprise, I didn't know what to expect and found one of the best reads I've had all year, and I read a lot. Almost a modernish fable, akin to The Alchemist in the joining of actual and supernatural elements. Enjoyed every minute and rejoiced at the end.

Fun title from beginning to end. Thanks to The publisher for the early read. This one is like The Expanse meets Twilight.

After a rift to the Netherworld suddenly appears in the Mesopotamian countryside, an unexpected death sets into motion a series of life-altering events for Ziz and her family. The Space Between Two Deaths is certainly whimsically macabre. I enjoyed the Sumerian symbolism and motifs throughout the story, but found it to be an otherwise bizarre and uncompelling tale. It was difficult to connect with, or even like, any of the characters. While one would expect to encounter injustice and violence during  antiquity, the superfluous overuse of gore and mutilation unfortunately decreased its impact on me as a reader. All-in-all, I thought this was a very strange, trite, and anticlimactic story.

Trigger warnings: this book contains a mass suicide event, domestic violence, child marriage, animal death, slavery, gore, mutilation and ableistic language.

**Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free e-book in exchange for an honest review**
"The Space Between Two Deaths" by Jamie Yourdon is the magical story of Ziz, a young Sumerian girl and what happens to her family after a gigantic rift opens on their farm.
I loved this book a lot! It read so much like a Studio Ghibli film, magical and strange. The relationships between the characters feel so strong and real, and I loved getting the crow's point of view. The ending was everything I wanted, but I won't be saying more on that because... spoilers!
I'd never read anything about Sumeria before, and this made me want to pick up more books based on their mythology. This book is truly something special and I'll be trying to convince too many people to read it.
I'm giving it 4/5 stars.

This book was so different than anything I have read before. The story begins in ancient Sumeria with the Earth being rent in two and a giant ravine opening up because the netherworld is too full of the dead. We follow a family of three characters (ten-year-old Ziz and her parents Meshara and Temen) on their journey to find freedom and purpose in both the natural and netherworlds. I don't want to say much more as it would take away from a first reading experience.

I loved Ziz as a character. She reminded me of a young Arya Stark (with needle most specifically) or a more outgoing Nona Grey from the Holy Ancestors trilogy. While those are both high fantasy, the characterization is similar and something I am always a sucker for. I also really enjoyed reading from the perspective of the crow. It was rendered in such a unique way and added to the mythology-style feel of the story. It almost felt like I was reading a Sumerian Grimm's fairy tale at times.

The themes throughout the novel were excellent. Revolving around slavery, freedom, personal choice, and self-identification/actualization, the setting was perfect for a discussion of such themes and I thought they were handled excellently. Also, the prologue for this book completely hooked me. It is one of the best prologues I have read in recent memory.

After reading the description I will admit I was hoping for a bit more of ancient Sumeria in the story. While I think the author showcased some of their mythology and religious traditions well, I just wanted to *taste and smell* the ancient world a bit more and explore it with my senses. I found it a bit hard to picture in my head sometimes which might be influencing my overall feel of the story. (I feel the need to note the author was very descriptive in terms of the plot, I'm just being picky and wanted more Sumeria!)

Lastly, there were a few plot points that I wanted answers on and left me feeling a little unsettled. While I felt like Ziz's story arc was perfectly wrapped up (I LOVED her ending) and the themes were complete, I didn't feel the same way for Temen's and Meshara's storylines. I think I needed one more chapter from each of them to glean their thoughts and feelings about what had occurred and to wrap up their connection with other characters. And here's one big question I have:*SPOILER* Why didn't WantsForNoOne pluck his tail feather out of Temen when he was tied up as a scarecrow?!

One final note: This book has some body gore that I was not expecting. You may want to be aware before reading that there is some self-mutilation and an incident with eyeballs!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This one had me at Sumeria. I’m fascinating with antiquity and I don’t think I’ve ever read a work of fiction set in Sumeria before. I mean, the cover’s great too, but it was mostly the location. It’s an interesting book all around, a blend of magic realism, mythology and character driven drama set in a bygone world. The narrative split three ways with two of the strands allocating to people, a spirited 10 year old named Ziz and her (not the nicest) mother Meshara. After underworld gets overpopulated and splits the earth near their abode, Ziz’s father, Temen, finds himself navigating the strange world below with assistance of a reluctant guide, the third narrator of the book, who is beholden to Temen by a feather. Meanwhile, Ziz and Meshara find themselves in hot waters and have to flee, settling in town with a wealthy family. It’s all intricately connected, though, as it turns out and eventually leads to a reckoning. A fascinating world to find yourself immersed in, governed by its own rules and morality, this tale does concentrate heavily on the fates of women of Sumer, which was, unsurprisingly, dire. Throughout antiquity (and well into modern ages ) women have been mostly supporting players, second class citizens, property, victims, breeding mares, etc. In ancient Sumer women actually had more rights than it was customary for the era and certainly more than in subsequent Mesopotamian cultures. Which is to say they were able to own property, manage businesses, becomes scribes, witnesses in courts and even judges. But still, of course, of course, there were severe limitations and fate of women was mostly defined by the man they were attached to. The women who found themselves suddenly without such attachments as the women in this book do had to make their own fates, while navigating very specific social constructs. Oh yes, and cutting off their own fingers to signify their free status. Which is why Ziz is such a great character, despite her young age or maybe because of it, she refuses to confine herself to traditional gender roles. Kid’s a rebel and very much the star of the show here, (at least of the nonfeathered variety) determined to chart her own way as opposed to, say, be given away in an arranged prepubescent marriage. So this book is mostly her journey or more like her journey is the best aspect of this book. Other than that, the writing is good, the descriptions are well done, the author done a thoroughly credible job of bringing ancient Sumer to life. Beware, modern reader, this revivification comes with spousal and child abuse, violence, slavery and other customs of the time, brutal enough to make a properly woke person cry. But for anyone who understands the past in its appropriate historical context, it’s an enlightening journey back in time. Didn’t quite love it, something about it didn’t quite grab me on an emotional level, but it was an enjoyable read all the same. Certainly an original one. Recommended for fans of historical fiction with some magic thrown in. Thanks Netgalley.

this was a great scifi read, the characters were great and I really enjoyed the journey. I look forward to more from the author.

I saw the cover and immediately wanted to read it.

This book reads like a dark folk tale. Despite the dark themes, it was easy to fall into it and pretty much read it in one sitting thanks to the flow of the writing style. It's a nice mix of historical fiction and fantasy, and though I would have liked to learn more about Sumerian traditions and culture, the amount of detail was enough and fitting for this novel.
I can't say that this type of book is my cup of tea, but I really loved the Crow's POV chapters.

Content warnings for animal cruelty, child & domestic abuse, gore and attempted sexual assault.

What a fantastic cover. Props to the artist. It immediately caught my eye and drew me in. 'The Space Between Two Deaths' fits nicely in both the Historical Fiction and Fantasy genres. Although I'm not a huge historical fiction fan, merge it with fantasy and you have my undivided attention. The book opens with the cutest character ever, 10 year old Ziz,  playing instead of doing chores. She's made an onion into a doll. I grew up on a farm myself, so she immediately enchanted me. However as we all know childhood doesn't protect us from the darkness that comes sometimes. The writing has a Grimm's fairy tale quality to it. Because of that, this book won't be for everyone. If you like dark tales or weird stories like I do, then this one is for you. It's told from multiple points of view, one being a Crow. There are quite a few different "swallow" metaphors (the leopard who didn't eat Garash, feathers, a doll, poisoned berries, watery soup) that suggest a theme of accepting one's lot in life or not and the results of that. Whether it be Temen's hatred of farming, Wasu's obesity, Meshara's apathy, abuse or lack of status, like many fairytales there is a moral to this story.

Trigger warning: there is some initial spousal abuse in this book, if that's a problem for you, you may want to skip it.

"In ancient Sumeria, only a thin veil separates the living from the dead."
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