I absolutely adored Johnson's debut, The Space Between Worlds so I was thrilled when I saw that her sophomore release was going to be a companion sequel to that. This follows a side character from the first book in the years following those events. I don't necessarily think you have to read The Space Between Worlds to understand this, but it would probably help.

That being said, tonally this book is much angrier. Mr. Scales is just as complex and interesting as Cara was in the first book but where Cara has managed to leave Ashtown behind, Mr. Scales is firmly enmeshed as an enforcer in Ashtown so we get to see more of their society, which is fascinating to me.

There are so many twists and turns here that I don't want to say much about the plot other than, there is a coming apocalypse and I found myself fully engrossed in the story being told. I didn't love this as much as I loved the first book, mostly because there were some character decisions that seemed questionable to me, but I did really have a good time with this story. The discussions of xenophobia and comparisons to real-world events are even more on the nose here and I think the author's note really sets the tone for where this story goes. I'm not sure if Johnson would ever write more in this world, but if she does I would absolutely pick it up.

Also, while not in any way a major plot element, there was a romantic pairing that had me absolutely feral in a very unexpected way and I loved it.

4/5 Stars

Those Beyond the Wall was a powerful, darker and solid follow up to The Space Between Worlds.
The main character was easy to connect with, as were most of the characters throughout the book. I appreciated having multiple POV's in this book as it added depth and another perspective of the conflict. While I don't think it will surpass the first one for me, I was able to delve into the story Johnson crafted quite easily. TBTW tends to blur the line between fiction and reality, with some heavy handed political messages that sometimes overtook the narrative of the book, but it did not overpower the book entirely.

Johnson’s second novel set in the universe of Ashton and Wiley City moves us forward a decade, from the point of view of Runner Mr Scales. Traversers from another world have figured out a way to kill their doppelgängers, threatening everyone. The story dragged on a bit much for me, and it was really necessary to have read the first book to get everything that was happening, but the book had a satisfying conclusion.

If you haven’t read the first in this series, do it now. I loved this one as much as the first. We’re back in the multiverse with complex characters making difficult choices, and dealing with loss and otherness. Yeah, it’s confusing at times, but life is too. I’ll be waiting for whatever this author writes next.

I couldn't finish this book but it was not the fault of the book or author. To put it simply, I think I'm just too dumb to understand the way this is written and the details of the story. I really like the idea and the setting and the characters seem very interesting. The details are packed in and there is a lot thrown at you from the very beginning. I can tell the world building will be complex. The writing is very descriptive. I like that is has queer representation. If I felt I could wrap my mind around it, I'm confident it would be at least a 4 star book.

This universe is one my favorites to be in. This author writes intricate sci-fi with mystery and depth. You would be a fool not to love this story from beginning to end.

I'm a bit embarrassed by how much The Space Between Worlds blew my mind. The book is a great example of intersectionality in Science Fiction, particularly Dystopian Fiction.

Those Beyond the Wall takes place 10 years after The Space Between Worlds. It focuses on Scales, an enforcer serving the Emperor of Ashtown. People in the walled city of Wiley start dying violent deaths seemingly at random and Scales is on the team to figure out what is happening before it effects Ashtown.

This is a great sequel. I didn't remember most of the plot of Between Worlds, but the 10 year time gap made this book easy to follow. I would still recommend reading the first book in the series.

Those Beyond the Wall is a powerful and immersive novel that solidifies Micaiah Johnson's place as a significant voice in contemporary science fiction. It is a must-read for fans of the genre and anyone interested in stories that challenge societal norms and inspire deeper contemplation. With its richly imagined world and compelling characters, this novel is sure to leave a lasting impression.

Also didn’t realize this was a sequel so will be going back to read first book.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Space Between Worlds and was excited to find that there would be a sequel/spin-off. The complicated world that Micaiah Johnson builds explores real world disparities and human nature as the characters struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world . It is speculative fiction in the highest form and depths of the characters as cope with morally, love, trauma and survival.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC.

This was a riveting sequel to The Space Between Worlds. It was good to see another side to the world that the author built in the first book. I did have trouble following along at parts as the characters with flashback or forward without much warning, but all the characters are so intriguing and fun to learn about.

Thank you Netgalley & publisher for this e-arc of Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson.

This is a sci-fi novel. 3.5-4* so far.

Synopsis:
In "Those Beyond the Wall" by Micaiah Johnson, Scales, an enforcer in the climate-ravaged desert town of Ashtown, faces a daunting challenge when a series of inexplicable deaths rock her community. The peace is shattered when a woman is gruesomely murdered before Scales's eyes, with no apparent culprit. As more bodies surface, both in Ashtown and the affluent, walled-off Wiley City, Scales is tasked with unraveling the mystery behind the killings. Teaming up with a rule-abiding partner and a sharp scientist, they embark on a perilous journey that takes them into the heart of both worlds. However, what they uncover hints at a larger, more sinister conspiracy that threatens the very fabric of their reality, potentially leading to the apocalypse. Scales must confront her past and navigate treacherous terrain to stop the invisible killer before it's too late for everyone."

I had a hard time hooking into this and have only gotten about 5-10% in, but out of time for the arc. I am a mood reader. The writing is good, but I am not feeling it yet. When I finish I will leave an updated review. I love her other book The Space Between Worlds and will finish this; this just did not hook me as quickly as her last.

A very easy 5 stars for me! This book BROKE ME!!!
I read "The Space between Worlds" in 2020 and loved it. In this one, we find the same world and some of the characters that we got to know in the first one. Otherwise the story lines are not directly connected as this book takes place years after the first.

This was an emotional roller-coaster! Firstly, if you start reading this book and think you missed something and have to read back... Don't worry! Just trust the process, it all makes sense eventually. This book tacles SOOOOOO many things! Love, hate, the fine line between both, gender, sexuality, family, found family, loss, racism... I'm probably forgetting many more but damn was it good!
There are many characters involved, most of them morally grey... But that's just the way things are in a tough world!
This is raw, brutal, but also so so beautiful!
Please trust me and read it!

*Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group -Ballantine for acces to the ebook against an honest review."

Those Beyond the Wall was a great follow-up novel. I love Johnson's ability to world build but also make it seem not so distant from our own word.

<b> I loved Johnson's first book set in this complex, futuristic, postapocalyptic world of conflicting classes and disparate privilege, but had difficulty feeling as connected to this story. </b>

I was intrigued and fascinated with the layers of Micaiah Johnson's book The Space Between Worlds, which introduced both the multiverse and the complex character Cara who also appear in Those Beyond the Wall--in Cara's case, as a key player without a lot of page time.

In Ashtown, a gritty desert community, the Emperor rules with a ruthless hand and holds the ultimate power. The only person he can trust is Scales.

Scales is a mechanic, a fighter, and she keeps everyone on track.

But when Ashtown citizens start turning up dead, Scales must team up with a straitlaced Ashtown partner she despises and an abrupt, suspicious, but brilliant City scientist (who also appeared in The Space Between Worlds) in order to try to capture the killers.

Scales isn't sure who she can trust; she is challenged by grasping the time, place, and circumstances of her current existence; and she's keeping some pretty enormous secrets.

I loved the gender fluidity and acceptance; the appropriation of "Mr." as an honorific for all, regardless of gender; the scrappy underdogs who have adapted to difficulty; and the deep bonds between and weighty pasts of the characters.

Yet I couldn't help feeling jumbled. Factors that contributed to my inability to hold on to the story: characters who appear and are doppelgangers of known characters but are not actually the people themselves; various versions of reality that are known to exist, so nothing feels final; and the fact that Scales and her allies spend significant page time trying to figure out what's going on and not being sure.

I wasn't as drawn in by Scales's extended thoughts and reflections as I was by the action and dialogue in the story.

The end sections where events are clicking along, alliances are shifting and changing, and dramatic justice is being sought felt like the strongest and most compelling portion of the book for me.

I was fascinated-horrified by elements such as filed teeth, ruthless fighting styles, and the technology incorporated into everything.

I received a prepublication digital edition of this science fiction title courtesy of NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group--Ballantine.

Micaiah Johnson is also the author of The Space Between Worlds, a book I loved.

I read this book twice. I read it, didn’t care for it, re-read book 1 then tried it again and liked it the second time around. I recommend that you review The Space Between Worlds before reading unless you have a stellar memory because even though the protagonist in this book is only a minor character in book 1 and the storyline is different, the society and the major characters from book 1 are strongly present in this book. I really needed the reminders to emotionally connect with this story and didn’t feel like they were presented well for a book 2 in a series with recurrent characters.

The multiverse travel present from the prior book, which is what attracted me to the story, is not really at play here except for as a background and catalyst for the mystery, which is not a focal point to this story either. This book is more concerned with addressing the social issues and differences in their world, specifically Wiley City and Ashtown. There is also an argument to be made that you don’t need to read book 1 since most of the information you will glean from it will be new information to Mr. Scales.

This story follows Mr. Scales, a minor character from The Space Between Worlds that appeared in just a few scenes. When I picked up The Space Between Worlds again, I was immediately drawn into earlier protagonist Cara’s story in a way that I didn’t feel pulled into with Mr. Scales. I didn’t find the character all that compelling but after living with her for a while, I did adjust and come to appreciate her.

She’s full of contradictions, both angry and apathetic, which made it hard for me to root for her or even care what happened next. Maybe it’s also in the way that I view violence as more of a masculine weakness than something that a strong woman turns to in times of frustration and/or the need for control and she wields it often and without care all the while justifying her actions to herself leaving those around to either feel vindicated or uncomfortable. There’s also some issues of background appropriation in her history that can really make you reconsider her position in the hierarchy.

Scales is a very complicated character with complicated relationships. I did enjoy revisiting a lot of the characters from the first book including Cara, Dell, seeing Nik Nik in a different light and maybe even other reveals about Adam.

Ultimately, if you enjoy stories about the push/pull of hierarchy and oppression within society and the various ways to address it, you will probably enjoy Those Beyond the Wall.

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey Books for a copy provided for an honest review.

Thankful for the ARC from NetGalley on this one.

Seeing the building hubbub over this story, and then getting an ARC, I quickly disregarded the "it stands on its own" commentary and grabbed The Space Between Worlds first. So glad that I read that one first! SO GOOD. Loved the story, the world, the characters, story, pacing, emotions... and ... and... and ...
... and, so glad to have read this one! Those Beyond the Wall is just as rewarding and just as engrossing. Different stories and different approaches, it is just as great. While I can see some of other reviewers' underpinnings for their frustrations, I see both books as amazing and exciting reads. They ARE different. They have different characters and distinctly different styles. and the realities that build their structures and propel their voices, their dispositions, their political diatribes... are vastly different. Took me a while to see how 2 pretty different works and framings can both work so well... and, still thinking and reflecting, not all that sure if I can pick a "best" one, I believe that it is fair to concede that they are two artfully different approaches to the same world and same pocket of characters... and, pretty dramatically succeed in both being outstanding stroy telling.
Loving different aspects of each and different delivery of each-- along with pretty wildly different handling of the social turmoil at the time... this reader can emphatically appreciate both works of art. Enjoy both of the stories. and look forward to more from Micaiah coming in the future!! It is not every day that a writer can craft different experiences and different characterizations in the same exciting world without fracturing the potential. Johnson not only manages it.. but triumphantly thrives in both of these endeavors.
Here's to more from her soon!

Do you have a day pass?"
That question is gonna haunt me for a while.

Here's my review for "Those Behind the Wall" by Micaiah Johnson

We start out with some mysterious deaths and ends with a revolution of sorts. Micaiah weaves alot of different themes seamlessly thru the story, such as classism, love, loyalty, environmental and friendship, and it doesn't seem heavy handed at all. I enjoyed the sibling dynamics of a rather ruthless family, especially the different ways they dealt with trauma/abuse. The friendships/relationships were very realistic and heartfelt. I will say the ending left me satisfied and rather weepy. One of the best endings I've read.

Thank you NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

For starters, I loved The Space Between Worlds. Truly one of the best sci-fi novels of our time, in my opinion.

That said, the premise of that novel leaves a lot of potential for this one, that left me massively confused in the beginning. (Admittedly I did not do a reread though, so maybe if I had been freshly familiar with the story, it wouldn't have been so bad.) Either way, by the time this story was rolling, it didn't matter.

Topical, fascinating, brutal, and surprising, this novel hits it all. If you liked Johnson's previous novel, you need to pick this one up.

I struggled with this book. It had way too much male machismo chest beating for ne.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC

Micaiah Johnson has seen some things. My understanding is that this book was written after she participated in some of the protests during COVID that were brutally squashed. At the beginning of the book, she notes that her editor told her "I didn't realize that you were this angry" after reading her manuscript. All this is to say that this book is quite a mood and it wasn't one that worked for me right now.

It has been a bit since I read The Space Between Worlds, the first book in this series. Our POV character is Mr. Snake (Mr. is a rank in the gangs of Ashtown, not a gender designator, and it seems like Mr. Snake sees herself as female) and I don't really have a memory of them in the first book. The book opens with a gruesome death due to someone coming through from a different dimension. This leads Nik Nik, Mr. Snake's brother and the leader of the Ashtown gang, to reach out to Adam Bosch and start some missions that lead to something big.

Mr. Snake loves the gang life. The violence doesn't bother them and they see order in the brutality of the rules. They have nothing but contempt for anyone who lives in Wiley City and are more than ready to burn it all down, more than ready to die to show that they're down for whatever the gang asks of them. While the first book in the series had Cara, the protagonist of that book, sort of walking the line between Wiley City and Ashtown, that balance is nowhere to be found in this book. The emotions are all turned up to 11 and those emotions tend toward rage, contempt, frustrated love, and hate. This is why I ended up skimming through the book. It's a rough headspace to be in and I'm sure that Mr. Snake would have nothing but contempt for me and my soft, privileged ability to just shut the book instead of living it.

At one point, Nik Nik slowly beats a woman to death to simulate the breaking of every bone and twisting of insides that happens when someone tries to travel dimensions incorrectly. All approved and condoned. Again, I'm just too soft or privileged or maybe just not willing to see that extreme as a desirable outcome. Did not like.