The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff | Review

The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff | ReviewThe Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff
Published by Razorbill on November 14, 2011
Genres: Horror
Pages: 363
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought
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Everything is made of steel, even the flowers. How can you love anything in a place like this?

Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time, until her brother Obie is kidnapped - and Daphne realizes she may be partially responsible. Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying. With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie's whereabouts. As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigate the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way. But she also discovers, unexpectedly, what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.

I hate myself right now. I’ve had Brenna’s books on my shelf for quite some time and I only just recently picked one up and read it. Now I’m definitely going to make time to read her others because The Space Between was completely mind-blowingly fabulous!

From the very start of the book I was intrigued. Daphne is the demon daughter of Lucifer and Lilith who sets off into the mortal world in search of her half brother who is the son of Adam and Lilith. Along the way she meets some very interesting characters, including Truman who I will talk more about later. The prologue grabs reader’s attention immediately and while my attention did wane a little bit in the first few chapters I was quickly hooked again once I got about 60 pages into the book. And while the first few chapters are a little dull, Brenna’s gorgeous writing makes up for it.

The characters were interesting, to say the least. Daphne has grown up in Pandemonium (Hell) and she has had pretty much no interaction with humans. What she knows about humans comes from TV shows and things her brother brings back for her from the mortal world. Needless to say when she gets to the mortal world she is a little overwhelmed. She doesn’t know how to interact with humans, how to act like a human, and she’s a little closed off but that’s why she has Truman! Truman is one of the most messed up characters I have ever read about and all I wanted to do through the whole book was help him. He was super sweet and funny in a totally twisted way. His life was even more messed up than Daphne’s but he was willing to help her. And along the way they are joined by the completely fabulous Raymie but I won’t tell you any more about her. Just expect a surprise.

The writing was by far the best part of The Space Between. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the characters and I loved the story but the writing was beyond amazing. It was lyrical and captivating and reason enough for me to read every other book Brenna Yovanoff ever writes. It’s a very different story but I have to say that with the writing style I was reminded of Laini Taylor’s books and that is high praise coming from me.

Overall, The Space Between is worth checking out. It’s a creepy, lovely, awesome book that I definitely plan to read again sometime in the future!

What others are saying about The Space Between:

Rex Robot Reviews’ review: “Ultimately, I found The Space Between to be haunting, beautiful and frightening.”

Bookalicio.us’ review: “I loved every second of reading time.”

Dazzling Reads’ review: “Good and Evil, Heaven and Hell and the Space Between, Brenna Yovanoff created a beautiful and wicked story where stereotyped characters cross all boundaries to become something unique that defies the nature of evil itself.”

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8 comments

  1. I loved this book so much, too. Brenna is one of my *automatically-buy-and-read* authors, her writing style is so beautiful and creepy and atmospheric.. She really knows how to weave fabulous stories that can be both sinister and gorgeous. I loved Space Between! I need to read The Replacement sometime soon, too, tho I heard it isn’t as good, but still!

    Thanks for the great review, Katie! 🙂

  2. I read Yovanoff’s Paper Valentine last year, and fell in love with it. I’ve been wanting to read her other novels, but haven’t gotten there yet. I take it you haven’t read Paper Valentine? I would love to know what you thought of it.

  3. I’ve only read Paper Valentine, but I loved it for the reasons you listed for this book. Her writing is so evocative; I love the creepy tone she sets from the very beginning. She’s just so different than anybody else I’ve read recently. I need to get around to reading her other works.

  4. I know exactly what you mean. I feel the same way when I have a book sitting on my shelf for way too long and then I finally pick it up and its amazing, and I can’t help but get mad at myself. Like “look what you have been missing Michelle! Shame on you” I have this book and I haven’t read it either.

    Thanks for the great review!

    Michelle @ Book Briefs

  5. I too love her books! They’re so original and creepy but still infused with so much emotion in very real characters.

    Truman I think is very brave despite being so broken. I think there’s so much strength in him, he just needs a chance.

    This was such an original story!

    Lovely review 🙂