Review: The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff

The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff
Young Adult
Hardcover, 363 pgs.
Published November 15th, 2011 by Razorbill
Source: Won

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.

This second novel by rising star Brenna Yovanoff is a story of identity, discovery, and a troubled love between two people struggling to find their place both in our world and theirs.

I'm always looking for young adult paranormal that is truly different.  That breaks the mold of so many others.  Quite often the ideas are unique for the paranormal aspect but yet the story doesn't really feel that different.  I often still enjoy the books but they aren't as memorable.  This book, this book is very different from anything I've read.  If you've read her book The Replacements, you have an idea that she comes up with crazy and twisted things and she creates a world that is dark and creepy and yet so beautiful.  And this book was even better then The Replacements in my opinion.  The romance was great, it wasn't insta-love, they got to know each other a bit before they realized they had feelings.  It was really only a few days, but in so many books the characters are instantly in lust and talk about how gorgeous and hot the other one is and in this book we see they are drawn together but yet they don't really show attraction until they have gotten to know one another. 


This story is so unique and beautiful.  Daphne has always lived in Pandemonium (Hell) and is the daughter of Lilith and Lucifer.  You would think she's evil, right?  She's not.  She's kind of numb at first, like she's spent her life not really feeling.  She gets to earth and it's kind of like when an alien comes here, she has an idea of things because she's seen stuff on tv, but she's never experienced it.  And all these experiences and then getting to know Truman we see her truly blossom and start to feel.   The author also did a good job of just switching things around.  We see all the people in Pandemonium which we know are demons, that should be bad but we're seeing good in them too.  But what really makes it different is the angels, the ones that are normally good are the ones being bad.  I mean, we see them from Daphne's perspective, but it's just kind of a turn around.  


I really enjoyed how the plot line was completely unpredictable.  Things happened that you would never dream of and there was no way to figure out what could happen next.  There was one brief spot in the middle where I felt like nothing was really happening and I grew just a little bit bored but it didn't last long and it may have just been me.  

I recommend this book to those looking for a twisted and crazy young adult paranormal read.  It's dark and haunting, but beautiful and romantic.  Pick it up!


4.5/5