Hopping between worlds–with one big caveat. If you visit a world where another you is still alive, you die.

Why have I survived? Because I am a creature more devious than all the other mes put together. Because I saw myself bleeding out and instead of checking for a pulse, I began collecting her things. I survive the desert like a coyote survives, like all tricksters do.

It’s a fascinating premise, especially when you dig just a bit deeper: Who are the people most likely able to jump? Who’s the most likely to have died on other worlds?

It’s a story about privilege. About a world built for the rich and powerful–by those who have nothing or less; those that pay everything and get nothing.

And Cara is stuck right in the middle of it.

The worldbuilding is fascinating enough, but what really shines (and gets really confusing, but mostly in a good way) are when you start meeting other versions of characters you thought you knew. Good. Bad. Powerful. Dead. Variations on a theme. Some people are the same, world to world, same vary wildly. There’s a special kind of trauma in meeting someone you loved–or hated–and finding them hating you–or loving you–in turn and we get plenty of it.

Worth a read.

Don’t be scared. Don’t regret. Whatever time you had, it was enough. Whatever you accomplished, it was enough. We will remember your good deeds for the rest of our lives. We will forget your wrongdoings forever. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for spending your time in the dirt with us.