Thursday, February 5, 2015

Afterworlds | Scott Westerfeld

Darcy Patel has put college and everything else on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. Arriving in New York with no apartment or friends she wonders whether she's made the right decision until she falls in with a crowd of other seasoned and fledgling writers who take her under their wings… 

Told in alternating chapters is Darcy's novel, a suspenseful thriller about Lizzie, a teen who slips into the 'Afterworld' to survive a terrorist attack. But the Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead and as Lizzie drifts between our world and that of the Afterworld, she discovers that many unsolved - and terrifying - stories need to be reconciled. And when a new threat resurfaces, Lizzie learns her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she loves and cares about most.

I thought the concept was quite genius. I hadn't read anything like it and I thought it was really ingenious. The writing styles for the two different sections were slightly different which made it easy to distinguish between the two. 


Though I will admit, the fact that an eighteen year old high school graduate got a three hundred thousand dollar publishing contract is a bit unrealistic. Darcy is fairly irresponsible with her money, and I didn't fall in love with her character, or her relationship with Imogen, but I really enjoyed seeing a bit of the backstage life of a writer. 


The first chapter of Darcy's book was fairly hooking, though I will admit I began to lose interest near the end. I never really liked Lizzie's relationship with Yama, a lot of which had to do with Yama's name.


The biggest thing this book did for me was ensure that I will be attending BEA this year. The descriptions of all the free books and authors have made me so excited. I need to go. I'm hungry for books. 




(A very accurate representation of me)




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