By Scott Westerfeld
What’s it about?
“Well, honey, maybe you should pretend to be dead.”
Great advice for a terrorist attack, but don’t play dead too well… Lizzie is just your average kid on her way home after visiting her dad in Texas. Until people start dropping dead in the airport as bullets wiz by. After calling 911, the operator advises her to play dead, but now she’s in the Afterworld. Lizzie is then left to navigate a new life jumping between the living world, and the dead.
Darcy Patel is fresh out of high school with a hundred thousand dollar publishing deal. After convincing her parents to let her defer college for a year, she moves to New York to discover her new life as a writer. Darcy struggles with the rewrites of her soon to published novel, Afterworlds, until she meets Imogen Gray, who helps her navigate the treacherous waters of debut publishing.
Afterworlds is told in alternating chapters of Lizzie’s journey, and the book Darcy is publishing.
My Rating
What I loved
Afterworlds was extremely unique, and for that reason it deserves a 3.5 star rating. A book within a book is something I’ve never read or even heard of before! The writing made me feel as if the ending wasn’t decided, and was changing as I read. This was an absolutely wonderful experience as a reader that kept me very intrigued throughout the book!
I’ve read 200+ books, but I’m not super knowledgeable on the writing/publishing process that authors go through. While I’ve talked to several authors, none of them covered the process quite like this. Westerfeld really conveyed the emotion and the connection that authors have for their characters. As Darcy struggles with certain aspects of her book, she realizes she can’t change certain parts of the story because it would be like changing herself. I feel as if this described the emotional side of writing in a way that I haven’t seen before.
What I Disliked
Some of the book was a bit slow at times. While the parts about Darcy publishing a book are very interesting, they don’t have the action that most YA books have.
The climax of the story is somewhat lacking. While I can’t say too much due to spoiler reasons, the ending of the story lacked the action and excitement that I expected from Lizzie’s side of the story.
Should You Read It?
If you are looking for a unique read that is equal parts fun and thought-provoking, this book is for you! If you’ve gotten tired of the same old YA plotlines this book is a great change of pace that you might be looking for!
Conclusion
Afterworlds is a book within a book that is extremely unique and clever. It follows Darcy who is publishing her book, and Lizzie who is the main character in Darcy’s book. I loved how different this book was compared to other YA novels, and how it enlightened me on the struggles of the publishing process. The book was a bit slow at times, and the climax was sort of anti-climatic. You should definitely read this book if you want something new or are interested in the publishing process. Happy reading!!!
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