Scott Westerfeld

In alternating chapters, eighteen-year-old Darcy Patel navigates the New York City publishing world and Lizzie, the heroine of Darcy's novel, slips into the "Afterworld" to survive a terrorist attack and becomes a spirit guide, as both face many challenges and both fall in love.

Afterworlds

Monicap

An interesting concept and a good story (or, one good story and a second decent story) but wrongly executed.


So, I actually liked the story that Darcy wrote, the fictional Afterworlds; that was the good story I was talking about it.

And like I said, Darcy's story was decent. The reason I bought this book and read it is because Darcy's story is my life's dream. And omigod I hated it. 

**Note: The story was decent, I just severely disliked it**

First of all: YA Drinks Night was so awkward. Several times while reading this book, I said, out loud, that if this is what authors really acted like, I wasn't totally sure I still wanted to be one. 

Of course, I came to the conclusion that authors are people just like other people but what Scott Westerfeld did in this book was try REALLY hard to make his authors REALLY hip and cool and it came off forced and so, so awkward. 

Then there was the whole Imogen and Darcy thing, and it's not like I'm homophobic (I totally ship Malec), but I just thought it was weird. All though I will admit that Imogen did get some of the best lines in this book.

I really started like Darcy's story more when it became more about her writing rather than focused on all these other fictional authors. Darcy's fears that she couldn't come up with an original ideas rang true, especially as throughout the book we were continually shown or told where she was 'stealing' her ideas or scenes from. 

Also, this isn't really a complaint or commendation, but a comment. Carla and Sagan. CARLA AND SAGAN!!! I'm going to theorize that their parent's planned because otherwise, what are the chances of two people named Carla and Sagan being friends.

Jumping to another bandwagon, I'm not sure if it really would be so big a deal if Darcy's name is Darcy and her main character's name is Lizzie. Yes, Pride and Prejudice, but Darcy's novel has NOTHING to do with that and honestly, who would even care? And if people would even care, I really need to, uh, reevaluate living in a world with people. 

Other people have mentioned this, but since the two stories were so different, it was quite shocking having to reorient oneself in a completely different story every chapter, and I lost threads of Darcy's story in between chapters.

Melissa Palmer

Book #52 Read in 2014
Afterworlds by Scott Westerfield (YA)

This book was an interesting read as it told two stories...one of an aspiring young author getting settled into the writing world of New York City; the other was the story of her fictional heroine in her book. The bouncing between the two worlds was seamless and reader-friendly. Darcy, the author, feels like a fake when she is thrust into a world of socializing with both up-and-coming and established writers. This is her first foray into living by herself, managing her own money and trying to write the sequel to her first book. Her fictional heroine, Lizzy, had survived a terrorist attack and can now transition to the afterworld and see spirits. Both stories had romance in them, though Lizzie's story is much darker than Darcy's.

Westerfield's excellent writing style did well in this book. I enjoyed both stories and the main characters in each. This book was almost 600 pages but kept me engaged throughout.

I received this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a honest review.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

Briar's Reviews

This book was a horrible let down for me, personally. I like Scott Westerfeld, but I did not like this book. 

I thought the fact that there were two ongoing stories would be incredible, but the book seemed incredibly unrealistic. Yes most supernatural and fantasy books seem unrealistic, but those are written so you believe it. This book seemed to exaggerate everything and left me feeling like this could never happen, not even in a fantasy universe. 

Every moment of this book I felt like putting it down, and I actually did for over a week. I was so bored and fed up with this book I had to put it down. That doesn't mean this book isn't good, it's clearly for a much younger audience (maybe the pre-teen, early YA audience). This book was clearly not made for me, which is totally okay! Once I realized that I was able to pick the book up and try to read it in the perspective of a young reader.

Scott Westerfeld did an excellent job blending the stories together and showcasing potential future careers for the young audience. 

Overall, this book was totally unrealistic, the problems the main character had were so little and small they weren't even a conflict in my eyes, and it was a boring, slow, long read for me as an adult.

But, for a young reader this would be perfect. Often young readers have "problems" that don't seem like problems to adults. They don't see some boy giving them a flirty look as a disaster, while some pre-teens would. The severity of the problems level that of the younger audience, so it would be perfect for them.

It is also written in the perfect tense and speed for a young reader. It moves slow for me, since I like action, but a pre-teen audience loves the longer books with pre-teen conflict! And, since this book has two stories in one, it will keep the younger audience interested with two conflicting stories.

Scott Westerfeld wrote an incredible book for the younger audience! I will give that to him. He literally wrote it perfectly for them! Sadly I am no longer in that audience. SO, it is important for adults to realize before they read a book by an author they like (if they are picky about the way it is written) to RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH before the buy or read a book!

Less than one star out of five if I could because this is not meant for the adult audience. This is meant for a pre-teen, young YA audience. For the pre-teen, young YA audience it is about 3.5 stars.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Gisela Ayala 

The concept of Afterworlds is what really made me want to read it, that and the author Scott Westerfeld, I enjoyed his Uglies series and I thought I would enjoy this too; and I did. This book was good, I just had to be in the mood to read it which is why it took me so long to finish it. I loved the story in the story more than the actual story itself. If I could give it two and a half stars I would.

Helene Utterback

This book was an incredibly unique read, combining an incredibly relatable main character with her creation. I adore the queer plotline, but also that the character was not entirely defined by her queerness. I cannot wait for the sequel!

Hannah Sween

OKAY review time!
This book took me FOREVER to get through. I started it in January and then stopped because I was bored. I had no intentions of reading it again or finishing it, but last week I saw it sitting on my bookshelf and I felt guilty because it was sitting up there next to all of these books I had finished in a couple hours. So alas I finished it and I actually really enjoyed it, eventually.
The reason I stopped at first was because I was bored. The book was very slow at the beginning. And I don't mean like the terrorist attack was slow, it just was to lengthy. But once I picked it up again last week, it felt better. I thought sometimes the plot of the novel within a novel was a little week and little picky things didn't always carry over. 
So I do recommend this book, give the beginning a chance and you may actually like it!

Emi Gilmore 

I had a hard time rating this book. 2.5 stars. 

My first Scott Westerfeld book. I have never heard anything but great reviews about his works. I was excited to be drawn into the two different worlds of this story. Both plot lines intrigued me, both characters sounded so likable, and finally I was reading Scott Westerfeld. 

I've never been so disappointed in my life. 

The writing was weak, the characters annoying, the romance in Lizzie's story had instalove, but at the same time no live at all her relationship with Yamaraj (or however you spell his name) felt nonexistent. Darcy was impractical and naive, which made it hard for me to like her. I preferred Darcy's story to Lizzie's, but they both didn't work.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Scott Westerfeld comes a “masterful” (Cory Doctorow) novel-within-a-novel that you won’t be able to put down. Darcy Patel has put college on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. With a contract in hand, she arrives in New York City with no apartment, no friends, and all the wrong clothes. But lucky for Darcy, she’s taken under the wings of other seasoned and fledgling writers who help her navigate the city and the world of writing and publishing. Over the course of a year, Darcy finishes her book, faces critique, and falls in love. Woven into Darcy’s personal story is her novel, Afterworlds, a suspenseful thriller about a teen who slips into the “Afterworld” to survive a terrorist attack. The Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead, and where many unsolved—and terrifying—stories need to be reconciled. Like Darcy, Lizzie too falls in love…until a new threat resurfaces, and her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she cares about most.

Flavia Louise

3.75 stars
Okay so let me start by saying that this book put me in what I think was my first real reading slump kind of ever.
So I loved the idea of reading two stories intertwined in one book and it was basically the reason I really wanted to read this book. BUt it turned out that I didn't like the realty of that at all. I seriously debated to read one story first then the other but was scared that one would spoil the other so I didn't. I however really enjoyed the two books included in this. Especially Darcy's story of moving to NYC and publishing her first novel was surprisingly good (view spoiler)[(especially because the LGBTQIA+ element of this pleasantly surprised me) (hide spoiler)].

Libby G

Afterworlds was an incredible book highlighting the relationship between author and character. The side by side parallels of Darcy and Lizzie are intriguing. It's not often you get a story about an author and her book right along side it. Many young authors will enjoy this book with highlights the dream we all secretly (or not so secretly) wish for. That our book will get picked up by an agent who, and then sold to a publisher who thinks it's brilliant. The book is full of hopes and dreams but also harsh reality that both characters have to face. I'm a huge fan of Scott Westerfeld and this only increased my esteem for him.

Sofie

This book has taken me months to read because it's just.... so.... boring.... ahhh.

I love Scott Westerfeld. The Uglies series is one of my favourites. But Afterworlds... gah I don't even know if I can review this book well, but I'll try.

The novel is essentially 2 books in 1, told in alternating chapters - First, you have Darcy Patel, a teenager who wrote a novel in a month and got a book deal, moved to New York, and... that's it. This story was so dull and pointless that I gave up on Afterworlds for a few months. Obviously there's some character development (discovering her sexuality, becoming more confident), but it's so dragged out that I found myself wanted to skip her chapters every. single. time. To be clear, I didn't, I DID read the whole book, but God help me. I couldn't give two shits about Darcy, or Imogen, or Nisha, or anyone in that story. Darcy in particular was so incredibly frustrating; pretty much a teenage child with the inability to take care of herself. Look, I get characters needs to have their faults, to be imperfect, just as real people are, but that DOESN'T mean giving Darcy money and relationship troubles makes her a good protagonist. Oy. This novel felt never-ending.

Then, you have the story that "Darcy" writes - Afterworlds. This book wasn't bad, but wasn't good enough to warrant a better rating. In any case, it was far better than Darcy's chapters. That being said, I don't really understand the trajectory of the novel. I didn't know what the climax was ((view spoiler)[ killing the bad man? The war in the underworld? Yama getting hurt? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (hide spoiler)]) 
It had a mediocre ending ((view spoiler)[Jamie is a minor character until all the sudden everything needs to be tied up neatly in a nice bow? Nah son (hide spoiler)]. It's just a general theme that the characters (in both novels) are lacklustre, possibly with the exception of Special Agent Reyes and Yama. 

There was hardly any direction, the a, b, c, and D ploys kept fighting for dominance and I have no clue which is which (by which I mean, (view spoiler)[ Lizzie and Yama's romance, Mr. Hamlyn, The Bad Man and Mindy, Lizzie and her Mom, The Cult - nothing was elaborated on enough to be considered the A plot. Darcy, in he chapters, mentioned that her mother's murdered friend inspired the story, so I'm thinking The Bad Man should have been A plot even though it doesn't feel like it was? There was no linear path. There is so little detail about every plot that I couldn't care about ANY of them (including the romance, and I'm a sucker for romance (hide spoiler)]))

The reason I started this novel, aside form the fact that Scott Westerfeld wrote it, is that I was under the impression there would be some connection between the two novels within this novel. Does making the tag line, "Darcy writes the words. Lizzie lives them", not make it seem like there's some existential component where Lizzie has no clue she's a character in a book, and then her world starts to change as Darcy edits her draft? Because I would read that book. I thought I WAS reading that book. But Lizzie and Darcy's stories never connected the way I thought they would.

Props to Westerfeld for writing not one but TWO novels with female protagonists, people of colour, and queer romance. I dig representation, folks, and we need more of it. If you can get through this novel (these novels?), congrats. Theres 4 months of my life I can't get back.

Jeni Enjaian

This book makes two Westerfeld books in a row that have disappointed. (Granted, Zeroes was a collaborative effort but still.)
Unlike Zeroes, I immediately became engaged with the characters in and setting of the book. I was even inspired to get back to my own writing. Unfortunately, that engagement was the high point of my reading. Just like with Zeroes, Westerfeld indulges in far too much casual swearing. In fact, one of the disgusting phrases became an earworm reverberating through my head for days. I did not appreciate that. Although I was not bothered by the alternating chapters, it did prevent complete engagement with either character and a relative cheapening of both narratives. A few other things bothered me. One, it was way too dark. (Murder without real consequences anyone?) Two, it was way too cliché. (High school graduate gets six figure publishing contract from Nanowrimo novel?)

Ultimately, the novel was quite unsatisfying. I do not recommend it at all.

Tyler Rodrigues

Interesting. I enjoyed the style. Nothing spectacular but a cool story.

Judy Hudgins

Hope Lenzen

I enjoyed this book. It was a normal YA novel but it was also completely different.

I loved that it was set in the real world and the story of the main character in said real world. It made it more interesting and when I got bored of one there was always the other there to distract me.

Nikki Fowler 

Rating - 3.5

I liked this book it was my first Scot Westerfeld book but it felt average. I had to skip a whole chapter of Lizzie’s POV because I was annoyed at what such a dumb character she was. But I really loved Darcy’s POV when she was touring with Imogene and the whole publishing side of the novel.

Katerina Thorson

I found it very interesting to read a story within a story. As a, hopefully, future author and journalist I connected with the book in a different sort of way. While I absolutely fell in love with all the characters and the interesting love story (as I have never read a book that contained gay/lesbian couple) there was still something missing. 

First let me start with the characters. I loved Darcy, she had to be one of my favorite characters even if I did not like her naivety. I loved that she wanted to be an author and that nothing would stop her from being just that - especially her dream apartment. The book in itself is any young author's dream come true. However, I do believe that Darcy was naive when it came to a lot of things. She is a young - barely graduated - girl that has not really explored the world and she in a way acts like everything is going to be given to her on a silver platter; which in a way has. She takes a lot of things for granted and she needs to be careful. 

I also loved many of the secondary characters who really were first characters as they all played huge rolls. Especially Imogen. I really loved Imogen - at first I was weirdly confused and thought she was a boy but that was soon taken care of after certain scenes. I believe though that the romance was super fast. It felt like Darcy just got there and was already in a relationship. I am not saying that is bad but I was hoping for that to draw out a little more. 

The plot was okay, sometimes a little predictable; however, I enjoyed watching the young author come into her own and learn the paths of publishing and the hardships of a career. I especially loved watching the plot develop in her book Afterworlds. It was amazing to watch the characters in her book come to life as I was reading the story about Darcy. It was interesting to find out about certain scenes in her book before actually reading about them because she would talk about them and discuss the changes she was thinking of making. 

All in all it was really interesting - I loved the idea of the book but not the book completely itself. However this was my first Scott Westerfeld book and I plan on reading more by him!

Kate

3.75* There are a lot of mixed reviews for Afterworlds, so I was a bit hesitant about picking it up but I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed reading all about the publishing world and having a little glimpse into authors lives during Darcy's chapters. I found that so intriguing! I thought Lizzie's chapters were fun too, but over all, I felt the book as a whole was a little bit disjointed. It's described as 'a novel within a novel' which is defiantly is, although I found that it just felt like two totally different books (which I'm guessing was the point). I'm just not entirely sure how well it worked! I enjoyed both stories but I felt as though whenever I was getting into a chapter, I was very quickly pulled away from that world into a totally new one. I don't feel I got to know the characters and their stories as well as I could have. It just left me wanting to know more about both Lizzie's and Darcy's stories. I almost wanted a separate book for the both of them. Overall, I did enjoy Afterworlds and I'm glad I read it, but I now understand why the reviews for this book are so mixed.

Paula Plaza Ponte 

Sonia Grgas

kiwi

Christine Bower

Nessa Luna

Andy

"Darcy Patel is afraid to believe all the hype. Her teen novel is getting published. Instead of going to college, she's living in New York CIty, where she's welcomed into the world of YA publishing ... all while dealing with the intoxicating, terrifying experience of falling in love -- with another writer. Told in alternating chapters is Darcy's novel, the thrilling story of Lizzie, who wills her way into the afterworld to survive a deadly terrorist attack. With survival comes the responsibility to guide the restless spirits that walk our world, including one ghost with whom she shares a surprising personal connection. But Lizzie's not alone in her new calling -- she has counsel from a fellow spirit guide, a very desirable one, who is torn between wanting Lizzie and warning her that ... believing is dangerous."--Book flap.