Name: Afterworlds
Rating: 3.71875 (64 reviews)
ISBN: 9781481422345

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

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!

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.

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

Paula Plaza Ponte 

Sonia Grgas

Christine Bower

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.

Afterworlds

Reviews

Highlights