Saturday, June 25, 2016

Review: AFTERWORLDS by Scott Westerfeld



Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I enjoyed this book way more than I thought I would.

This book is really like two books in one, alternating Darcy's story and Lizzie's story every chapter. Darcy has recently signed a book deal to publish her first novel, Afterworlds. Her story follows her life as a new author as she moves to New York and gets involved in the publishing business and begins her first romance. Lizzie's story is that found in Darcy's book, Afterworlds. Hers is a paranormal adventure about when her developing the power to travel between this world and the afterworld and using that power to solve a mystery with a ghost.

This book would be good for those interested in publishing their own novel because Darcy's story includes realistic details about the struggle of rewriting parts of her book and incorporating suggestions from her editor. Darcy discusses scenes in her book that readers had just read in the previous chapter, so it's really neat to see how her book turned out compared to the other versions she considers using instead. Living in New York, Darcy learns what it's like to live on a budget for the first time and what it means to become a true friend. I personally enjoyed Darcy's story the most.

I love that this book takes a cultural turn that I rarely see in popular YA literature: Darcy comes from an Indian family with Hindu beliefs, and she incorporates this culture into her book. The love interest in Afterworlds is a Hindu death god. I bet you've never read a book like that before.

Overall I think this book goes deeper than one would initially think, but both stories are well crafted.

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