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    Afterworlds
    Afterworlds
    Afterworlds
    Audiobook15 hours

    Afterworlds

    Written by Scott Westerfeld

    Narrated by Sheetal Sheth and Heather Lind

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateSep 23, 2014
    ISBN9781442372474
    Author

    Scott Westerfeld

    Scott Westerfeld is the author of the Leviathan series, the first book of which was the winner of the 2010 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Fiction. His other novels include the New York Times bestseller Afterworlds, the worldwide bestselling Uglies series, The Last Days, Peeps, So Yesterday, and the Midnighters trilogy. Visit him at ScottWesterfeld.com or follow him on Twitter at @ScottWesterfeld.

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    Reviews for Afterworlds

    3.5/5

    260 ratings35 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 4/5
      I was really intrigued by the premise of Afterworlds, a paranormal romance told between the pages of its 18-year-old debut author's coming of age story. There is much to like about each - Darcy adjusting to the life of an adult and Lizzie sinking into the mystical tow of the underworld. Darcy experiences love for the the first time in a relationship she's not sure her family will accept, and Lizzie has to wrestle with how to resume life after surviving a terrorist attack. I really liked both stories' secondary characters, and Westerfeld's style is impeccable.However, the super short chapters alternating between the stories left me feeling unsettled. The reading experience felt like watching a tennis match, bouncing back and forth without allowing the reader to have enough time in either world to invest emotion. I almost considered reading all of Lizzie's chapters and then going back to Darcy's so that my reading experience could feel more fluid. I didn't do that, however, because I thought I might miss out on a special connection between the two. In hindsight, I wish that I had.Nevertheless, I'm happy to recommend this book for readers who like paranormal and anyone interested in knowing what it's like to write for a living.
    • 4/5
      Couldn’t stop listening to it! I liked the narration and I loved Scott Westerfeld’s story.
    • 3/5
      i liked the stories. i actually liked the novel more than i did the story about the YA girl who wrote the novel. it was so good i almost used Afterworlds as the book for my March challenge to read a debut author. :-)
    • 2/5
      Afterworlds is a book told in two storylines -- the first, that of Darcy Patel, the author of the book Afterworlds, who writes the book in a month during high school and is very quickly picked up by a publisher. She puts college on hold, and moves to New York to write the rest of the series and get some serious exposure to the writing world; the other, that of her protagonist, Lizzie, who finds she can move between the world of the living and the world of the dead following a terrorist attack, and who just wants to make things work, protect her friends, and maybe have a little more to do with this mysterious boy she's met in the other world.

      Unfortunately, I had to put this book down at around 40%, because both Darcy and Lizzie were just too shallow for me to deal with well, and that's fair, because I'm not the target audience. I was gritting my teeth during Darcy's portions of the book because it was just too... you know, handwavey. She's hanging out with tons of authors, and it's all so easy... I ended up looking forward to Lizzie's parts of the book, but even then, there were times I just wanted to yell, "Dude, really? Don't be a dumbass." After too many of those, I realized I just wasn't enjoying myself and moved on. Again, I am not the target audience -- a mid-teen range would be very much at home in this book.

      Related: I am very, very glad to see young adult starting to look at nontraditional relationships and sexual orientations. Kudos, Mr. Westerfeld.
    • 3/5
      Darcy Patel postpones college so she can move to New York and focus on the rewrites of her first novel and start on the sequel. Alternating with Darcy's chapters are the chapters of the book she wrote. Consummate YA readers and young aspiring writers will eat up this truly insider look at "YA heaven." For me, I found Darcy's story more compelling than her "book." But then she wouldn't be that polished a writer, yes? ; )
    • 5/5
      Stories within stories, worlds within worlds. Afterworlds is the new Scott Westerfeld novel, and it is amazing. The point of view ping pongs between the author of a new YA novel, and the novel itself… and a few more spaces in between. It sounds dizzying and esoteric, but the voices blend and change smoothly. The Afterworlds story within Afterworlds is totally gripping and the behind the scenes of YA authors is both funny and delightful. I have lots of people ask me for paranormal or something like “The Fault in Our Stars” (by which I think realistic fiction with excellent characters, not necessarily tragic) – to me this blends elements of both seamlessly.
    • 3/5
      Interesting premise, a novel within a novel, but it didn't really work for me. I didn't hate it. I like some of the characters more than others and probably liked the Afterworlds part the best.
    • 3/5
      I have never read a book with this format before. Half the chapters were about a young woman writing a book, and then the other half is that book. Either part could have been a decent story on its own but I don't think they would have been as memorable if they had been separate, and the book did a pretty good job combining them. I liked most of the characters ok, but I didn't really feel super connected to any of them, which was a bit disappointing. Also even though a fair amount of the story involves death or ghosts I didnt really find it scary. Other people might find it creepier than I did I dunno, but for me it was pretty mild. I enjoyed the book but I think a lot of that was because of the suspense and not knowing how either story would end, so this isn't something I would reread probably.
    • 2/5
      I had to drop this book about halfway through. At first, I really enjoyed the alternating stories, but the further I got, the harder it was to readjust when switching from the fictional world to the real world. Honestly, the only reason I made it as far as I did in this book is due to the story that Darcy was writing. That had an interesting plot and seemed to move along. The story revolving around Darcy was slow and boring. The 1 1/2 rating is for the potential that this book had, but failed to execute.
    • 3/5
      DNF'd at 48%

      This had a lot of potential to be a really unique and profound story. It's told in alternating chapters: one of Darcy, the writer finding her way through the world of Young Adult literature in New York City as a teenage debut author; the other is of Lizzie, the main character in Darcy's urban fantasy book, who is the sole survivor of a terrorist attack at an airport and subsequently becomes a psychopomp and falls in love with the Hindu death good Yamaraj.

      Unfortunately, it was boring af. Here's a list of problems:

      - Darcy expects the world to be handed to her on a silver platter. She makes a lot of mistakes but never faces any consequences.

      - Lizzie is the sole survivor of an American terrorist attack in an airport but 1) never experiences any PTSD or symptoms of trauma, 2) overcomes her trauma because she insta-loves Yamaraj in the first chapter when he kisses her even though he told her to forget about him and never come back, and 3) she's a freaking Mary Sue.

      - The terrorist attack could have been a really profound part of the story, being post 9/11 but instead it was just the method of her meet cute with Yama. It could have shown the complexities of terrorism, fear mongering, and islamaphobia in America today, but it was just an excuse for Yamaraj to kiss her into another dimension.

      - Darcy's story, well generally less stupid, is just plain boring. I'm not super into contemporary unless someone's dead or about to be, so I was out of my element.

      - Given how cliché and illogical the book in the book is, why the actual f was it acclaimed in universe as being astounding, having "the juice" and worth thousands of dollars? It's post-Twilight trash. It's generic and soulless. Even Darcy knows (is that supposed to be meta or bad writing?)

      - Lizzie lies to everyone all the time. She lies to her mother about experiencing PTSD. She lies to her best friend about Yamaraj and says instead that she's dating the FBI agent who's in charge of her security (at least she tells him about it). She lies to Yamaraj about exploring the Stranger Things Upside Down—I mean the flip side.

      - Can Scott Westerfeld stop having teenagers say "[adjective]-making"?? No one talks like that!!!

      - Also, goosepimples or whatever. Just say goosebumps like normal people.

      And here are some stuff I actually quite liked:

      - Darcy is Indian, which is unforgivably uncommon in today's YA literature, given that a significant part of the world's population is Indian. She's also queer, even though I don't like that her girlfriend is a lot older than her (that just makes me uncomfortable)

      - Idr her name for some reason, but the little ghost girl who follows Lizzie around (my brain wants to say Mindy, but I'm not totally sure) is actually a pretty great character and added much needed depth to the story. She's paranoid that the man who kidnapped and killed her, burying her in her own backyard, is still out there and will find her when he dies. Like that's some intense stuff!!

      - I liked the psychopomp stuff. I'm writing a psychopomp novel so it was cool for me

      - I appreciated the guide through the world of authors, but it felt unrealistic tbh

      Lol half of these have negative comments in them.

      I might retry at some point to see if any of these are resolved by the ending, but honestly I kinda don't care.
    • 2/5
      High school senior Darcy wins NaNoWriMo (it's not explicitly stated but she wrote a 50,000-word novel in November), then lands an extraordinarily generous two-book publishing deal. She moves to New York City and basically lives out all kinds of writerly dreams. It reads like wish fulfillment, to be honest. The chapters alternate between Darcy's adventures writing her novel and the novel itself, which is a more standard YA fantasy - girl almost dies, girl starts seeing ghosts, girl falls in love with death god, etc. Which would be fine, except so much of the Darcy side of things is spent on people telling Darcy how wonderful her novel is. So not only do you get yanked out of the story at the end of every single chapter, people keep insisting that it's great. Thing is, Westerfeld is a good writer. I did appreciate some of the discussion of the craft of storytelling, and perhaps it is a realistic peek into the world of mainstream YA publishing. And maybe if I was closer to Darcy's age I'd just eat it up and pretend it was all happening to me, the wannabe novelist. But as a middle aged reader, I think I'd rather have skipped that part in favor of the ghosts and death gods.
    • 5/5
      Loved the perspective it was written in. One chapter was about the character Darcy who wrote a YA novel and was being published. The next chapter was the story she wrote. It was incredibly detailed yet still fast paced. Not a book to put down for long.
    • 3/5
      It's two books in one - a young writer gets a large advance for a YA paranormal and moves to NYC to polish her novel and work on the next and finds romance... Meanwhile her protagonist faces violent death and becomes a psychopomp and finds romance...
    • 4/5
      Got an ARC of this from Edelweiss after missing out on a copy at BEA. And maybe it's because I'm a writer and I love reading about the writing process, or maybe it's the surreality of reading a book where the characters attend BEA, but I really enjoyed this. It's a massive departure from Westerfeld's usual style and genre, but once I realized how the structure works, and how the Lizzie parts do and don't relate with the Darcy parts, I found it quite fun. Recommended, with caveats.
    • 4/5
      So, I definitely came into this with a completely wrong idea. I partially blame the naming of the main characters (Liz and Darcy - you can bet what I thought this would draw parallels to) and somehow, somewhy, I was under the impression that the two storylines were going to collide - Darcy would somehow meet Liz. I...dunno why I thought that.Anyway, as a non-fan of realistic fiction, Darcy's story was a total "leave it" on the "take it or leave it" scale. Liz's story however was compelling and I truly enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      This book was an entertaining read. It will especially appeal to those interested in cultural myths, life after death, and growing up. Darcy Patel is an appealing character, as is the protagonist of the novel she is writing, Lizzy Scofeld. The book purports to relate some of the challenges facing young writers as they navigate the demands of writing, publishing and editing in probably the hub of contemporary publishing, New York City. We grow with Darcy as she struggles to live on her own, manage on a "budget", and confront issues of her own sexuality. We grow with Lizzy as well as she learns what it means to be a survivor and to straddle two worlds - that of the living and that of the dead.I could recommend this book to young adults, library patrons who are interested in writing and the writing/publishing process. I would also recommend this to library patrons interested in the story within the story. Additionally, this book would appeal to to readers who enjoy books about the afterlife and beings who inhabit that world.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed Darcy's parts much more than her "novel". It left a taste of Twilight-ness in my mouth, and I ended up skipping every other chapter. Feeling a bit disappointed with this book :(
    • 5/5
      There are two whole novels here, and I enjoyed both of them enormously.

      One is a paranormal fantasy about a California girl who dies and meets the Indian god of death, and thereafter can see and talk to ghosts. It reminds me quite a bit of Meg Cabot's Mediator novels, which I also enjoyed enormously. This novel is ostensibly the work of a high school senior during NaNoWriMo.

      The other book is a realistic contemporary about a high school senior who managed to score a contract and a whopping advance for the paranormal fantasy she wrote during NaNoWriMo, and how she uses that money to move to Manhattan, befriend real, professional writers in the city, and learn how to rewrite her novel into something good, and also find love and independence while maintaining a relationship with her family and high school friends. This one feels like a modern comedy of manners.

      Both stories are grounded in a plausible reality while also incorporating some whimsy. Westerfeld has been a popular writer of YA series for a while now, and is married to a writer I likewise enjoy enormously (Justine Larbalestier!), so there isn't a lot of angsting about The Great American Novel but there is great insight into both the process of editing a book, and about all the other business related to publishing. As a former flap monkey, the book tour killed me.

      Reading this book, and thinking about it just after, I realized that my own reviews and those of most reviewers I follow, tend to focus on plot and characters and themes and motifs, not unlike the discussion in many English Lit courses. What I don't often address is how reading a book makes me feel. Reading Afterworlds is pretty much a full emotional banquet: there is pain and sadness and romance and humor, and, AND there's even an examination of how stories can be appealing while being problematic, with Darcy having an opportunity to hear those criticisms and learn from them, and revise her novel in more positive ways. All of us are steeped in a culture of assimilation and stereotype and prejudice, and all of us are creating problems for our fellow beings all the time just being thoughtless. Westerfeld is showing us, in a kind and not at all off-putting or sermonizing sort of way, how we can improve ourselves if we listen to the critical feedback. So, not only is it a book that makes you feel all kinds of things while you're reading it, it isn't a guilty pleasure at all.

      And I kind of hate that we're still at this place, but I would like to give Westerfeld some cookies for showing a New York that isn't all white male anglo-saxon protestant hetero. This is a New York I recognize full of all kinds of people.

      Library copy
    • 4/5
      This was an interesting book to read.

      At the beginning I thought it would be annoying because every other chapter switches between Darcy – the teenager author, and Lizzie – the protagonist that Darcy is writing about. I’m not normally a fan of this, as I tend to lose track of who’s doing what, but this style MADE this book.

      As Lizzie’s story unfolded, I found myself rushing through to see what was going to happen next. Even though Darcy’s story is interesting in itself, hers was like a build up to Lizzie’s. I didn’t mind listening to Darcy drone on about her swanky hotel or writer girlfriend because I knew that I got to listen to Lizzie after.

      And, pretty proud of myself here (and kudos to Mr. Westerfeld), I managed not to mess up ANY of the characters in either world. I usually find myself flipping back and forth to remind myself who is who when books are written from two different view points, but it was not so! The only character I had an issue with was Yamaraj. I didn’t get a good sense of who he was supposed to be. He just seemed to appear when Lizzie needed him.

      Even though it’s a pretty big book, it was a quick read and I definitely enjoyed it.

      If you’ve read it, let me know your thoughts in the comments!

      Ps. The paper feels REALLY nice. Because, yes, I notice these things.
    • 3/5
      I thought the book was okay. It seems a little too unrealistic and too easy for Darcy to automatically just be published like that. There were moments where I just wanted to slap Darcy for being so......Darcy. Something about her just bugs the crap out of me. I don't know what it is but I didn't like her. I enjoyed Lizzie's story much more than Darcy's.

      I feel as though that this story could have been more developed character wise but it was an interesting premise.

      I'm not saying this is a bad book, I guess it just wasn't for me.
    • 4/5
      I received an ARC through Goodreads
      ---
      I loved this book! It was so intense at times that I eagerly gobbled it up. Similar to the Uglies series, Scott Westerfeld has a way of drawing you into the world of his novels and not letting you go until you have read from start to finish...in almost one sitting.

      The narration of the book alternates between Darcy Patel (the author of the series Afterworlds) and Elizabeth Scottsfield (the protagonist of Afterworlds). It actually transitioned much smoother than I had thought, because when I first started reading this book I was a bit skeptical at the alternative narrative.

      I loved the opening scene and entire Afterworlds setting. It's definitely different and interesting to see how a YA novel deals with romance between a Hindu death god and an American teenager. The characters were all very interesting and multidimensional. Nothing is predictable in any sense! I like being kept on my toes. It's impressive how quick Lizzie took to being a "guide/reaper/psychopomp", at least in the sense of developing her powers and being able to travel around in Afterworlds. What Lizzie did killing the horrible man that killed Mindy and 5 other little girls certainly was understandable but with every action comes consequences. I totally wanted Yama and Lizzie to end up together regardless of everything, but that would be too simple and predictable. I would have liked a little more conflict and action in Afterworlds but it's hard to top that terrorism scene! This is one YA story that I can stand behind, even somewhat reluctantly seeing how I have finished the book now!

      Darcy's side of the narrative. It was fascinating to see how things work in the YA publishing and writing world. Nothing is as simple as getting signed! All the edits, rewrites, pleasing the publishers and the publicity to promote the book. Whew! So much work goes into publishing a book! This was a small glimpse into that world and I have to say I have a new found appreciation for publishers and writers. Yes, Darcy certainly got lucky right off the bat and got a wonderful deal from Paradox Publishers to publish her novel and all before the age of 18! Darcy's character developed to another level since the novel first started. Where she first started as an innocent, impressionable and slightly naive teenager to a slightly wiser, mature and more composed writer over the span of a year.

      I like that there wasn't a happily ever after. After all, it's so overrated and cliched. We got an ending that was more than satisfactory and works great with both stories. Part of me wants a sequel for Afterworlds but part of me is satisfied how everything worked out.
    • 4/5

      I really enjoyed the writing in this one. It's clever and well-crafted.
    • 3/5
      Two stories told in alternate chapters. One story, the story of the young debut author moving to NYC and coming of age there. The other story, the story she wrote, her first book. What I enjoyed most in this novel was the insider view of the YA publishing industry that Westfeld shares. Second was the unusal fantasy story--a young woman is involved in a terrorist attack. Instead of dying in the shootout, she goes to the Afterworld, a place between this world and the underworld.
    • 4/5
      Alternating chapters, one point of view being of a recent high school graduate with a sweet publishing deal for her novel, the other being the actual chapters of her novel. The juxtaposition is interesting for the parallels and the reader's insight to the unfolding of the authors plot development. To me the fictitious novel and its post-death characters were a bit confusing, but it didn't have to necessarily make sense in order to be interesting.
    • 4/5
      Carrying on two stories at once always requires a deftness in the author's abilities - both to write in a way that keeps the reader engaged in both stories, and to intertwine them in such a way that there are connections and reasons why both stories work together. "Afterworlds" manages to do both - telling both the "real" story of writing and rewriting a novel, and the novel itself. I listened to the audio version and very much enjoyed the narrators' handling of the different characters.
    • 4/5
      Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: This intriguing blend of paranormal and romance was an enjoyable novel!Opening Sentence: The most important email that Darcy Patel ever wrote was three paragraphs long.The Review:Darcy is eighteen when she finishes her first book, Afterworlds, typing the first draft in under a month. She ships it off to a high-end publishing company, and sure enough, they take on the book for a high sum of 300,000 dollars for her novel and its unwritten sequel. We get to see her struggles in the publishing world as well as her character’s struggles in a paranormal world, as she speaks to ghosts, makes enemies, and falls in love. Lizzie’s story is more gritty, but Darcy’s story adds the realistic tinge to the novel as a whole, making Afterworlds an enjoyable book.Before starting Afterworlds, I’d never read anything of Scott Westerfield’s. I own his Uglies series and know how popular it is, so that gave me high expectations. Mostly, Afterworlds fulfilled those expectations. I loved the unique idea of having an author getting her book published as well as spicing it up with the book that she’s publishing! One problem I had with Afterworlds was that both storylines — Darcy’s, and Lizzie’s — has insta-love, Lizzie more than Darcy. Lizzie and Yamaraj literally kissed the first time they met; okay, it was on the forehead, but still. Their relationship progressed far too fast for my liking. I thought Lizzie and Imogen’s romance was more realistic, and thought it was wonderful how the author portrayed same-sex love as natural as he did straight love. This book does deal with sensitive subjects such as that, as well as murder, sex . . . So be aware.Lizzie’s story was an interesting read, and original. However, if Darcy’s chapters hadn’t been incorporated into this novel, I can’t see myself enjoying only her point of view. (Oh, and it was cool how the point of views changed! Darcy’s in third person, Lizzie’s in first.) It wasn’t boring, but the insta-love, the whole idea of ghosts, and the choices that Lizzie makes I don’t agree with, they all added up to a book that wouldn’t be my cup of tea alone. Lizzie was a good enough main character, if not a little flawed, and misguided. One of my favorite characters was Mindy, her mother’s friend who was murdered when she was younger. She is a ghost now that hangs around Anna’s closet and befriends Lizzie when she starts seeing the afterworld. Her cute girly personality gave a touch of happiness to a dark book.Darcy’s novel was what made this read worthwhile to me. Having never been to New York, I have absolutely no idea if this is how the publishing process works. All the same, I found it enjoyable to see Scott Westerfield’s play on publishing. I loved how Darcy nitpicked away at her novel with the worry and care of an overprotective mother. I loved how she approached the issue of Yamaraj and how she essentially deleted Hinduism from her world. I enjoyed how she edited and we got to see the changes she made as she talked about them, which was nice. Altogether it was lots of fun reading about Darcy’s adventures with blurbs, writers block, and her romance with Imogen.This book was an interesting mix of contemporary and paranormal romance that I thought was fun. Though I’ve seen complaints from other reviewers, I found the book enjoyable. It’s six hundred pages but I flew through them within a few days, so that wasn’t a problem. And if it had been any less than six hundred, well, we’re dealing with two plotlines here. One or both of them wouldn’t have been developed to their fullest potential! I know that Darcy was writing the sequel to Afterworlds in the last chapters and wonder if this means that the book will get another installment. I wouldn’t mind if it did, though I think it ended pretty solidly. It was cool how Paradox publishing house was described and created, and the different character’s personalities and how they tangled. I never really got messed up by the alternating chapters because the point of views and different characters kept them separate in my mind. Altogether, an enjoyable book that I’d recommend to others.Notable Scene:“Want a cracker?” Nisha said from the doorway.“Let’s try to avoid cliches.” Darcy held the bird’s stare. “Do you talk??”“Birds don’t talk,” said the parrot.Nisha shook her head. “That’s fucked up.”“Don’t teach my agent’s parrot to swear.”FTC Advisory: Simon & Schuster provided me with a copy of Afterworlds. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
    • 4/5
      I have been a Westerfeld fan since I first read Uglies around 2007. I was shocked and completely excited when I found Afterworlds. I absolutely loved the alternating chapters between Darcy and her book, even though at quite a few times I was more interested in Lizzie. Overall I felt like it was a great exploration into the world of YA publishing, with a unique and worthwhile twist.
    • 4/5
      This is actually two books in one. The first is a fantasy about a girl who is caught in the middle of a terrorist attack in an airport and is spirited away until danger is past. This makes it possible for her to see ghosts and return to the spirit world. She learns that the ghost of a young girl has been living in her house because her mother couldn't forget her gruesome murder. The other book is from the viewpoint of the first book's author. 18-year old Darcy wrote a book (60,000 words in one month - shades of NaNoWriMo) which was picked up by a publisher who has her move to New York City to do her rewrites. She befriends other YA authors. She learns the difficulties of living on her own for the first time and also discovers that she loves a girl.What I particularly loved were the details of having a book published including things like speaking about her book and the thrill of other authors she loves writing blurbs for her book. I thought it was interesting how the love scenes in the fantasy were with a guy even though she discovers her preference is elsewhere. Since the author starts on her second book and is committed to write a trilogy, I fully expect there will be more to follow for us to read.
    • 5/5
      AFTERWORLDS was a real chunkster. After beginning it, I understood why. This is the story of a young novelist selling her book, deferring college and moving to New York to work on the edits. It is also the book she is writing. Since I was reading the print edition of this book, I could easily tell if I was in Darcy's story or in Lizzie's because the novel Darcy was writing had black banded pages. Both stories have romance but they are very different romances. The novel Darcy is writing begins with a terrorist attack and then quickly becomes a paranormal complete with ghosts.I liked the chapters from Darcy's point of view because they talk so much about the writing process and the publishing process. We see Darcy working with her editor and revising her work. We see her laboring over her words and struggling to find an ending both she and her publishers can live with. We see her fear of ending of novel, She wants to keep improving it. We see Darcy meeting and interacting with both new and established YA writers. We also see what it is like for authors to go on book tours. I enjoyed the novel Darcy was writing too though it would have been too scary for me if it had been a standalone novel. Some of the scenes sent chills up my spine and had me checking to see if my doors were locked. This was a wonderful book for young adults interested in writing.
    • 5/5
      Since hearing of its impending release all the way back in April at PTALive, I have been eagerly awaiting Scott Westerfeld’s Afterworlds. Afterworlds is not just one story, but two – the story of Darcy Patel, a high school graduate who just sold the novel she wrote during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, for those not in the know) told alongside the story she wrote, titled Afterworlds. This is an impressive work. Merging a contemporary novel about a young author finding herself in New York City and a paranormal romance about a girl who enters the ‘afterworld’ during a near-death experience, this may not appeal to everyone. But as a genre-hopper, I loved it. There’s always the problem with alternating chapters that you feel like you haven’t got enough of the story you’re reading, the one you prefer, but my preferred story changed with every chapter. I was invested in Darcy’s story and then wrapped up in Lizzie’s – I didn’t know which one I wanted to read more.The two stories complement each other rather than clashing – I feel like one couldn’t have been told without the other. Reading Lizzie’s story, we can relate to everything Darcy says about her novel, as she deliberates about her inclusion of a Hindu death-god borrowed from her own religion which she has mostly ignored, her ending, her worry that her mother will find parallels in the novel with a real life event. Reading the story of one girl is reading the story of the other.Darcy’s storyline introduces us to the world of YA publishing in New York and it is dripping with satire. It is fantastic, watching a successful YA author take apart his own world. The world for authors is not all ‘YA heaven’ and Darcy soon realises she has a lot of growing up to do – including shopping for mops! For the first time in her life, Darcy is managing her own money, living by herself, having to provide for herself and work, because writing a novel is so much more than the first draft. Her novel, Lizzie’s storyline, is full of YA tropes and the typical love interest for the purpose of “YA hotness” as well as the damsel in distress being saved by the hero and of course the more or less insta-love, despite the insistence that “this one is different”. I loved the dialogue. It was so realistic. For once I wasn’t thinking, ‘teenagers don’t really speak like that’. How common in teenager language is ‘what the actual f*ck’ and how often do we read it? Hardly ever! I also loved, in Darcy’s storyline, the talk of TBRs and ARCs and talking about world building and all that other writer stuff. She goes to Book Expo America (somewhere I am dying to go)! It was all integrated so smoothly, as was the fact that Darcy didn’t even know what she considered her sexuality to be until she meets Imogen and also her struggle with her right to use Hindu-ism in her books. It all flowed so well. Even when I wanted to bang my head against the table because I could see her throwing away money in her somewhat ridiculous apartment and she was possessive and jealous, I still felt it was brilliantly constructed narrative. And Darcy is not a character I would usually have time for, mainly because I couldn’t stand the way she spoke to Imogen. But she was real. And it was all done just so well, so brilliant, damn you Scott Westerfeld, I loved this book.