Review - Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

Now I’m going to be the first to admit, I wasn’t a big fan of Scott’s earlier works.  I just wasn’t into the whole Uglies/Pretties scenario.  Maybe I didn’t give it a fair shot and maybe I’ll pick up Uglies at some point and try again.  Maybe.  Regardless, I was a little hesitant to pick up Afterworlds, but the premise for the story had me intrigued.

First of all, Afterworlds centers around two different stories.  You have the initial main character, Darcy Patel, who is a young writer on her way to great things.  You enter into her world just as she’s sold her first two novels to a publishing company.  You get to watch how she handles entering New York all on her own and how she has to deal with being a published author now and what that entails.  I have to admit, the process sounds eerily correct regarding publishers and drafts and, yes, even deadlines.

Subsequently you also have a second story within this novel.  You actually get to read Darcy’s first published novel as you learn more about Darcy’s life.  The novel Darcy has written had me just as hooked as Darcy’s life did.  In her debut novel, Darcy creates the character of Lizzie Scofield, who has just survived a massive terrorist attack in an airport.  Somehow, by Lizzie pretending to be dead, she gets transported into a whole other reality in which she has abilities to see and hear ghosts and to travel amongst that world and the real world consciously.  Plus there seems to be a hot guy that tends to hold Lizzie’s interest, who is definitely not all he appears to be.

I will admit, Scott got me with this book.  I read this book cover to cover and could barely put it down.  It had my attention from page one, all the way to the end.  In fact, I would love nothing more than for Scott to come out with a sequel!  The writing was unique and the subject matter was something that I’ve rarely seen in the book world.  Being able to have your reader pay attention to two separate plot points within one novel, is quite extraordinary!  Very well done! 

All in all, I gave this novel a 5 out of 5 stars on GoodReads and I thoroughly encourage you to go out and pick this up and be ready to be transported into a whole other world.  Happy reading!!