A review by fictionalkate
Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
4.0
A paranormal tale and a contemporary narrative beautifully intertwined - Afterworlds is a novel with two stories. Darcy Patel has written a novel, secured a publishing deal and is now taking the next step. After graduating high school, Darcy decides to take a year off to fully embrace life as an almost-published author in New York City. She's embracing adulthood and rewrites as she rubs shoulders with the YA elite. Afterworlds tells not only Darcy's story but gives us the novel she wrote. In alternating chapters we get to see how Darcy's protagonist, Lizzie, handles becoming a spirit guide to the dead and the troubles she faces as ghosts and other supernatural spookiness.
At six hundred pages, Afterworlds may seem a little intimidating at first. But it didn't take long for me to become fully engrossed in Darcy and Lizzie's stories. Conceptually it's such a great idea. A contemporary coming of age story wrapped around a paranormal ghost story. Darcy is a great character to follow as she navigates a new city and the new life she is creating for herself. She's on the cusp of adulthood and has to deal with the problems, drama and wonderfulness which that entails. Getting to watch Darcy as she meets her writing heroes and all which publishing a novel involves. I loved the romantic relationship in this book and thought it was beautifully messy in the way first loves often tend to be. She grows so much and as a coming of age story - it was fantastic to read.
Lizzie's story was interesting. I like ghost stories and I haven't read any before using this particular type of belief/religion/mythology (I had to look up what the word psychopump meant). The drama and suspense from Lizzie's story were great at causing tension and angst within Darcy's. Whilst Afterworlds contains two different stories, the stories aren't complete on their own. Lizzie's tale of ghosts and the deceased would not have worked by itself. However the Lizzie part of the novel enriched Darcy's side of things - showing her growth as a storyteller as well as how her life in NYC impacted on her novel. And like many of the characters in the novel had said - Lizzie's story had an AMAZING first chapter!
Afterworlds is a unique book which I'm delighted to have read. I'd not read a Scott Westerfeld novel before and but after reading Afterworlds I'll be checking out his older work.
Thanks to Penguin for the review copy
At six hundred pages, Afterworlds may seem a little intimidating at first. But it didn't take long for me to become fully engrossed in Darcy and Lizzie's stories. Conceptually it's such a great idea. A contemporary coming of age story wrapped around a paranormal ghost story. Darcy is a great character to follow as she navigates a new city and the new life she is creating for herself. She's on the cusp of adulthood and has to deal with the problems, drama and wonderfulness which that entails. Getting to watch Darcy as she meets her writing heroes and all which publishing a novel involves. I loved the romantic relationship in this book and thought it was beautifully messy in the way first loves often tend to be. She grows so much and as a coming of age story - it was fantastic to read.
Lizzie's story was interesting. I like ghost stories and I haven't read any before using this particular type of belief/religion/mythology (I had to look up what the word psychopump meant). The drama and suspense from Lizzie's story were great at causing tension and angst within Darcy's. Whilst Afterworlds contains two different stories, the stories aren't complete on their own. Lizzie's tale of ghosts and the deceased would not have worked by itself. However the Lizzie part of the novel enriched Darcy's side of things - showing her growth as a storyteller as well as how her life in NYC impacted on her novel. And like many of the characters in the novel had said - Lizzie's story had an AMAZING first chapter!
Afterworlds is a unique book which I'm delighted to have read. I'd not read a Scott Westerfeld novel before and but after reading Afterworlds I'll be checking out his older work.
Thanks to Penguin for the review copy