A review by sandrareilly513
Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

4.0

Exploring "coming of age" in two radically different ways... Westerfeld shares his latest novel with not only chapters from alternative POV, but also alternating WORLDS. Just when you get into the rhythm of the "YA heaven" real-world character, readers are thrust into the fictional world SHE created through a character struggling with surviving the aftermath of a terrible tragedy. Darcy and Lizzie are navigating their way through their drastically-changing lives; Darcy as a young 17-18 year-old author moving to New York and trying to figure out how (and why) she fits into the adult world, and Lizzie as a 17-18 year old survivor of a terrorist attack who "played dead" so well that she developed the ability to travel between the living world and what comes after. Due to a smattering of a few choice curse words and the deep-though-invoking thick veil of existentialism in both characters' universes, I would recommend this for ages 15/16 and up.