REVIEW: Afterworlds by Scott Westerfield

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfield

Publication Date: September 23, 2014

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: ARC received from Publisher at Book Expo America 2014
Guest Reviewer: Doris aka La Chiquita

Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

*This book was received from the publisher, but it did not influence this review in any way *

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Darcy Patel has put college and everything else on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. Arriving in New York with no apartment or friends she wonders whether she's made the right decision until she falls in with a crowd of other seasoned and fledgling writers who take her under their wings…

Told in alternating chapters is Darcy's novel, a suspenseful thriller about Lizzie, a teen who slips into the 'Afterworld' to survive a terrorist attack. But the Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead and as Lizzie drifts between our world and that of the Afterworld, she discovers that many unsolved - and terrifying - stories need to be reconciled. And when a new threat resurfaces, Lizzie learns her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she loves and cares about most.

I AM DARCY PATEL! Well the warning tale of what happens when us Darcy's of the world don't follow that nagging need to write. Since I was a pre-teen I have been writing stories, poems, anything to take up the time felt between breaths. But not once did I feel brave enough to really finish the story, send it to the right agent and hope for the best. Reading about the life after the submission was my favorite. I am fairly (brand spanking) new to the literary world and this candid glance of what it can be for authors new and old truly had me turning pages. 

               Not only was I excited to read about the makings of a story but the story that Darcy writes i found myself wanting to read alone, as a separate book. I can definitely see myself sitting on the floor of the local Barnes and Nobles and thumbing though pages of "Afterworlds" and thinking when does the sequel come out? And how can I get my hands on it before that date. The story isn't one that I would have thought of writing, a love story that plays with the notion of life that is lived versus the life that is remembered. Scott Westerfield being a white middle aged man writing as a 18 year old Indian girl who wrote about a white California girl who falls in love with a Hindu death god, is a lot to get your head around. You wouldn't think that the story would work, but I gotta say it does.

               My only hiccup was that things were too easy for Darcy. There was no struggle in falling in love with her friend. (No spoilers, read it if you wanna know!) Then no struggles in finding out who she really is. The story was written for it to be pretty straight forward. This girl is paid to write this book, they work to publish the book, she gets a love interest for the first time then things go in a straight line after that. I wanted more movement. More pain, more realness of emotion. The only emotion Darcy allows herself is self doubt and worry. Through out the book she states that she is worried that one day the world will realize that she is an impostor and just take her "adult card" away.  For me, if you were brave enough to bare your bones by writing a story, you should be a pretty tough cookie. I wanted Darcy to be more like her protagonist Lizze who took her troubles as just that, troubles. They did not change who she was or what she decided to do.

               So to all my fellow Darcy's, you are not alone. You can live vicariously through Darcy in Afterworlds and get a good story at the same time. Win, win!