Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
Audience: Young Adult
Format: Hardcover/Owned
The most important email that Darcy Patel ever wrote was three paragraphs long.
- first sentence
Darcy Patel's parents think she is going to college, but she has other plans. The young adult book she wrote during her senior year is going to be published and she is planning to live in New York on her own for a year and see if she has what it takes to be a "real" author. The advance Darcy received for her book is substantial and her sister helps her create a budget. But this is only half the story. In between Darcy's story, we find her novel, the story of Lizzie who escapes a terrorist attack by pretending to be dead. But while "pretending" Lizzie travels to the Afterworld and meets some very interesting people.
So, we see Darcy trying to survive in New York, manage her relationships and money, and going through the doubts and struggles of a young writer. The story is very real and touching. We grow to love Darcy and root for her success. We see her through all the ups and downs a young girl first on her own might experience.
We also see Lizzie in a story filled with danger, supernatural beings, and the power to travel to the world people go to after death. We watch Lizzie struggle to figure out what her life is now and how she can survive in it and try to figure out her new powers and what they mean.
This book is fabulous and I really enjoyed it - not what I expected at all from looking at the cover. It was fun to watch Darcy grow up and hear her doubts about her novel. Then we get to read her book in between Darcy's story. It's like two amazing and completely different stories in one book.
I read this for Snakes & Ladders space #55. Is more than 500 pages long. I was worried it would take me too long, but I had a hard time putting it down.
