Monday 1 September 2014

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld Review

I was recently sent an advanced reading copy of the latest book from Scott Westerfeld, Afterworlds.

I have to admit I have never read anything from this author before but the blurb certainly had me intrigued.

afterworlds scott westerfeld
Darcy writes the words.

Lizzie lives them.

Landing a major publishing deal, teenager Darcy finds herself in New York City, and suddenly surrounded by the cream of YA authors. At the same time, Afterworlds, Darcy's grippng thriller, begins to unfold. A novel within a novel…

This is the tale of two stories, cleverly weaved together in one single book.

On the one hand we have Darcy, an eighteen year old getting her first ever novel published. Seemingly living the dream in New York City, we follow her as she struggles to re-write her book and deal with falling in love.

On the other hand we have Lizzie. The fictional character in the book that Darcy is writing. A girl who at first finds herself in the middle of a terrorist attack and winds up being able to cross over to the "afterworld"

With alternating chapters, you get the sense that Darcy and Lizzie's worlds are almost combining. Both characters growing as the book progresses, their lives subtly mixing with one another.

I think for anyone reading this you will end up favouring one story over the other.

Myself personally preferred Lizzie's story. It was more action packed and slightly faster paced.

Darcy's story veered more to the romantic side, a bit more fairytale.

At almost 600 pages long, I was a bit overwhelmed by the size of the book and thought it would take me a lot longer to read but surprisingly I finished it in a meer 3 days.

The concept is fascinating and although it won't be everyones cup of tea, it is written flawlessly.

The alternating chapters flow well, I didn't find myself becoming frustrated with the change of storyline/characters.

I believe Afterworlds will appeal to many.

Just check out the brilliant teaser trailer below.


xxxx

Disclaimer : I was sent a copy of this book FOC however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

2 comments:

  1. What an interesting concept. I think I'd read it just for that!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds interesting. I don't really read that kind of book, but I think I might give it a try, after I have finished my current book! :)

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from my readers so please feel free to leave comment.