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Summary
Summary
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Scott Westerfeld comes a smart, thought-provoking novel-within-a-novel that you won't be able to put down.
Darcy Patel has put college on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds . With a contract in hand, she arrives in New York City with no apartment, no friends, and all the wrong clothes. But lucky for Darcy, she's taken under the wings of other seasoned and fledgling writers who help her navigate the city and the world of writing and publishing. Over the course of a year, Darcy finishes her book, faces critique, and falls in love.
Woven into Darcy's personal story is her novel, Afterworlds , a suspenseful thriller about a teen who slips into the "Afterworld" to survive a terrorist attack. The Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead, and where many unsolved--and terrifying--stories need to be reconciled. Like Darcy, Lizzie too falls in love...until a new threat resurfaces, and her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she cares about most.
Author Notes
Scott Westerfeld was born in Dallas, Texas on May 5, 1963. He received a degree in philosophy from Vassar College in 1985. Before becoming a full time writer, he held several jobs including factory worker, software designer, editor, and substitute teacher. His works for young adults include the Uglies series, the Midnighters series, and The Last Days. He is the co-author of the Zeroes series written with Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti. He also writes science fiction novels for adults. He has won numerous awards including a Special Citation for the 2000 Philip K. Dick Award for Evolution's Darling, a Victorian Premier's Award for So Yesterday, and an Aurealis Award for The Secret Hour.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This novel is really two books in one, told in alternating chapters. The first is a realistic fiction piece about Darcy, an 18-year-old whose novel is being published. She puts off college, moves to New York, deals with the stress of deadlines and rewrites, feels the excitement of seeing her book in print, and falls in love for the first time, with another YA writer, named Imogen. The other book is Darcy's actual novel, told in full: the paranormal tale of Lizzie, who survives a terrorist attack by pretending to be dead. She can subsequently see ghosts and visit the "afterworld," where she becomes romantically involved with spirit guide Yamaraj. Each book has a different narrator, which is helpful for keeping the two stories separate, and both narrators are excellent. Lind conveys Darcy's youthful excitement, her passion for writing, her insecurity, and her naïveté, as well as voicing jaded and British Imogen, Darcy's Indian-accented parents, and numerous other characters. Seth is equally adept at Lizzie, searching for the truth and trying to do what's right, as well as creating believable voices for Lizzie's anxious mother, her curious best friend, a child ghost, and Indian-accented Yamaraj. This intriguing and creative audiobook will have listeners invested in both stories, rooting for both protagonists and eager to find out what happens to them. Ages 14-up. A Simon Pulse hardcover. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
This book is actually two stories for the price of one. The first chapter introduces eighteen-year-old Darcy Patel. She's just written her first YA novel, signed a huge advance, and moved to New York City, forgoing college. Chapter two takes place at an airport -- where a startlingly violent terrorist attack unfolds before the eyes of narrator Lizzie. That chapter ends with Lizzie passing out after a head injury; then we're back to Darcy's story in New York; then back to Lizzie (guided back from the afterworld by the hunky Yamaraj, she finds that she is now a psychopomp, with the ability to ferry souls between the lands of the living and the dead); then Darcy. Readers will soon realize that Lizzie is the protagonist of Darcy's novel, but Westerfeld has done the trick of putting us disconcertingly off balance -- even more so since Lizzie's story is in first person while Darcy's is in third person. At six hundred pages, this overstuffed novel has everything in it but the kitchen sink -- probably much to the delight of its intended audience -- but it moves at a brisk pace because of the short chapters and paragraphs, and because the action is conveyed through dialogue rather than description. Readers will also enjoy spotting the parallels between Darcy's life and her protagonist's -- just as Lizzie and Yamaraj's feelings for each other grow, Darcy is falling in love with a girl named Imogen. Westerfeld has written a biting send-up of YA publishing and a convincing double love story. jonathan hunt (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Eighteen-year-old Darcy drops her college plans and moves to New York to revise her soon-to-be-published novel and start the second one. Meanwhile, in chapters that alternate with Darcy's NYC adventures, her fictional protagonist, Lizzie, survives a near-death experience to find she has become a psychopomp, responsible for guiding souls to the afterlife. Westerfeld masterfully creates two divergent reading experiences (YA romance and fantasy horror) with two distinct yet believable voices in Darcy and Lizzie and, somehow, makes them mesh into one cohesive novel. In addition to the details of the fully realized story worlds and that's worlds plural, as this is a busy book, with content drawn from Gujarati culture and Indian religions this novel includes romantic entanglements, a charming lesbian love story, terrorism and justice, and insider references to the YA publishing and literature scene (including several references to the Michael L. Printz Award) that will have librarians grinning in delight. Westerfeld deftly and subtly captures Darcy's immature authorial voice, even including a few underdeveloped plot points that differentiate it from his own polished prose. There are no notes about cultural sources, but an extended conversation between (fictional) YA authors explores these issues, offering a few perspectives on respect and appropriateness. Order plenty; this one won't stay on the shelves. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Westerfeld, author of the hugely popular Uglies and Leviathan series, goes meta in a big way (this thing is the size of an anvil). Expect tons of YA-world gabbing and gushing.--Welch, Cindy Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
SCOTT WESTERFELD'S semi-supernatural novel "Afterworlds" beckons us into a universe where dutiful drones, pale from sun deprivation, spend long, lonely days toiling at an irksome task in order to prove their worth. The challenges they face are many, and their chances of survival, let alone success, are low. Though these worker bees occasionally bond with others of their ilk, they're really on their own, forever outrunning the authority figures who regularly swoop down to assess their accomplishments and mete out punishment accordingly. The stakes are high: If the denizens of this universe fail, they'll be dropped into the black hole of obscurity where, unless they can claw their way out, they'll languish forever. They may also be forced to give back their advance money. With "Afterworlds," Westerfeld - perhaps best known as the author of the Uglies series - has fashioned a narrative from two fantastical stories, cleverly entwined: The heroine of one is Lizzie, a high schooler who survives an airport terrorist attack by willing herself into a misty grayish place known as the afterworld. There she meets the Hindu god of death, Yamaraj, who, in this particular invented mythology, is a charismatic swain in a rippling silk shirt. The star of the novel's other story is Darcy Patel, a precocious 18-year-old who, against all odds, has written - and sold! - a young adult novel of her own, called "Afterworlds." Lizzie is, in fiction writers' parlance, Darcy's "protag." But Darcy is the protag of her own story, one in which she defers college and leaves her home in Philadelphia to move to New York. There, she'll revise her book for publication and get cracking on a sequel. And she'll fall in love for the first time, with fellow Y.A. novelist Imogen. The two settle into Darcy's airy (and way too expensive) Chinatown apartment, working on rewrites by day, sampling the city's magical selection of noodle shops by night. "Afterworlds" is essentially two fantasy novels in one, even though one takes place in the very real world of New York publishing. Westerfeld is skillful at box-of-mirrors construction techniques. As he details Darcy's struggle to write "Afterworlds," the finished book takes shape before our eyes in alternating chapters. But before long, a problem seeps through the cracks of that structure: The otherworldly story Darcy has invented for Lizzie isn't nearly as compelling as Darcy's real-world one, and it accounts for half the book. Lizzie's love affair with Yamaraj is satisfying enough, and the descriptions of the couple's supernaturally "shiny" skin is as lovely a metaphor as any for the glow of young love. But other plot elements feel strained, like Lizzie's friendship with an 11-year-old ghost named Mindy, and her zeal to punish the man who murdered the girl, who is clearly a child molester, though that's never spelled out; he's referred to as a "bad man." It comes off as a jarring attempt at grisliness while maintaining a safe, PG-rated distance from it. Luckily, the Darcy chapters crack along dexterously. She's an enormously appealing character: The daughter of Indian immigrants, she appreciates their protectiveness but is understandably thrilled to be striking out on her own. With her work ethic, her innocence and her smarts, she's like a cross between Mary Richards of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and Carrie Bradshaw of "Sex and the City" (only with less casual sex). In detailing Darcy's day-to-day routine and her bouts of insecurity, Westerfeld offers a realistic glimpse - for my money, at least - into the world of writing for a living. Darcy sweats over looming deadlines. She worries that readers may be offended that she's used a Hindu god "for purposes of Y.A. hotness." She fears that her first book will tank - or that it will succeed and then she won't be able to produce another. She gleans useful advice from colleagues, words of wisdom that older, real-life writers should heed. Imogen tells her she's "got the juice" as a storyteller: "Beautiful sentences are fine, but the juice is what makes me turn pages." "Afterworlds" is a wonderful book for any young person with an interest in growing up to be a writer. Its tone is somewhere between "Writing is harder work than you think" and "Shoot for the stars!" And there's a sly joke embedded in its dovetailing stories: The chances of getting a huge advance for a Y.A. novel are slim. Still, they're much greater than the likelihood of meeting a sexy teenage death god after nearly being killed by terrorists. STEPHANIE ZACHAREK is chief film critic at The Village Voice.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Eighteen-year-old Darcy Patel's dream has come true. A publisher has accepted the novel she wrote, and she has received a significant advance for it and the unwritten sequel. Deferring her college plans, Darcy moves to New York City and joins the YA publishing world. Amidst parties with other authors, exploring the city, and endless rewrites, Darcy meets and falls for fellow author Imogen Gray. Unfolding in alternate chapters is Darcy's novel, Afterworlds, in which teenage Lizzie survives a terrorist attack at an airport by crossing over to the realm between the living and the dead. There she meets Yama, the Hindu death god in the body of a 17-year-old boy, and the two feel an instant attraction. Lizzie now has the power to interact with ghosts in both worlds, which leads her down a dangerous path. Dual readers Sheetal Sheth and Heather Lind solidly narrate the two stories. Sheetal effectively portrays Darcy's youth as she navigates the new worlds of publishing and romantic relationships. Lind captures Lizzie's struggles with moral decisions and provides an appropriately calm, accented voice for the death god Yama. The dynamic of the two separate story lines proves fascinating as if the plot of Afterworlds changes and evolves as Darcy edits her draft.-Amanda Raklovits, Champaign Public Library, IL (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Westerfeld offers two novels in one: the story of Lizzie Scofield, a teenager who escapes a terrorist attack by somehow crossing into the afterlife and develops a relationship with a smoldering Vedic psychopomp, and the story of 18-year-old Darcy Patel, who has just signed a contract to publish the novel Lizzie anchors.In alternating chapters, the two books unfold. The still-living Lizzie pursues a relationship with Yamaraj, who protects newly crossed spirits from otherworldly predators, even as she negotiates her new powers to cross over and interact with ghosts, especially the little lost soul who haunts her closet. Meanwhile, Darcy decides to forgo college for the glamor of a writers life in New York City, struggling to revise Afterworlds and draft Untitled Patel as she watches her $300,000 advance vanish into agent commissions, rent, and fancy, foodie ramen. She also enters the tightknit, often bitchy world of YA writers, where she meets and falls for Imogen. Westerfeld clearly has a good time here, but he resists broad satire, focusing on Darcys coming-of-age as a writer whos got the juice. Likewise, Darcys novel isnt half bad, displaying a control thats missing from far too many paranormal debuts. Readers who pay attention will see how Darcys learning curve plays out and how she incorporates and transmutes her real-world experiences into her novel.Watching Darcys story play off Darcys novel will fascinate readers as well as writers. (Fiction. 14 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Afterworlds CHAPTER 1 THE MOST IMPORTANT EMAIL THAT Darcy Patel ever wrote was three paragraphs long. The first was about Darcy herself. It skipped the trifling details, her dyed blue-black hair and the slim gold ring in her left nostril, and began instead with a grim secret that her parents had never told her. When Darcy's mother was eleven years old, her best friend was murdered by a stranger. This discovery, chanced upon during an idle web search, both shocked Darcy and made certain things about her mother clearer. It also inspired her to write. The second paragraph of the email was about the novel Darcy had just finished. She didn't mention, of course, that all sixty thousand words of Afterworlds had been written in thirty days. The Underbridge Literary Agency hardly needed to know that. Instead, this paragraph described a terrorist attack, a girl who wills herself to die, and the bewitching boy she meets in the afterworld. It promised skulking ghosts and the traumas that haunt families, and little sisters who are more clever than they appear. Using the present tense and short sentences, Darcy set the scene, thumbnailed the characters and their motivations, and teased the conclusion. This was the best of the three paragraphs, she was later told. The third paragraph was pure flattery, because Darcy wanted very much for the Underbridge Literary Agency to say yes to her. She praised the breadth of their vision and paid tribute to their clients' genius, even while daring to compare herself to those illustrious names. She explained how her novel was different from the other paranormals of the last few years (none of which had a smoldering Vedic psychopomp as its love interest). This email was not a perfect query letter. But it did its job. Seventeen days after pressing Send, Darcy was signed to Underbridge, a flourishing and respected literary agency, and not long after that she had a two-book deal for an astonishing amount of money. Only a handful of challenges remained--high school graduation, a perilous decision, and parental approval--before Darcy Patel would be packing her bags for New York City. Excerpted from Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
