Tuesday 23 September 2014

YOUNG ADULT REVIEW: Afterworlds - Scott Westerfeld

Release Date: 23/09/14
Publisher:  Simon and Schuster

SYNOPSIS:

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.


REVIEW:

We’ve been huge fans of Scott here since Lady Eleanor originally read his Uglies series and loved them. So we’re always quick to grab the next time as soon as we could so that we could sit back, relax and enjoy our next adventure. He became a name that made it straight to the top of the TBR pile (in fact it never made it there as it was started straight away) so we’ve always come to expect a certain quality from him.

Now to be honest here I am a little bit in the dark on the publishing world to a certain degree and whilst I do know authors who have talked me through their journey through to publishing, this book was in stark contrast to that. It seemed too easy for her (the protagonist) and it felt unrealistsic, so much so that it threw the rest of the book into doubt and when you have something that delves into the unreal you need something to help ground it and help give you chance to find identifying markers with the character.

All round, I found this book a little flat, I didn’t get on with the principle character and for me, I was left feeling cheated by the whole thing almost as if it were a debut novel. All round a great shame for me.




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