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kpeet's review
1.0
**I received my copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**
**1.5 Stars**
Well, this was bad. I really enjoyed Westerfeld's Uglies series, but that gave me the false hope that I would also like Afterworlds. I really wanted to like this book. The first few pages were great. But beyond that lie the worst book within a book ever.
The story within the story (and the book itself) was awful
Honestly, the story within the story (about Lizzie) didn't capture my interest at all. The dead childhood friend part was fascinating but how everything was handled (I murdered someone, oops, oh well lololol), the whole river of death thing, Yamaraj and Yami were very shallow characters, Mr. Hamlyn's presence/motivation in everything...it was bad. Everything was bad. Maybe it was supposed to be bad and a reflection of how much Darcy sucks. Maybe it was a legitimate attempt at a novelception. Either way, it was annoying. I skimmed a lot of the ending because the convenient bullshit was just piling up.
The world building was probably the worst part. I didn't understand anything about the world around Lizzie. I couldn't picture her house, the concept of the river of death, the underworld, the World War II part, the Colorado thing - anything! Events just randomly happened with such a quick pace that I literally couldn't even follow what was happening. No rules or structure or anything was ever laid down, just this person is here saying this to this other person. BUT WHY?
The actual story about Darcy was just boring and unrealistic. Darcy writes a novel in a month that sells for $150k, so she must be talented, right? Well, no, apparently her book is kinda bad (CLEARLY bad, as we are considerately provided that text as well) and she really sucks at staying on top of deadlines, grammar, really everything to do with writing. I appreciated the glimpse into an author's life, but everything felt very artificial. Darcy gets this amazing contract. Darcy gets this amazing apartment. Darcy makes all these amazing friends who all love her amazing book. Darcy has all these things handed to her and she abuses them, takes advantage of them, and ignores everything real in her life.
Darcy is annoying!
Take a look at this sentence:
This appears at the very end of the book, in response to Darcy violating her girlfriend Imogen's privacy and trust, and being irresponsible by not keeping tabs on her lease, her spending habits, and her college's deadline for deferral. Literally EVERYTHING wrong in her life is the direct result of her lack of maturity, yet she seeks anything else to place blame. The phone, the IRS, the college itself - all conspiring against her. Imagine that kind of luck! This really put me over the edge with Darcy. I already thought she was bratty, selfish, whiny, and immature, but that sentence right there put me decisively in the anti-Darcy camp. I get that she's 18/19, but I am not much older than that and she just sounds like an insufferable brat.
The romance(s) sucked
Yamaraj - I don't even have words about this. I don't understand this AT ALL.
Imogen - I felt really bad for her. She really tried to make things work but Darcy of course was jumping to conclusions and being nasty and selfish. Their breakup conversation really made me feel for her and only added to how I felt about Darcy. When Imogen approached Darcy at the end to reconcile, I was just like "no, no, no, NO!"
There's just so many bad points
I gave this book a rating based on the only part I enjoyed - Mindy's story and when Lizzie tracked down the girl and found out about the other girls. I'm a big fan of crime stories, so this really piqued my interest. Unfortunately it was a very minute part of the book.
This book didn't even have to be this bad. If Westerfeld had concentrated on developing either story more and dropping the other one, they could've been good - but alone. The novelception is, I supposed, a cute gimmick, but it really didn't pay off at all.
**1.5 Stars**
Well, this was bad. I really enjoyed Westerfeld's Uglies series, but that gave me the false hope that I would also like Afterworlds. I really wanted to like this book. The first few pages were great. But beyond that lie the worst book within a book ever.
The story within the story (and the book itself) was awful
Honestly, the story within the story (about Lizzie) didn't capture my interest at all. The dead childhood friend part was fascinating but how everything was handled (I murdered someone, oops, oh well lololol), the whole river of death thing, Yamaraj and Yami were very shallow characters, Mr. Hamlyn's presence/motivation in everything...it was bad. Everything was bad. Maybe it was supposed to be bad and a reflection of how much Darcy sucks. Maybe it was a legitimate attempt at a novelception. Either way, it was annoying. I skimmed a lot of the ending because the convenient bullshit was just piling up.
The world building was probably the worst part. I didn't understand anything about the world around Lizzie. I couldn't picture her house, the concept of the river of death, the underworld, the World War II part, the Colorado thing - anything! Events just randomly happened with such a quick pace that I literally couldn't even follow what was happening. No rules or structure or anything was ever laid down, just this person is here saying this to this other person. BUT WHY?
The actual story about Darcy was just boring and unrealistic. Darcy writes a novel in a month that sells for $150k, so she must be talented, right? Well, no, apparently her book is kinda bad (CLEARLY bad, as we are considerately provided that text as well) and she really sucks at staying on top of deadlines, grammar, really everything to do with writing. I appreciated the glimpse into an author's life, but everything felt very artificial. Darcy gets this amazing contract. Darcy gets this amazing apartment. Darcy makes all these amazing friends who all love her amazing book. Darcy has all these things handed to her and she abuses them, takes advantage of them, and ignores everything real in her life.
Darcy is annoying!
Take a look at this sentence:
"First Imogen's phone and autocorrect had conspired to destroy her life, and now her landlord, the IRS, and her future college were joining in."
This appears at the very end of the book, in response to Darcy violating her girlfriend Imogen's privacy and trust, and being irresponsible by not keeping tabs on her lease, her spending habits, and her college's deadline for deferral. Literally EVERYTHING wrong in her life is the direct result of her lack of maturity, yet she seeks anything else to place blame. The phone, the IRS, the college itself - all conspiring against her. Imagine that kind of luck! This really put me over the edge with Darcy. I already thought she was bratty, selfish, whiny, and immature, but that sentence right there put me decisively in the anti-Darcy camp. I get that she's 18/19, but I am not much older than that and she just sounds like an insufferable brat.
The romance(s) sucked
Yamaraj - I don't even have words about this. I don't understand this AT ALL.
Imogen - I felt really bad for her. She really tried to make things work but Darcy of course was jumping to conclusions and being nasty and selfish. Their breakup conversation really made me feel for her and only added to how I felt about Darcy. When Imogen approached Darcy at the end to reconcile, I was just like "no, no, no, NO!"
There's just so many bad points
I gave this book a rating based on the only part I enjoyed - Mindy's story and when Lizzie tracked down the girl and found out about the other girls. I'm a big fan of crime stories, so this really piqued my interest. Unfortunately it was a very minute part of the book.
This book didn't even have to be this bad. If Westerfeld had concentrated on developing either story more and dropping the other one, they could've been good - but alone. The novelception is, I supposed, a cute gimmick, but it really didn't pay off at all.
goosemixtapes's review
4.0
in the interest of adding some reviews to books i read a while back & still remember: afterworlds! i've read this twice and i remember enjoying it both times; anything that includes writer characters & wlw is very much in my domain and darcy's half of this book was fantastically enjoyable. i don't remember having such strong feelings about lizzie's, but i remember a lot of scenes from both halves very well; it's far from forgettable and i love the meta discussions of writing. (also, always pleasantly surprised that the wlw are written this well by a man.)
bookgirl4ever's review
3.0
Darcy is a teenager who writes an entire novel during NaNoWriMo--and Paradox Publishing loves it! After she graduates from high school, she has her mathematical genius sister create a budget from the advance money, and moves to Manhattan to write. Darcy's experience is a dream, despite her worries (that everything in her novel was stolen from someone else-her family's Hindu religion, Jane Austen, her lesbian girlfriend, etc.). I suspect Darcy embodies the general writing experience, shoved into one person. Darcy's chapters alternate between those of the finished novel she wrote. Not the best Westerfeld by any means. There is a slice of his readers who will appreciate this novel.
New adult.
New adult.
rdyourbookcase's review
3.0
This book was so long, I needed to finish it with a library copy! It was long, but good. The only thing that I didn’t like about the book was that sometimes I confused the Lizzie and Darcy. Their voices both seemed so alike. I’m a little tired of paranormal romance, but I think teens will love everything about this book! It made me want to write a book and be like Darcy. Hopefully, it will inspire teens, too!
renesmeewolfe's review
1.0
Love Scott Westerfeld, hate this book. It's boring and slow and, although interesting with the "book" book pages, the other side wasn't, and was full of spoilers. Nope. Wouldn't recommend this to anyone.
mslauraolivia's review
I really wanted to like this book. I love everything I've ever read from Scott Westerfeld, so I had high hopes. By the time I quit, on page 255, I just wanted to be reading the story about Lizzie. that story would be awesome on its own, and I don't think it needed the author's (Darcy's) story along with it. I may give it another chance in the future, but this one may stay a DNF.
stressedspidergirl's review
4.0
This wasn't what I was expecting at all. The description is kind of like Stranger Than Fiction, but then it's much darker than that, and much lighter.
Lizzie's story was actually chilling at times, and I have a few regrets of the over active imagination and late night reading + far too many Criminal Minds-esque tv series under my belt.
I really enjoyed Darcy's life, too, and while she kind of lets it all fall apart, also maybe she doesn't? It's sort of interesting how things do/don't work out. I'd definitely read more of this, if there were sequels.
I was SUPER excited to find out Darcy was in a relationship with a girl, and that it wasn't any big deal. I was happy to see hints of her culture and upbringing even if there wasn't a whole load of it, because that's not really who she is? I Liked that her relationship with her sister felt mostly real. Healthy. This was a fun read and I went through it in about a day.
Lizzie's story was actually chilling at times, and I have a few regrets of the over active imagination and late night reading + far too many Criminal Minds-esque tv series under my belt.
I really enjoyed Darcy's life, too, and while she kind of lets it all fall apart, also maybe she doesn't? It's sort of interesting how things do/don't work out. I'd definitely read more of this, if there were sequels.
I was SUPER excited to find out Darcy was in a relationship with a girl, and that it wasn't any big deal. I was happy to see hints of her culture and upbringing even if there wasn't a whole load of it, because that's not really who she is? I Liked that her relationship with her sister felt mostly real. Healthy. This was a fun read and I went through it in about a day.
izzieburns's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed reading about Darcy's life, and would have given just that book 4 stars. I really didn't like Lizzie's story though, although the first chapter was definitely gripping, so I would have given that book 2 stars, which brings me to the average of 3 stars. I liked the book, but it dragged on and I found myself desperately wanting to read something else or skip Lizzie's chapters, but I pushed through.
kellogs89's review against another edition
4.0
Well, where to start... Both stories were interesting on their own, so it was a good book. I just found that with the stories alternating between chapters, it was really hard to enjoy. Darcy Patel, well, she was quite annoying, in my opinion, sort of a whiny child just wanting to get her way, but I loved Lizzy! It was like, Darcy had created the opposite of herself in her character, she had a traumatic few months in her story, and she wasn't portrayed as a sufferer, more of a go out and change the world, kind of thing. I must admit, I would have liked her story to progress further, just seems to have ended, not even in a happy or sad way, unlike the somewhat-rounding off that was given to Darcy.