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A review by allaurae
Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
2.0
Official Rating: 1.5
Thoughts:
Oh. My. God.
I don't think it's ever taken me so long to finish reading a book. I wish I could put that down to it being 600 pages long. Believe me, I wish. But the sad reality is, this book simply frustrated me to no end.
While I was reading Afterworlds, several people asked what the novel was about. Considering the two (mostly unrelated) plotlines, suffice to say I was often conflicted on the best way to answer them. I appreciate what Westerfeld was trying to do with this novel, but I just don't think it was executed in the best manner. While having page markings did help me keep up with whose story I was following, the fact that I needed such an infantile assistant made me wonder if the two stories might have been best published separately. But then I realised, they couldn't be.
They couldn't be, because Darcy's story isn't a novel. It's just a character-growth plot. Don't get me wrong - I'm a sucker for books with solid character growth, and I usually don't mind if the plot loses something because of the focus on a particular character's journey. However, the problem I had with Darcy's character growth was that I just didn't like her. The entire way through the novel she seemed to me to be a whiny, selfish and frustrating brat. I get that she's supposed to have elements of all of those characteristics seeing as she's "growing up in the big city" and all, but every time I thought she'd learned a lesson and would finally adapt away from those negative points, I would turn a page and - what do you know - she's complaining about something else.
The parallel of Lizzie's story was somewhat of a boon for me. I was actually really fascinated by this world that Darcy and -by extension- Westerfeld had devised. I appreciated her growth, and she seemed to adapt at a very realistic speed to this new world of ghosts and walking through walls that she was thrust into. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending that Darcy 'slaved away' to perfect, but I appreciate that Darcy was trying to make a point that life doesn't always end in Happily-Ever-Afters with peachy-perfect characters, especially in a world entrenched with death. All in all, however, I felt that many of the characters in this sub-fictional world were a bit flat, as Darcy herself fears partway into her editing process.
I was so glad to get to the end of this novel. My poor paperback copy of it is in complete tatters now from the four months of carting it around in my bag, hoping to be struck by the inspiration to read it. I probably should be clear - I didn't hate this book. In fact, I really enjoyed some parts of it. Westerfeld has a way of writing very prolific sentences that tap into the human psyche that are always a pleasure to read. I am going to read more of his works, as I do think that Afterworlds may just have been a bad egg from a golden goose, so to speak.
Not sure I'll be embarking on any more 600-page wonders of his (or any other author's, for that matter) anytime soon, however.
Thoughts:
Oh. My. God.
I don't think it's ever taken me so long to finish reading a book. I wish I could put that down to it being 600 pages long. Believe me, I wish. But the sad reality is, this book simply frustrated me to no end.
While I was reading Afterworlds, several people asked what the novel was about. Considering the two (mostly unrelated) plotlines, suffice to say I was often conflicted on the best way to answer them. I appreciate what Westerfeld was trying to do with this novel, but I just don't think it was executed in the best manner. While having page markings did help me keep up with whose story I was following, the fact that I needed such an infantile assistant made me wonder if the two stories might have been best published separately. But then I realised, they couldn't be.
They couldn't be, because Darcy's story isn't a novel. It's just a character-growth plot. Don't get me wrong - I'm a sucker for books with solid character growth, and I usually don't mind if the plot loses something because of the focus on a particular character's journey. However, the problem I had with Darcy's character growth was that I just didn't like her. The entire way through the novel she seemed to me to be a whiny, selfish and frustrating brat. I get that she's supposed to have elements of all of those characteristics seeing as she's "growing up in the big city" and all, but every time I thought she'd learned a lesson and would finally adapt away from those negative points, I would turn a page and - what do you know - she's complaining about something else.
The parallel of Lizzie's story was somewhat of a boon for me. I was actually really fascinated by this world that Darcy and -by extension- Westerfeld had devised. I appreciated her growth, and she seemed to adapt at a very realistic speed to this new world of ghosts and walking through walls that she was thrust into. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending that Darcy 'slaved away' to perfect, but I appreciate that Darcy was trying to make a point that life doesn't always end in Happily-Ever-Afters with peachy-perfect characters, especially in a world entrenched with death. All in all, however, I felt that many of the characters in this sub-fictional world were a bit flat, as Darcy herself fears partway into her editing process.
I was so glad to get to the end of this novel. My poor paperback copy of it is in complete tatters now from the four months of carting it around in my bag, hoping to be struck by the inspiration to read it. I probably should be clear - I didn't hate this book. In fact, I really enjoyed some parts of it. Westerfeld has a way of writing very prolific sentences that tap into the human psyche that are always a pleasure to read. I am going to read more of his works, as I do think that Afterworlds may just have been a bad egg from a golden goose, so to speak.
Not sure I'll be embarking on any more 600-page wonders of his (or any other author's, for that matter) anytime soon, however.