Afterworlds

Goodreads Summary
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.

My Thoughts
I feel like this took me all of May to read. It is a massive book, but it's also technically two books which I know is not a good enough excuse.

I really enjoyed Darcy's journey to get her book published. I found her discovery of the publishing world to be really insightful and honestly scary at times. I had no idea how many hoops authors have to jump through even after their book has been sold to a publishing house.  I enjoyed her relationship with her sister/accountant. I thought that was really endearing. I adored her relationship with Imogen and respected Scott Westerfeld's choice to have such strong LGTB characters.

Afterworlds itself I found to be a little slow and at times boring to read. I liked Lizzy as a character, but didn't really buy her falling for the death god.  I, like a few "fans" of her book, preferred her to end up with the special agent.

At times I found the book to be a little confusing. At the beginning of the novel Darcy goes out to an author party at a bar and no one questions if she is legal to drink or not. She just graduated from high school, but looks old enough to be 21? Really? There were small moments where I thought maybe Scott Westerfeld was British and that was why no one questioned things, but he isn't. I don't know...maybe this only bothered me.

At the end of the day this is a good book. Was it my favourite? No, but it was an enjoyable read.