Afterworlds
I will start this by saying that when you name your two protagonists Lizzie and Darcy, you create certain expectations. Even if one of them is a character in a book written by the other one. But especially when one is revealed to be bisexual early on and the other one is, as I said, her creation. And especially when the book is billed as a paranormal romance.
So this wasn't the book I was expecting or hoping it would be. Darcy is an eighteen year old who miraculously sells her first novel as part of a two-book deal and moves to NYC for a year to work on revisions, write her second book, and figure out if she can make it as an author. Lizzie is the protagonist of her book, a high school kid who discovers that she's a psycho pomp and falls in love with the God of Death. Sadly, their worlds never cross.
This is basically two books, told in alternating chapters. And while the events of the "real world" inform the shape of Darcy's novel to some extent, there's a lot less crossover than I was hoping for and expecting. But the novels themselves are interesting.
Darcy's story, especially, was like a disaster I couldn't look away from. What happens when you give an eighteen-year-old $300k? Turns out she spends way too much money and blows through it three times as fast as she was expecting to. It sounds like a lot of money, but it really isn't. And she's living in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Lizzie's story was a little less interesting, but the ending was refreshingly dark and ambiguous. I'd actually really like a sequel to her story. I wonder if Westerfeld will ever decide to write it.
So this wasn't the book I was expecting or hoping it would be. Darcy is an eighteen year old who miraculously sells her first novel as part of a two-book deal and moves to NYC for a year to work on revisions, write her second book, and figure out if she can make it as an author. Lizzie is the protagonist of her book, a high school kid who discovers that she's a psycho pomp and falls in love with the God of Death. Sadly, their worlds never cross.
This is basically two books, told in alternating chapters. And while the events of the "real world" inform the shape of Darcy's novel to some extent, there's a lot less crossover than I was hoping for and expecting. But the novels themselves are interesting.
Darcy's story, especially, was like a disaster I couldn't look away from. What happens when you give an eighteen-year-old $300k? Turns out she spends way too much money and blows through it three times as fast as she was expecting to. It sounds like a lot of money, but it really isn't. And she's living in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Lizzie's story was a little less interesting, but the ending was refreshingly dark and ambiguous. I'd actually really like a sequel to her story. I wonder if Westerfeld will ever decide to write it.
Comments
Post a Comment