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Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

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Brief synopsis (no spoilers)
Darcy Patel has put college on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. With a contract in hand, she arrives in New York City with no apartment, no friends, and all the wrong clothes. But lucky for Darcy, she’s taken under the wings of other seasoned and fledgling writers who help her navigate the city and the world of writing and publishing. Over the course of a year, Darcy finishes her book, faces critique, and falls in love.

Woven into Darcy’s personal story is her novel, Afterworlds, a suspenseful thriller about a teen who slips into the “Afterworld” to survive a terrorist attack. The Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead, and where many unsolved—and terrifying—stories need to be reconciled. Like Darcy, Lizzie too falls in love…until a new threat resurfaces, and her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she cares about most. (From Amazon)

Target Audience
Young Adult

Why I chose this book
Saw it in an e-mail of suggested new books
 
My personal opinion (the review)
I was really disappointed with all the foul language that is in this book. I really wanted to see how the author went about weaving the two stories of Darcy and Lizzie together and how they played off of each other. 

Warnings (language, violence, "adult" situations, death, etc.)
The language is the main reason that I stopped reading. There were semi prevalent instances of curse words, each growing in severity.

Many instances of death during the terrorist attack in the airport. A few of the descriptions are mildly graphic and there is much emotional stress.  

Movie rating equivalent
R, for language and adult situations (death, terrorist attacks)

Protagonist description
One thing that makes Darcy interesting is that she wrote her 60,000 word novel in just one month. (Writing a 50,000+ word novel in one month is a real program, I have come to find out, called National Novel Writing Month http://nanowrimo.org/)
 
Point of view of story
The story flips back and forth between Darcy and the main character of her novel, Lizzie.

Book length
Didn't finish it.

Story flow
The book seemed to be moving pretty quickly, but I only read about 30 pages.
 
Grammar and spelling issues
None.
 
Character connection (no spoilers)
None - though I had been interested in getting to know Lizzie a bit more.

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