I have been a Westerfeld fan since before he was famous,
so it was with great anticipation that I downloaded the e-galley and began
reading his latest offering, Afterworlds. It was with great disappointment that I
forced myself to finish reading it.
Unlike earlier efforts such as the Uglies
series or his steampunk series, Leviathan,
or even the Midnighters, Afterworlds was a huge let down. It could be because my expectations were
high. After all, Westerfeld had trained
me to expect interesting social commentary and big ideas worthy of discussion
along with solid writing in his earlier work.
Alas, though the writing remains solid, the subject matter turned to the
pedestrian with Afterworlds. This new novel tells a dual story—one of a
teen author, Darcy Patel, and the other is the novel Patel has written. Sections alternate between these two
narratives. In both stories, Westerfeld
embraces the trend of the moment and delivers tired and trendy fodder for teen
readers. Ultimate wish fulfillment—teen writes
best seller, gets huge advance and finds the love of her life, who is of the
same sex and there are absolutely no members of her fairly traditional Indian family who so much
as raise an eyebrow at this. Despite Darcy's spirited explanation of conflict in writing at a book store event in the novel, there just isn't much conflict going on in her story. Much of
Darcy’s story will be incomprehensible to average teen readers; it seems to be written with librarians, prize
committees, and other writers in mind.
What teenager in this universe collects first editions and has reading
copies, or even knows what those are? Let’s
check off the trends. Paranormal romance—check. Lesbian love—check. Extravagant use of the f-bomb—check. It seems that teens and twenty-somethings
cannot have a conversation without inserting it, multiple times. That is, if we are to believe current
writers, who for my money, are just too lazy to come up with something more
meaningful in the way of dialog.
I found myself hoping that maybe this novel is actually a
parody of the current state of YA literature. I am still hoping someone will
tell me it is. If it turns out not to be a parody, I will approach Mr.
Westerfeld’s next opus with much more caution.
Afterworlds is scheduled for publication September 23, 2014
June’s Rating System:
Language—R; Nudity—PG; Sexual
Content—R; GLBT Content—R; Violence—R The opening scene of Darcy’s YA novel is a
terrorist attack which takes place at an airport. Very bloody, somewhat graphic. Later scenes in the Underworld are not as
violent, but there is a sinister theme.
The main character of Darcy’s novel commits a murder for revenge, for
which there are no consequences and no real questioning from a moral
standpoint. Apparently, being a bad
person means it is okay to murder you.
Adult Themes—R, death violence, revenge, spiritual questions. The story of Darcy’s novel borrows from Hindu
religious themes, which may offend observant Hindus.
Robin’s Comments:
Disappointed just isn’t a strong enough word for this. I did not find that the novel had enough
literary merit to make up for the baggage.
I would definitely not recommend this for students younger than ninth
grade.
