The Friday 56 (63) Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Synopsis from Goodreads...

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...

"The three of them waited for her to go on, but a familiar paralysis crept over Darcy. It was always like this when someone asked about her novel. She knew from experience that whatever she said now would sound awkward, like listening to a recording of her own voice. "--Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

Comments: Afterworlds has been on my TBR list since 2014. I picked this one up when I got Founding Myths by Ray Raphael.

What are you reading this week?

Review: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Leviathan (Click title for Synopsis)
Illustrations by: Keith Thompson
Source/Format: Purchased, Paperback
Age Range: YA
Publisher/Publication Date: Simon Pulse, October 6, 2009



My Thoughts:


    Oh, I just feel the need to get this out first: I just love the Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld!  It’s a wonderful mix of history and some very imaginative technology that combined living creatures with machines.  For someone like me who likes history, this is absolutely one of my favorite series.  Leviathan has it all action, an intriguing storyline, and a superbly built world.  Scott did an outstanding job crafting the Clanker the Darwinist societies, making the differences present from the beginning, and highlighting the tension between them.  Oh, and not to forget the beautiful illustration’s done by Keith Thompson, which captures the Clanker machines and Darwinist Beasties perfectly.

     In Leviathan we are introduced to Deryn Sharp who happens to be posing as a boy—Dylan Sharp—to gain entry into the Service/Military.  Due to a series of nail-biting events, Deryn as Dylan ends up aboard “the great hydrogen breather” Leviathan, as one of the middies.  And then there’s Alec, a prince on the run after the untimely death of his parents.  Poor Alec had a hard time with things, and I felt bad for him for how he found out about the whole thing.  There were a slew of highly interesting secondary characters as well, with Dr. Barlow being one of them.  As a boffin, which is a Darwinist fabricator, was one character that really held my interest throughout the book.  She was very secretive with what she was up to.

     There was never a point in the plot that was slow—there was a lot going on.  Once the war got rolling, everything just kind of unfolded from there.  Once Alec and Deryn finally met, well, their combined interactions just made the plot all that much better.  The science behind Leviathan was just marvelous!  The whole concept of the Beasties, and that having a living ecosystem to sustain the hydrogen breathers, just had me from page one.  Having started the trilogy right in the middle of it with Behemoth, I found that I really did miss all of the details and important events that happened in Leviathan.  Now, I just want to reread the entire trilogy from start to finish again. 

 

Now, check out Leviathan's book trailer below: