**1.5 Stars**
Well, this was bad. I really enjoyed Westerfeld's Uglies series, but that gave me the false hope that I would also like Afterworlds. I really wanted to like this book. The first few pages were great. But beyond that lie the worst book within a book ever.
The story within the story (and the book itself) was awful
Honestly, the story within the story (about Lizzie) didn't capture my interest at all. The dead childhood friend part was fascinating but how everything was handled (I murdered someone, oops, oh well lololol), the whole river of death thing, Yamaraj and Yami were very shallow characters, Mr. Hamlyn's presence/motivation in everything...it was bad. Everything was bad. Maybe it was supposed to be bad and a reflection of how much Darcy sucks. Maybe it was a legitimate attempt at a novelception. Either way, it was annoying. I skimmed a lot of the ending because the convenient bullshit was just piling up.
The world building was probably the worst part. I didn't understand anything about the world around Lizzie. I couldn't picture her house, the concept of the river of death, the underworld, the World War II part, the Colorado thing - anything! Events just randomly happened with such a quick pace that I literally couldn't even follow what was happening. No rules or structure or anything was ever laid down, just this person is here saying this to this other person. BUT WHY?
The actual story about Darcy was just boring and unrealistic. Darcy writes a novel in a month that sells for $150k, so she must be talented, right? Well, no, apparently her book is kinda bad (CLEARLY bad, as we are considerately provided that text as well) and she really sucks at staying on top of deadlines, grammar, really everything to do with writing. I appreciated the glimpse into an author's life, but everything felt very artificial. Darcy gets this amazing contract. Darcy gets this amazing apartment. Darcy makes all these amazing friends who all love her amazing book. Darcy has all these things handed to her and she abuses them, takes advantage of them, and ignores everything real in her life.
Darcy is annoying!
Take a look at this sentence:
"First Imogen's phone and autocorrect had conspired to destroy her life, and now her landlord, the IRS, and her future college were joining in."
This appears at the very end of the book, in response to Darcy violating her girlfriend Imogen's privacy and trust, and being irresponsible by not keeping tabs on her lease, her spending habits, and her college's deadline for deferral. Literally EVERYTHING wrong in her life is the direct result of her lack of maturity, yet she seeks anything else to place blame. The phone, the IRS, the college itself - all conspiring against her. Imagine that kind of luck! This really put me over the edge with Darcy. I already thought she was bratty, selfish, whiny, and immature, but that sentence right there put me decisively in the anti-Darcy camp. I get that she's 18/19, but I am not much older than that and she just sounds like an insufferable brat.
The romance(s) sucked
Yamaraj - I don't even have words about this. I don't understand this AT ALL.
Imogen - I felt really bad for her. She really tried to make things work but Darcy of course was jumping to conclusions and being nasty and selfish. Their breakup conversation really made me feel for her and only added to how I felt about Darcy. When Imogen approached Darcy at the end to reconcile, I was just like "no, no, no, NO!"
There's just so many bad points
I gave this book a rating based on the only part I enjoyed - Mindy's story and when Lizzie tracked down the girl and found out about the other girls. I'm a big fan of crime stories, so this really piqued my interest. Unfortunately it was a very minute part of the book.
This book didn't even have to be this bad. If Westerfeld had concentrated on developing either story more and dropping the other one, they could've been good - but alone. The novelception is, I supposed, a cute gimmick, but it really didn't pay off at all.