Author Crush: Scott Westerfeld!

Scott Westerfeld is a staple for anyone who enjoys dystopian stories (he is on some school reading lists), but even if it is actually required reading, he somehow manages to make his action-packed dystopian tales enjoyable and thought-provoking at the same time.

Uglies is a thought-provoking dystopian series centered around Tally, an ugly who will undergo extensive plastic surgery to become a pretty and move into a party tower in New Pretty Town. But when her best friend, Shay, defects to the Smoke, a settlement of those who disagree with the surgery, Tally is forced by the government to spy on the Smoke or else she will never be able to turn pretty. This engaging series brings up important questions of body image and how society can change the way we see ourselves.

In the Leviathan Trilogy, Austrian Prince Alek is on the run from the Clankers – a group dedicated to taking over the world with their technological advancements – after his parents are assassinated. While fleeing through Switzerland, he runs into Deryn, who is masquerading as a boy so that she can work in the British Darwinist Air Service – the opposing group that takes genetic engineering to a whole new level. This fast-paced series will keep you guessing as World War I takes a new turn in this steampunk alternate history.

In his intense novel, Afterworlds, two stories intertwine and are told in alternating chapters. It’s a little Inception-y because one of the stories is about a young adult author who just published a teen novel and the other is the author’s novel, so we have a book within a book. The two narratives connect in unexpected ways and bring both thrills and romance.

The ongoing Zeroes series, written by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti, is written from the viewpoints of a group of six teens with superhuman talents. They’re definitely not heroes – more like zeroes, if you ask them – but their already odd lives turn upside down when they have to reunite to prevent a crisis from becoming deadly. Zeroes is action-packed and gives superheroes a new twist.

Aside from those novels, Scott Westerfeld has written a few others, even some for adults, and he is working on a new graphic novel called Spill Zone, in which Addison faces the dangers of the Spill Zone to photograph the oddities within. She sells her photographs to support herself and her little sister after their parents were killed when the Spill happened. This one is going to be released in May of this year, so keep your eyes to the shelves. It looks like it’s going to be amazing! If you want to find out more about Scott Westerfeld or what he’s working on now, find him at his website, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.