Impostors Book Review

“Frey and Rafi are inseparable . . . two edges of the same knife. But Frey's very existence is a secret.

Scottwesterfeld.com

Scottwesterfeld.com

Frey is Rafi’s twin sister—and her body double. Their powerful father has many enemies, and the world has grown dangerous as the old order falls apart. So while Rafi was raised to be the perfect daughter, Frey has been taught to kill. Her only purpose is to protect her sister, to sacrifice herself for Rafi if she must.

When her father sends Frey in Rafi’s place as collateral in a precarious deal, she becomes the perfect impostor—as poised and charming as her sister. But Col, the son of a rival leader, is getting close enough to spot the killer inside her. As the deal starts to crumble, Frey must decide if she can trust him with the truth . . . and if she can risk becoming her own person.

With Impostors, master storyteller Scott Westerfeld returns with a new series set in the world of his mega-bestselling Uglies—a world full of twist and turns, rebellion and intrigue, where any wrong step could be Frey’s last.”

I first started reading Scott Westerfeld’s YA novels years ago. To this day I regularly recommend his Uglies book series for fans of dystopian novels. When I heard that he was returning to the Uglies world with a new book, I was ecstatic. It’s the first time in quite a while that I’ve gone to a bookstore to get a book as soon as it came out.

Book: Impostors

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Genre: YA Science Fiction

Rating: 4/5

A New Exciting Look at What Happens After the Revolution Ends

Years after the revolution ends and Tally Youngblood vanishes, society has re-built. For some cities, the changes have been for the better. For other cities, citizens aren’t as free as Tally Youngblood probably envisioned.

Impostors is a fast-paced story with memorable, fleshed-out characters and an extensive look at what happens to society after a revolution ends. Once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down. At times I found myself skimming sentences because I was so eager to see what would happen next.

The action started right away and pretty much never stopped. There weren’t very many quiet moments in this novel, including much time for reflection. And yet, Westerfeld manages to craft masterful character development. Frey is a joy to read. She’s a strong girl who never lets her fears or psychological scars stop her from going after her goals.

Frey made this book. She’s fierce and strong, but still expresses vulnerability. As someone who was raised to be a body double, whose only purpose was to die for her sister, who doesn’t even exist in any official capacity, you would expect her to be a more jaded, cold individual. But her love for her sister is unbreakable and her feelings for Col are solid from early on.

You don’t need to read the Uglies series to understand this novel, but without the world-building from the previous four books you may find yourself a bit lost. Impostors makes quite a few nods and references to the first four books in the series. While this is fun for me, it may be confusing for a new reader.

What I love most about this book though is that we get to see what happens after the revolution is over. In dystopian novels the entire book (or book series) focuses on changing the social order and upending governmental policies. I love those stories, don’t get me wrong, but it is very rare that you get to see what happens when those goals are met. How does society rebuild after being broken? How do people move on after being set free?

Impostors shows us that there is no easy answer for this. In some cities, freedom and privacy are highly protected. In others, leaders rule in an absolute dictatorship, censoring the media and spying on every aspect of civilian and government life. And on the outskirts are the rebels, the ones who helped this revolution begin in the first place, still fighting for their own extreme ideological ideals.

Raising a body double certainly isn’t a new idea, but the political motivations for everything Frey and Rafia’s father have done over the course of their lives was honestly shocking. Raising Frey to die for Rafia wasn’t as simple as a chess move for power, though, it was rooted in fear after the death of their older brother. There’s a lot of layers built into this story and the ending has promised me it’s only going to get more complicated.

There are only a couple reasons this book didn’t get a 5/5 from me, but they’re pretty big ones. The first is simply that the romantic relationship between Frey and Col happened too quickly for me to believe. I didn’t feel their chemistry and I would have liked to see their relationship develop more organically over the course of the book.

My second reason for dropping the rating had to do with the chapter lengths. This is a personal pet peeve of mine so it won’t bother everyone, but I hated how short the chapters were. In most sections the content of three chapters could have been condensed into one. By having so many chapter breaks I actually felt jarred out of the story.

Overall, Impostors makes a great addition to the Uglies universe, with strong characters and a fast-paced plot. I can’t wait to read what happens next.

The Real Difference Between Professional Writing & Creative Writing

Are you a creative writer who dreams of making a living by writing professionally? And I don’t mean as an author -- I mean writing content for an actual job position. Is it as amazing as it sounds to spend your entire day writing at your job, then going home to work on your novel?

Well, not exactly.

The Real Difference Between Professional Writing & Creative Writing.png

Professional Writing

Pretty much everyone assumed that when I said I was pursuing an English degree that I was going to work as a teacher. Absolutely not. Teachers do amazing work, and I actually used to write about education frequently at my old job. But I wouldn’t want to be one.

There are a lot of jobs you can do with an English degree, but if you want to work with words you’re most likely to end up in marketing/communications. That’s what I do.

Writing at a computer

My first job out of college was as a Copywriter, and I pretty much did it all. I wrote copy for blogs, advertisements, social media, websites… you name it, I was the one writing it. I’m working as a Communications Manager now, and while the job is still primarily writing, it’s more focused on email marketing and magazine publication. But both jobs involve a lot of writing.

But It’s More Than Writing

When you work as a professional writer, you aren’t just sitting at your desk typing all day. To create content, there’s a lot of things you have to do before and after the writing process.

  • Researching information for the content you’re writing

  • Interviewing others to enhance your content

  • Writing content according to brand guidelines

  • Utilizing keywords in your copy

  • Meeting requirements such as word/character count

  • Fact checking names, dates, and pretty much everything else

  • Getting approval on copy you’ve written

  • Working with graphic designers to solidify layouts, photos, & more

  • Tracking analytics to determine how effective your copy is

  • Researching marketing trends and tools to stay up-to-date

I spend the majority of my time writing, but there’s also a lot of hours that go into all that other stuff. If that doesn’t appeal to you, you’re not going to enjoy a career in professional writing.

Professional Writing Topics

But hey, at least you’re writing for a living, right? That has to be more interesting than most other jobs out there. Here’s an example of the type of topics I’ve written content about in my professional career:

  • Digital Signage

  • School Supplies/School Furniture

  • Cardboard Boxes

  • Mailboxes

  • Postal Uniforms

  • Bubble Wrap

  • Arts & Crafts Instructions

  • Product Descriptions (thousands and thousands of them)

  • Trends in Education

  • Marketing

  • Corkboards

That’s just a sampling. As you can see, there’s some really cool topics in there. Digital signage, marketing, educational trends-- that can all make for some exciting content. But what about corkboards and boxes? How boring are these things to write about?

Part of your job as a professional writer is to make these seemingly dull topics interesting. That can be a challenge, and for me it’s a rewarding challenge. If that doesn’t sound very rewarding to you, writing professional copy may not be for you.

Why Creative Writing Is So Great

I doubt I have to list the benefits of creative writing to you, but I will for the sake of argument:

  • Ability to write whatever you want without rules

  • Create brand new worlds

  • Make characters do whatever you want

  • Do research on topics that interest you

  • Share your story with others

But creative writing is still a lot of work, just in different ways. If you’re serious about becoming a published author, you have to worry about marketing. You need to understand the publishing process. You have to do a lot of intense editing work, like I’m doing now, and you have to think about scene structure, dialogue choices, and hundreds of other little things. Sadly, creative writing isn’t always fun. Most things aren’t.

Do I Enjoy Writing Professionally?

I love it. There’s no job I would rather be doing. But if you’re only interested in the creativity of writing and only want to write what interests you, you may want to go into another field of professional work.

I still can’t believe that my job is to write for a living. There’s a lot of other things involved in it, sure, but at the end of the day my job is to write. It’s challenging, extremely gratifying work, but it isn’t for everyone, even if you love writing.

How does professional writing sound to you? I’d be happy to answer your questions!

Ranking Magical Specialties

Today I’m giving you access to my writing notes. Some of them, at least. There’s plenty of notes I have that contain too many spoilers or information that frankly may seem a bit dull, but I think you’ll all be interested in how magical specialties are ranked.

Ranking Magical Specialties.png

FanFact is a novel about a fangirl, Clara, who finds herself in the world of her favorite book series, The Hierarchy of Magic. In this world the political landscape is changing rapidly. Magical specialties, the type of magic you are most naturally skilled at, are being ranked based on how useful they are perceived to be for society. Your rank determines not only the type of employment you can find, but your place in society.

I had a lot of fun playing with magical specialties and ranking them in an order based on what a capitalist society would think. In a world where everything is about making money, it only makes sense that your magic has a perceived worth as well.

While most people can do most types of magic, there is one skill set they tend to excel at, which determines the path their life will take. Below, see some of my notes on the Hierarchy Party as well as the tiers they have placed magical specialties into.

(But don’t be surprised if additional specialties pop up in the novel).

Hierarchy Party

A rising political party that believes your magical specialty directly correlates to your worth in the world, and should determine how much agency and power you have in society. Presented as a way to make society more organized and more efficient. Recently passed a law separating magical specialties into tiers. Different tiers dictate how much schooling is required, and this means people fill jobs related to their specialties which helps to alleviate the job crisis in certain fields.


Tier 1 Magical Specialties

Dark Magic
Elemental Magic
Manipulation Magic
Time Magic
Dimension Magic
Illusion Magic
Voodoo Magic

Tier 2 Magical Specialties

Concealment Magic
Healing Magic
Teleportation Magic
Alchemical Magic
Geometrical Magic
Analytical Magic
Astrology
Numeromancy

Tier 3 Magical Specialties

Memory Magic
Light Magic
Weather Magic
Dream Manipulation Magic
Animal Control Magic
Assembly Magic
Craftsmanship Magic
Fertility Magic
Levitation

Of course this isn’t a comprehensive list, but it does give you an idea of how roles are broken down within the Hierarchy of Magic world.


What do you think? Are you surprised by any of the tiers? Let me know, I’d love to talk about it!