Author: Scott Westerfeld
Rating: ★★★★ (4/5 Stars)
Paperback, 370 Pages
Published November 2005
Book #2 in the Uglies series
Now that I'm back, I'm jumping right back into doing another book review...this time, I'm reviewing Pretties by Scott Westerfeld (obviously). I have to say, it usually takes a great deal for me to get involved with a series. Generally, I don't really find books that I like enough to want to find out about the rest of the character's journey.
But then again, that's just me. So here's a quick summary of the book, so those who haven't started to read the Uglies series yet can at least get some gist of what this book is all about:
"Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are awesome, her boyfriend is totally hot, and she's completely popular. It's everything she's ever wanted.
But beneath all the fun -- the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom -- is a nagging sense that something's wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what's wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold.
Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life -- because the authorities don't intend to let anyone with this information survive."
But beneath all the fun -- the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom -- is a nagging sense that something's wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what's wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold.
Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life -- because the authorities don't intend to let anyone with this information survive."
I actually really, really like this series! :) From the beginning of this book until the very end, I was hooked. Throughout the first book, all Tally wanted to be was pretty, but she couldn't be. And now she IS pretty, so all of her problems should be solved, right?
Wrong.
As I was reading, I was sort of silently praying that Croy (an old "friend" of Tally's) wouldn't deliver her the letter that she wrote to herself. I was hoping that Croy and David and all of Tally's old friends would see that she's happy and leave her alone. But of course, as it typically goes in the book world, that didn't happen. Not by a long shot.
So I can honestly say that I was inwardly cringing when Tally finally read what she'd written to herself a month earlier, before she turned herself in for surgery. I wasn't looking forward to the upcoming action, fierce and relentless, all over again. I tend to get bored when a character finally resolves his/her problems, only to get a whole new set of challenges, book after book after book in a series. So yeah, I wasn't happy.
But it turns out that it was pretty awesome. Tally had to find a way back to the save haven of the uglies that know the truth, all while struggling to try and remember exactly who these strange uglies (keep in mind, her used-to-be friends pre-surgery) are.
So my conclusion is that Westerfeld is a great writer. He keeps thinks interesting without overdoing details, repeating ideas from the plot--he's also pretty good at cliffhangers. *SPOILER ALERT* When Tally realized Shay had become a Special, I was not expecting that at all. So, props to Mr. Westerfeld!
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