Uglies

Title: Uglies
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Series: Uglies (Book 1)
Genre: Young Adult




What an interesting concept for a book. I'm always intrigued when I read a story that is suppose to take place in the future and seems to make some sort of statement about the way we live now and how it will impact the future.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, is the first book of a trilogy (that current has four books, figure that one out). It is about a future society where at the age of 16 everyone undergoes major plastic surgery to become a Pretty. They pretty much all look the same. It has said to stem from hate crimes and other problems such as discrimination based on looks in the past. Uglies and Pretties do not live together or basically ever interact. It is a highly interesting society that is full of technology.

But, not all people want to become Pretty, go figure, there are always noncomformists. There is a runaway town called Smoke, where people go to stay the same. The powers that be in the cities (where the Uglies and Pretties live) have been on a look out for this place for a long time. It is not acceptable that everyone does not want to conform.

This story follows Tally. She makes a new friend (after her old one turned Pretty) and eventually learns that the new friend, Shay, does not want to become a Pretty and is running away. Tally wants more than anything to become a Pretty, so she stays behind. Tally eventually gets blackmailed by basically the government to lead them to Smoke following the cryptic directions that Shay left her. Otherwise, she can not become a Pretty.

It's interesting to see how they refer to what is life now, calling us Rusties. The ending left me wanting to go out and grab the next book, and I am going to do just that.

I am also not 100% sure where I think the story will go after the second book, it should be interesting.