Extras

Title: Extras
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Series: Uglies (Book 4)
Genre: Young Adult



I was skeptical about the fourth book in the Uglies series when I realized it did not revolve around Tally but a new character Aya.

Extras follows Aya in her quest for a high face rank. Everyone has a feed - a "channel" where they can broadcast whatever they want. If you have a high rank you get things for free because you are entertaining (much like a celebrity). If you have a low rank you need to do things to earn merits (almost like money). You get a higher face rank by people watching your feed and/or saying your name. Aya starts off low in the 450,000's. But she moves up whens she breaks a big story. Which, surprise, brings Tally in. I liked the story just fine until Tally showed up. Then I felt it went downhill. I was confused in the descriptions of the Extras' stuff and home.

One thing that it made me think of was Facebook and MySpace. You post things on them, people look at them and in some degree, through your friends and following you have a "rank". I've no idea if that was something he thought about when writing the story, but it's what came to mind for me.

One thing I did love was the dedication page said, "For all the people who wrote to tell me the true meaning of triology" or something along those lines. It made me smile :)