Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
Official Summary:
Tally Youngblood is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait for the operation that turns everyone from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to party. But new friend Shay would rather hoverboard to "the Smoke" and be free. Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and it isn't very pretty. The "Special Circumstances" authority Dr Cable offers Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.
Source: On loan from a friend.
Publisher: Simon Schuster Children's.
Length: 425 pages.
Rating: 4 Stars.
Genre: YA negative-utopian.
In short: Not perfect with the storytelling tone the whole way through but when the climax hit, amazing. Good set-up and plot unfolding.
The Breakdown:
World-Building:
This is actually one of the most realistic (but quite disturbing) worlds I've discovered lately. With the way the media is, it conceivably could happen. I liked the idea of the surgery and the types of Pretties, Middlies and Crumblies. Those, Rusties and Smokies were great names. The hover-boarding was really interesting and made for entertaining reading. I loved the detail about the deposits of metal everywhere because it is such a cool source of power. Excuse me, I would like my hoverboard now please.
Characters:
Tally: Tally...was a good enough main character, in that she was a good way to get the story through. But I wouldn't have thought of her as a character in her own right until well through the book. I loved her fire-jacket escape. I liked her escape to the ***** but I didn't like the reason she went there. Sometimes I want my main characters to defy the plot and just get what they've always wanted. That's why I didn't entirely write off Tally as a character. i started to feel for her after a while.
Shay: Hmmm, Shay... I really didn't know what to think about Shay. I liked her when she was teaching Tally how to hoverboard. I liked her in the Rusty Ruins. I liked her when she was in the Smoke. I didn't like when she went there. To be honest, in my head I was screaming to Tally 'NOOOO GET PRETTY YOUR LIFE WILL BE RUINED!'. I had come to care for her and I resented Shay's bad influence. I really, really didn't like Shay as a ******, although that was presumable a device of the author to teach us the effects of the *********.
Peris: I HATED Pretty Peris! He was OK some of the time, I know, but he was the perfect example of a Pretty, and NO.
David: All I can say about David is that he fulfilled his purpose in the narrative. I really liked Maddie and Az though.
Plot:
The book starts off by saying that the sky was the colour of cat vomit. That should provide a clue that it likes to take unexpected turns. The start wasn't exactly gripping but it wasn't boring either, I just had to pay attention...but it was worth it in the middle and at the end. I LOVE THE STORY OF THE SMOKE. In any place where there's been massive progress/revolution there's always going to be a community who do not want it. And this was that encapsulated perfectly. THE CLIFFHANGER ENDING WILL KILL YOU. I NEED THE SEQUEL. GIVE IT TO ME NOW.
Jumped out at me:
The way their world works. I loved how most things were fueled by magnetism. It's renewable. And it's cool. There is a grid of metal laid out through the city. That just reminds me of Wi-Fi, but even cooler. Be warned, if you have unlocked Wifi, I WILL use it. I have to be an internet fiend, with this blog. AND THE RUSTIES WITH *THEIR* STURDY METAL BUILDINGS.
Overall:
You won't have to drop everything and get it, but definitely worth a read. Four stars!
Other Reviews:
http://www.zoesbookreviews.com/2011/05/uglies-series-by-scott-westerfeld.html
http://wornpagesanddustyshelves.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/book-review-uglies-by-scott-westerfeld/
http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/uglies
Get it:
Amazon
Waterstones
nice review
ReplyDeleteI think the world building would likely be my favourite part of this one, as well! You're right, that does sound mega cool. I really can't believe I haven't read this one yet, but it's good to know that there's no need to rush to get to this one. I will get to it in time though.
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