Book Review: Uglies

Sorry for not posting anything yesterday for my weekly blog post. I will make it up for you guys by doing a review!

Title: Uglies

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Genre: Dystopian/Science Fiction

Page Count: 425

Publication Date: June 30th, 2005

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Awards: South Carolina Book Award Nominee for Young Adult Book Award (2008), Georgia Peach Honor Book Award (2008), Abraham Lincoln Award (2007)

Source

*WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

     Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is about a girl named Tally Youngblood who is very excited to turn sixteen. Most sixteen-year-olds now are normally looking forward to getting their driver's license, but in this world, sixteen-year-olds look forward to becoming pretty. Becoming pretty basically means getting plastic surgery all over your body to remove all of your blemishes and sucking out all of your extra fat and your only job is to have fun all day. Tally desperately wants to become pretty, but then she meets Shay who doesn't want to become pretty and eventually runs away leading Tally to question the true meaning of becoming pretty. This book was very good! The plot made me want to keep reading to see what would happen next and there was a ton of cool technology in this world that left me wanting a hover board. The characters were somewhat interesting but were also a little dull.

     Firstly, the plot was very captivating. Tally really wants to become pretty and is willing to do anything to do so. So, when Tally's new best friend, Shay, runs away, the authorities leave her with the decision of either finding Shay and turning her in and then Tally can become pretty or Tally can refuse to find and capture Shay and be ugly forever. Tally chooses to find Shay so she can become pretty which prompts her to go on wild quest to find Shay, wherever she may be. This quest is full of twists and turns! I loved reading about Tally going through these obstacles which included fires, a crazy roller-coaster ride, and solving a puzzling note. I thought that Tally may have gotten through these obstacles a bit too easily and it seemed unrealistic how fast she was able to get to her destination. However, this little adventure intrigued me and left me wanting to see how she got through her challenges. But, the fun didn't end there! Once Tally reached her journey's end there were more conflicts she had to meet head on. When Tally met up with her best friend, she had to immediately start lying to Shay so she wouldn't know that she was a spy for the authorities. As soon as Tally got a feel for Shay's new camp and everyone living there, she decided that she no longer wanted to turn Shay in but she still kept her secret to herself. I did not like how Tally took so long to tell Shay about the truth of her being spy. I feel that if Tally already had her mind made up, she should have told Shay the truth immediately. On the other hand, I did enjoy reading about Tally going through the mess she created for herself. Also, the end had a big plot twist that I did not see coming at all!

     Secondly, I enjoyed all of the cool technology there was in this world. There were hover boards, hover cars, crash bracelets, interface rings, and food maker machines. I think that all of these technologies helped put together the book because it let you know how futuristic this world is how advanced they are from us. I loved how Scott Westerfeld took the idea of flying cars and adding them in here to add to that futuristic feel. I also loved the idea of the crash bracelets. I think that they are absolutely brilliant! The crash bracelets stop you from falling onto the ground when your up high in the air by yanking on your wrists and pulling you upwards. I really liked this idea because it shows how our society feels that it should try to protect our youth from anything that ever tries to harm them. Also, the food maker machine is definitely on the list of things that I want. Now, I don't know the official name for this machine but it is awesome. All you do is type in what you want and open the door then the food you typed in would be there. Not only does the food magically appear, it also comes out at the perfect temperature so you don't burn your tongue or it doesn't come out too cold. These technologies, I feel, helped put together the world because it helped show how dependent the characters became on these machines to do everything for them.

     Thirdly, the characters were somewhat interesting. Tally was your stereotypical teenage girl who just wants to fit in and be like everybody else. She is very cautious and careful, but still manages pull a few tricks. Tally becomes very dependent on all of the technologies that I listed earlier and realizes it when she is left to camp out in the wild to look for Shay. She is very clever and is good at persuading people so she can get what she wants. While she is telling lies about who she really is, she still wants people to trust her which I found annoying. I think if you want someone to trust you, you should be completely honest with them from the start and not wait a while before telling them a secret about yourself. Shay was one of the characters that I found to be dull. In the beginning of the book, I liked Shay because she wanted to be different from everybody else and had her own opinions about things. She was also daring and wasn't afraid to fall when she rode her hover board at high speed. Throughout the book, Shay had the same opinions but she blended in with the characters that were at her camp. She was stubborn and unwilling to forgive Tally after her so-called boyfriend began to take interest in her. Overall, the characters were decent.

     All in all, Uglies was an enjoyable read. The plot was engaging, the technology was spectacular, and the characters were mediocre. I would recommend this book to people who like science fiction novels and futuristic worlds. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this series because this one ended on a cliffhanger.