So I'd seen this book around for ages and decided to pick it up on one of my book-buying shopping sprees, and I'm glad I did. It ended up being better than I expected.Uglies is about a girl who is set to have surgery to become 'pretty' which is what all the Uglies with to be. They dream about the day they become 'Pretty' and Talia is no exception. Things go awry for Talia when she meets Shay, a girl who was willing to do anything, but become pretty. She runs away leaving Talia to deal with 'Special Circumstances' which is the equivalent for the law in this dystopian world.I wouldn't say that the pace of the story was all that quick, in fact, in some ways it was kind of dull, but when it did speed up, it became quite a good book. I liked the world Scott Westerfeld made, but at the same time I hated it. The people in this world forgot that personality counted for something, and they had real self-image problems.Talia was like this as well at the start. What I liked was that I saw her grow from someone who had issues with a way a person looked, including herself, to someone who had a sense of self-worth. She was incredibly brave, but at the same time incredibly stupid. And there was no denying that at the end, she was incredibly loyal. I liked her. I had to wonder about her parents though. Kids in this world left their parent when they were around twelve. I had to wonder what kind of relationship she had had with her parents beforehand. There was no back story.David was adorable. He was the kind of person who befriended everyone. Despite the dangerous life he led, he trusted people. But, I don't think it was a mindless trust. He had been raised to survive. And, his faith in people was hard to shake. He accepted a lot of thing, like people leaving 'the Smoke' to become Pretty. I guess he had a sense of naivete about him. I like that he grew up with his family and I got to know a bit about them.And I have to mention Shay, because she was the one who started Talia's adventure. She was a character I really liked as well. Mainly because she made Talia believe that there were different options out there for her. She was the one who believed the most in Talia, until Talia did something she didn't like - even if it wasn't Talia's fault. Even towards the very end, she stood up for what she believed in. The story line for this book was okay. And, I'm really impressed that for a book that was published seven years ago, it stills hold that edge that good dystopian books do. I won't say it's as good as some I've read, but it wasn't the worst either. And I definitely liked some of the world-building behind it. It could have been expanded more, but at least I knew the theory behind them becoming a Uglies/Pretties society.I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys dystopian novels and who doesn't mind the pace being a bit slow at the start.This review can be found here http://magicalmanuscriptsandwritingthings.blogspot.co.nz/
A Reader's Heart
Focuses on reviews of Young Adult novels with honesty and integrity. My ratings and reviews vary on how I feel about the book.
So I'd seen this book around for ages and decided to pick it up on one of my book-buying shopping sprees, and I'm glad I did. It ended up being better than I expected.Uglies is about a girl who is set to have surgery to become 'pretty' which is what all the Uglies with to be. They dream about the day they become 'Pretty' and Talia is no exception. Things go awry for Talia when she meets Shay, a girl who was willing to do anything, but become pretty. She runs away leaving Talia to deal with 'Special Circumstances' which is the equivalent for the law in this dystopian world.I wouldn't say that the pace of the story was all that quick, in fact, in some ways it was kind of dull, but when it did speed up, it became quite a good book. I liked the world Scott Westerfeld made, but at the same time I hated it. The people in this world forgot that personality counted for something, and they had real self-image problems.Talia was like this as well at the start. What I liked was that I saw her grow from someone who had issues with a way a person looked, including herself, to someone who had a sense of self-worth. She was incredibly brave, but at the same time incredibly stupid. And there was no denying that at the end, she was incredibly loyal. I liked her. I had to wonder about her parents though. Kids in this world left their parent when they were around twelve. I had to wonder what kind of relationship she had had with her parents beforehand. There was no back story.David was adorable. He was the kind of person who befriended everyone. Despite the dangerous life he led, he trusted people. But, I don't think it was a mindless trust. He had been raised to survive. And, his faith in people was hard to shake. He accepted a lot of thing, like people leaving 'the Smoke' to become Pretty. I guess he had a sense of naivete about him. I like that he grew up with his family and I got to know a bit about them.And I have to mention Shay, because she was the one who started Talia's adventure. She was a character I really liked as well. Mainly because she made Talia believe that there were different options out there for her. She was the one who believed the most in Talia, until Talia did something she didn't like - even if it wasn't Talia's fault. Even towards the very end, she stood up for what she believed in. The story line for this book was okay. And, I'm really impressed that for a book that was published seven years ago, it stills hold that edge that good dystopian books do. I won't say it's as good as some I've read, but it wasn't the worst either. And I definitely liked some of the world-building behind it. It could have been expanded more, but at least I knew the theory behind them becoming a Uglies/Pretties society.I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys dystopian novels and who doesn't mind the pace being a bit slow at the start.This review can be found here http://magicalmanuscriptsandwritingthings.blogspot.co.nz/
