Reading Order: Uglies, Pretties, Specials and Extras (companion novel).
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This review contains spoilers if you haven't read Uglies. You can read my review of Uglies here.
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Summary from Goodreads:
Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are awesome, her boyfriend is totally hot, and she's completely popular. It's everything she's ever wanted.
But beneath all the fun -- the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom -- is a nagging sense that something's wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what's wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold.
Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life -- because the authorities don't intend to let anyone with this information survive.
Review:
Pretties is the second book in the Uglies Trilogy and has just as many twists and turns as Uglies. It riveted my attention and was a page-turner. The beginning was very interesting as Tally’s perception had vastly changed as she had undergone the ‘Pretty’ operation.
The book is mainly about the way in which she rediscovers her own mind, feelings and identity. Also, Tally had to work out her feelings for David and Zane; her old boyfriend and her new boyfriend.
In the novel, Westerfeld expanded on the various types of technology that were present in Tally’s society which I found fascinating. The author created new vocabulary such as ‘bubbly’, ‘bogus’ and ‘dizzy-making’- the terms were utilised in a different context to their normal use and it added an element of authenticity to the narrative; however I wasn’t informed about what some of the terms meant such as the significance of the added ‘wa’ in ‘Tally-wa’ and the ‘la’ added to the end of Zane and Shay’s names- this was rather irritating.
The book was good at keeping my attention. Even though Tally had been turned ‘Pretty’, she still showed signs of her ‘Ugly’ mind at the beginning of the novel. Tally was more alert than the average ‘pretty’ in her thought processes and reasoning. This was necessary to keep the story from stultifying or coming to a complete standstill. Tally’s rediscovering of facts that the reader already knew from Uglies did not feel too slow or too fast which was good; otherwise it would have put me off from reading any further.
However, after her close escape from the city, when Tally found herself in an experimental zone inhabited by primitive Uglies, the book seemed to go off on a tangent. This portion of the book felt quite separate from the main action. I can understand why Westerfeld felt the need to include the sufferings of the people at the hands of the city, but it wasn’t cohesive and was tenuously linked to the main action.
In addition, Tally’s so-called best friend from Ugly days, came across as very 2D and was extremely disappointing after being built up in the reader’s mind to be a more significant character than he actually was. He seemed to be replaced by Zane. Zane, although a complex and interesting character, was introduced very suddenly to make up for Peris’s deficiencies.
Furthermore, a major tragedy in Pretties was when Tally was given two pills which were meant to be the cure for pretty-mindedness. The pills were meant to be taken together, however this part of the novel was extremely unrealistic as the pills were sent from a doctor without instructions on how they should be taken.
This was discordant to the doctor’s previous conduct, where she insisted that Tally give informed consent. The fact that instructions weren’t given led to disastrous consequences which could have easily been avoided. I know that Westerfeld needed this to happen in the novel, however, it could have happened in a more realistic fashion.
This underplayed on the importance that doctors place upon the well-being of their patients. This was highly incompetent and frustrating to read about. This streak of irresponsible behaviour was further demonstrated when the doctor accused Tally of incompetence and stupidity when Tally was not in possession of all the facts.
Towards the end of the novel, Tally’s increasing obsession with blaming herself for everything that went wrong became highly wearisome. There is no problem with blaming herself when she was at fault, but to do so when events were out of her control was tedious for me as a reader.
Overall, Pretties, though not quite up to the par of Uglies, was an enjoyable sequel. I’m glad I read it and I would recommend this book to other people. After I finished Pretties, I was eager to read Specials; to see what would happen to Tally Youngblood next.
Book Rating: 4/5
Cover: I prefer the UK cover of Pretties.
Concept: 5/5
Author: Scott Westerfeld
I wrote this review as part of Dystopian August which is going on over at Presenting Lenore. Check it out!
