Finally, a futuristic story I can sink my teeth into. Don't know how many of you are familiar with this series, but I'm loving it. Reading the third one now.
Without further ado, Five Reasons to Read Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld.
1.) Hoverboards. Yeah. Want.
2.) The title says it all. Tally is an "ugly", a youth who spends the first chapter breaking into "New Pretty Town", where the "new pretties" live. I wasn't surprised when I learned the "truth about being pretty", but it definitely caused the main character a lot of turmoil, trying to reconcile what she "knows" to be true with what she learns on her own.
3.) Offers a lot to think about. Not while you're reading, because the pacing is so good, but after you set it down, you can't help but think about the implications of living in Tally's world. And not only one aspect of it, but different facets like brainwashing v. societal norms, standards of beauty and the lengths people will go to achieve such standards, or the long term effects a high-tech society has on the surrounding wildlife. I noticed a distinct lack of pets, which is, imo, the reason the society got so screwed up in the first place. ;)
4.) Related to the above post, there was so much going on with this character and the society, I didn't feel like I was being hit over the head with a message like a lot of classic sci-fi novels do.
5.) Finally, the book is pretty skillfully written so that you are so deeply immersed in Tally's ways of thinking, you are almost rooting for her to achieve her goals so she can become pretty. She really changes over the course of this first book, but the way she thinks (and the way her attitude shifts over time) helps give the most insight into this strangely possible world.
A great read, especially for those who like sequels. Pretties, which I just finished, made for a satisfying sequel in which a lot happened, and I'm about half-way through Specials.
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