Review Detail

This book took me by surprise! I assumed that since Tally was turned into a “pretty-head” the book would be off track and boring, but man was I wrong. Scott Westerfeld did it again! He worked just enough emotion, action, romance, and intrigue to make this second book in the series just as great at the first. Although, there were some things that frustrated me the book as a whole was amazing!

Tally is one of my frustrations! I like her character, yet I hate her character. Tally is quite gullible and keeps running into these traps. She just seems full of it to me. Her thought process can leave you quite annoyed sometimes. I feel like I cannot relate to her on as many levels as I would have liked. On the other hand, she is a good person at heart. She cares about her friends and even people she just meets. Tally is a fighter, which is another reason I actually like her character. She does not back down easily.

The romance in this book is another thing that has thrown me off. I know that we do not always end up with our first loves, but Tally has really screwed up in this one. She now has two guys that she “loves”. At first I went along with it thinking “Oh ok, she lost her memory when she became a pretty it’s cool”, until she remembered everything and still chose to choose another guy, Zane. I would not have been so annoyed with this information had I felt that David and her separated rationally. There are places in the book that make you feel like maybe she does not want him anymore because he is so “unattractive”.

The twists in this book just keep getting better and better. Tally has made friends with a new “camp”, and she experiences how their life is manipulated from day to day. She also finds out what happens when you take matters into your own hands and make irrational decisions (more than once let me add). The main twists are what had me on the edge of my seat. I was absolutely shocked with the ending!

With that being said, the ending was amazing! It is a perfect place to pick up from on the next book. I am eager to find out what happens to Zane, Shay, Tally, and David. ******SPOILER SO PLEASE SKIP TO NEXT PARAGRAPH********* After finding out that Shay has become a special, I have no clue how Tally will manage to save the day now. Not to mention that Zane has had half his brain destroyed. How will they possibly fix him? And how will Tally make their love last?

I have become neutral with Shay’s character in this book. At first I liked her because she wanted to be different, but now I feel that she has jumped off the deep end. I understand that she has had her mind messed with and she cannot quite put her finger on the “weird feelings” bothering her, but she has become a total monster. I am kind of sad about this because I really wanted to like her character. I feel bad for her and I want her to be the hero at the end of the day, but I also wonder what this story would become if she were to miraculously see the light of day. This has left me with a feeling of “whatever” on how her character turns out in the end.

The story has become a little confusing at this point. (move to next paragraph to skip this spoiler)*****SPOILER***** In this book, you find out there is another civilization living under the control of Special Circumstances and “The Pretties”. There is a slight amount of information that explains why they keep them trapped in their environment, but I found myself wanting a little more. We find out that they are the reason for the lesions in the brain. Their civilization has been in a blood feud for years, and for no apparent reason as far as we know. The lesions keep the pretties from conflict and anger. I get the fact that studying them helps progress their research, but where did they find these people and how long has this been going on. Why does no one really know about them?

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It has some pretty interesting concepts on what the future could hold. The characters may need some improvement, but I still have a couple I route for. I am eager to read the next book in this series to see where Westerfeld goes with this story. I would strongly recommend this read to anyone. People with an open mind will really enjoy this one!