Pretties

I know a lot of people complain that this book is worse than "Uglies" but I actually thought it was better.

Something about Tally finding her way out of pretty haze makes your heart go out to her, doesn't it?

Also, Zane is a bubbly new development, isn't he? ;)

I guess I never really liked David. Partly because of the way he ditched Shay the moment something better showed up.
Not that Tally isn't to blame there. I think they both screwed up.

but that's the good thing about this series. Everybody fucks up so severely. And it takes a lot of courage to atone for past sins; it's much easier to just run from them. and these characters are all making up for one thing or another. It's very admirable. I think Scott Westerfed did an excellent job. :)

Love this book. Except maybe for the fact that Shay is ALWAYS the one who gets Tally in trouble, and Tally is ALWAYS the one who has to get them both out.

Tally Youngblood has just given herself up to become a Pretty. Now she's living the good life: going to parties every night, getting everything for free, and so on. What she doesn't know is that she's got brain damage. Everything in her brain about the Smoke has been twisted so that she can't remember what really happened there. And she's fine with that, until she gets a strange package from someone called Croy, containing two pills, and a letter from herself giving her permission to take them. Tally is very hesitant at first, but her new boyfriend convinces her to take them. They take one each because Tally is such a wimp she doesn't have the guts to take them by herself. What she doesn't know is that they were supposed to be taken together. One has things that eat your brain, and one has things that kill the things that eat your brain. Now Zach is having his brain killed slowly. And Tally just cured herself. You know. As it happens.

(*SPOILER*) So on, the story progresses, and then just as you're thinking, okay, just smooth cruising from here, Shay, duh, gets jealous because Tally gave Zach the pill and not her. So she seperates herself from Tally and becomes a Cutter, people who cut themselves to get "bubbly" (where their mental fog clears and they can think clearly). And then she gets so jealous and weirdo that she waltzes up to the evilest evil person in the whole series, and says "Please make me a Special", the evilest group in the series. So she becomes a special, they catch Tally, and she becomes a special. (*END SPOILER*)

This book really makes you think about what perfection means. And makes you think about whether you would prefer to be clear-minded, living in the wilderness and "ugly" (even though we all know "uglies" are just normal people), or beautiful, partying all the time, and brainwashed? Does it matter?

The thing that I love most about Scott Westerfeld’s "Pretties," the second book in his Uglies trilogy, is that it really makes you second guess which “state of being” is the best: Ugly, Pretty or Special. I’ve had seemingly endless conversations about this with fellow Westerfeld junkies, and the verdict is still out for me.

So many people argue that Ugly has got to be the way to go. First of all, Westerfeld makes it clear that Uglies aren’t actually ugly, they just look like you and me. And Ugly is an everyday person who just happens to have never had a lick of plastic surgery, and we’ve all seen one too many fish face (I’m looking at you Taylor Armstrong) to know that a little plastic surgery goes a long way, and often goes horrifically wrong. Furthermore, as an Ugly, your brain just hasn’t been messed with, and we don’t need people poking around in our cerebellums unless absolutely necessary.

But the Pretty way of life seems pretty dang good (pardon the pun): You are biologically irresistible and worthy of those Calvin Klein or Victoria’s Secret billboard ads. You can never gain a single ounce of fat, so go ahead and have that extra slice of bacon. You have absolutely nothing to worry about, ever. I don’t know about you, but a little poke here and a tad of nanotechnology there to never experience a single second of anxiety seems worth it. Worry free and explosively hot? Yes please.

And then there’s Specials, the superhuman results of surgery that lets you run faster, jump higher and kick butt better than anybody has ever hoped to before. People will fantasies of superhero status should apply here.

Of course, it all comes down to control. Does it matter if there’s a chip in your brain if you have the best life of luxury? Can you blame someone for wanting to be a Pretty and stop worrying about the world? Are looks on the outside that powerful in today’s society that you’d be willing to lose your intellectual freedom? What if that loss of freedom means you’re carefree for the rest of your life and in a constant state of bliss? Is having untold amounts of physical strength worth it if you have to use that power for someone else’s means? All of these questions are brought up in "Pretties" and it’s these questions that make the book such a refreshingly thoughtful experience.

Reader reviewed by Bianna

One book you will never put down. All you have to do is start reading the first page and you are immediatly propelled into a twisting adventure between fighting the lesions in the brain and trying to fight the Special Circumstances. It will entertain you for months and months by just rereading the wonderful well written book Pretties by Scott Westerfled. I still can't believe that what happened at the end! There is a bunch of romance and chase scenes and I wil garentee that you will not want to put this book down. SO READ THIS BOOK!

Reader reviewed by Kyla

I absolutely LOVE this book and all the others in this series (But especially this one!). This book is the second in the Uglies series by Scott Westerfield and is set in the future. In the world of this series, when you are of a certain age you are required to get a surgey that makes you perfect. Sorta  like an extreme version of plastic surgery. After the operation you go live in the designated place for pretties, in Tally's (The main character) case it is on an island. Tally gets her surgery and lives in Prettyville and has a lot of fun, finding a nice guy whom she falls in love with (I'm sure most female readers would fall in love with him, too! He is awesome!). But her happy turns bad and she has to fix it and figure out what she wants from her life AGAIN! I like the start of the book where she is happy as a pretty and goes to parties. I just like the idea. This book made me long for Scott Westerfield's future now. I would reccemend this book to anyone that is interested in this stuff and even ones that aren't. It is an awseome books, though there are some plot holes.
~Kyla

Reader reviewed by Kyla

I absolutely LOVE this book and all the others in this series (But especially this one!). This book is the second in the Uglies series by Scott Westerfield and is set in the future. In the world of this series, when you are of a certain age you are required to get a surgey that makes you perfect. Sorta  like an extreme version of plastic surgery. After the operation you go live in the designated place for pretties, in Tally's (The main character) case it is on an island. Tally gets her surgery and lives in Prettyville and has a lot of fun, finding a nice guy whom she falls in love with (I'm sure most female readers would fall in love with him, too! He is awesome!). But her happy turns bad and she has to fix it and figure out what she wants from her life AGAIN! I like the start of the book where she is happy as a pretty and goes to parties. I just like the idea. This book made me long for Scott Westerfield's future now. I would reccemend this book to anyone that is interested in this stuff and even ones that aren't. It is an awseome books, though there are some plot holes.
~Kyla  : )

Reader reviewed by Trillian

Great sequel to Uglies. Really well written sci-fi yong adult fiction. This is a book that can be enjoyed just as a good story as well as having a more deeper level to it.

(some minor spoilers from the first book follow)

Tally is pretty - something that happens to all sixteen-year-olds. Being pretty isn't just superficial though, the operation has deeper consequences. At the start of the book, Tally doesn't remember that she's endured the operation so the cure can be tested on her. When we catch up with her it's a month after she returned to the city and Tally is making the most of young pretty life.

This all changes after a visit from a past friend bringing the cure for her to take. Tally becomes "bubbly" (able to think clearly) rather than being "pretty-minded" and we see how she deals with living amongst the pretties when she knows the truth. We also learn more about how the world got to be the way it is in Tally's present.

Some of the best parts of this book are the different technologies of the future which are described really well and while futuristic they are completely believable. Also the pretty-talk which use by the characters shows how they are moving further away from being pretty-minded.

Reader reviewed by megan S

I really loved this book! just as the uglies! i was hoping she would remember david and remember what she turned for..then when zane came into the picture i was very scared as to what was going to happen. i didnt know which one i wanted her with! hahaha but anyways i just loved it! and i thought it was a good twist with the pills and how u needed both of them and not just one! but was very scared when it was hurting zane. And when he almost smashed his hand in that thing to get the braclet off! omg that really scared me! but ofcoarse tally came through with a brighter idea! haha well i dont want to gice to much away! i just loved it!!

Reader reviewed by Sab H. (Crystal Reviews)

This was interesting. Plus, it has a bonus point already for being
sequel. I guess my best way to describe it is like a roller coaster...
Up & down. Sometimes I couldn't breathe, and sometimes I wanted to
stop reading. Nevertheless, Westerfeld is an amazing writer. I loved
the way he manages to let you know with a completely different writing,
when the world -Tally's mind- is bubbly and when its bogus.

That
was what I liked the most, along with the way he mocks reality. It's
hard to think he is so right. Everything he says -about the actual
world- is now playing with my mind. In this
book, he doesn't focus so much in pretty/ugly issues, more in the
self-destructing predator and war-lover that the world today has
become. It is really amazing his point of view. That fact alone, makes
it an incredible reading.

I have mixed emotions about this
book. I fell he complicated things too much. But I did like it. I guess
I'm just heartbroken for David. And it is rare, when the reader doesn't
have a preference in the love-conflict (Yeah, by "the reader" I mean me).
I love them both!!! I can't decide! So, that makes the story and the
characters amazing. I thought for a moment we'd have three -Andrew- to
choose from. I'm glad that didn't happen (it would be interesting
huh?). The cover though, did not impress me. Its hard to top that first
one. It's an amazing book for fiction lovers.

Reader reviewed by Samantha

Pretties is another book by Scott Westerfeld and is a sequel to Uglies. Tally Youngblood is now a pretty and she has to face challenges that only she can end. Everyone is her town is a bubble head and is completely ditsy. Only Tally in New Pretty Town knows the secret of being pretty. It destroys your whole mind. She will do everything in her power to end this disease and save everyone she loves from complete mindlessness.
This book is as captivating as the first book in this series. It is so moving and wonderful that nothing can make you put down this book. The words of this book is also amazing and gives off so many details that you can imagine yourself right in the pages with the characters! :)