Uglies (Uglies #1)

Reader reviewed by Samantha Watt

Who knew that people wanted to stay ugly, given the choice to not be ugly.

The Pretty society deals with equality, but I am afraid to tell you, that hasn't and will never happen. You always have people who don't follow that rule (aka SPECIALS).

I love the hoverboarding, the Smoke...isn't a place where I want to live, BUT I want to live with those people. David...I don't know how she fell in love with him, but she did.

You see more fully at the end the effect of the legions in the Pretty brains when Shay comes back saying everything was ok. Like a girl is okay with another girl--espically a friend--coming in and stealing her boyfriend.

Though in my opinion david should have never let that happen, if he didn't come on to and like Tally that would have never happened.

Good book though, I have read Pretties--the sequel--and on my way to the final and last book in the series Specials.

Reader reviewed by Dede

This is a story that will leave you asking questions about what ugly really means and thinking about how much stock is put into being pretty to be accepted. Tally is ready to turn pretty for her 16th birthday. Then she meets Shay and they become fast friends. Shay and Tally hoverboard around and have different opinions on becoming pretty, Tally can't wait and Shay is against it. Shay tells Tally about a mysterious boy named David and Shay runs away before her sixteenth birthday to join David outside of the city. Tally stays behind, becoming pretty is what she has been looking forward to. However, a special tells Tally that they will not allow her to become pretty unless she helps them find Shay. What follows tests Tally's sense of loyalty and secrets are revealed to her. There were a couple of surprises in this book, things I wasn't expecting that made me wonder about the perspective of pretty vs. ugly. It is a very good book that left me urgently wanting to read Pretties.

Reader reviewed by Razz

From teh first action-packed scene of this book, I was hooked. With the crashing of the party, to the meeting of friends, and to the escape into the Wilderness,this was a book that appealed to my imagination. It showed many flaws with our soctiety, and tauhg tme ow to feel good about myself.

Every turn of the page brought me more and more excitment and entertainment. This book informed me on the dire cost of our society. Any teenager, and many adults will like this book.

Reader reviewed by Nina

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, the first in the Uglies trilogy, is my absolute favorite book. The book takes place in the future, where an operation on your sixteenth birthday makes you beautiful. Tally, fifteen years old at the beginning of the book, is left alone in Uglyville after all her friends have already crossed the river to New Pretty Town, where they have joined the carefree life filled with parties, showing off their perfect new faces and reconstructed bodies. While awaiting her birthday, Tally befriends Shay, who happens to have the same birthday as her. However, Shay has a different perspective than most uglies, and doesnt see the operation as anything to look forward to. Instead, she believes that appearance isnt all that matters and that there is no reason to change the way everyone looks. So shortly before her birthday, Shay runs away and tries to convince Tally to join her. Unlike Shay, Tally wants to become a pretty like everyone else, and stays behind. But on the day of Tallys operation, Tally is surprised to find out that she wont be operated on unless she follows Shay and betrays the runaway settlement that Shay has joined. So using a set of instructions that Shay left behind for only Tally to understand, she follows with a tracker hidden in her necklace that she must activate once having arrived. However, once she has been at the settlement for a while, she isnt sure whether to activate the tracker or not. Because being pretty isnt as perfect as it appears, and the government has been hiding the horrible truth.
Not only does this book have a good dose of action, but it also has deep meaning and many topics that really make you think. For example, is a symmetrical face with perfect features really all that defines beauty?

Reader reviewed by looneytunez8

Most people want a brand new car for their sixteenth birthday, or maybe a huge party. But, had you ever thought of becoming supermodel -beautiful for your sixteenth? In Tally's world, that's what you get. Tally can't wait for that day to arrive, but when she meets Shay, everything turns the other way. Shay doesn't want to become pretty, so she runs away and asks Tally to come with her. This story was well-written, and is filled with adventure, and a little romance. I would recommend this book to pretty much anyone.

Reader reviewed by Kayla (Midnight Twilight)

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license--for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world--and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can't imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.


You know a book is going to be interesting when the first sentience is "The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit." This was one of the best books I've ever read. Tally has a huge struggle to face. This book is full of romance, sci-fi, and the horrible effects humans can have on each other and on the world. This book reminded me of a Twilight Zone episode (that's the main reason i decided to pick it up) but it is one of the most original works I've ever read. I can't wait to read more by Scott Westerfeld.

Reader reviewed by Alexis

I loved this book and cannot wait to finish the wonderful books that come after it. I think Scott Westerfield paints a wonderful picture with all his descriptions. You can imagine very easily what Pretties and Uglies look like. I think that Tally is given a good assignment....to find Shay and the others who disappear before they get the operation. I think that my views kept changing throughout the whole book. I want her to turn them in and then I didn't. I would reccommend anyone who enjoys reading to try this book. It wasnt what i would normally choose but i still loved it!!!

Reader reviewed by Nicki

Do you ever wonder what life would be like if everyone looked like a super model? What would it cost people to become so stunning? Well, Tally Youngblood lives her life waiting for her 16th birthday, waiting to have a beauty operation following by a life of luxury. However, her new best friend, Shay isnt looking forward to the operation and decides to run away. The authorities want Tally to find her for them. Forcing Tally into a tough decision, the authorities manipulate Tally into betraying Shay by threatening to make her stay ugly forever. Once Tally ventures out in the wild, and meets people who live there, she discovers Shays reason for leaving the city, and a disturbing cost it takes to become pretty. You should read Uglies because its only the beginning of futuristic series with a strong meaning to it. First of all, you should read Uglies because it begins an enthralling, suspenseful trilogy that will have your brain thirsty for more. The author, Scott Westerfeld uses very descriptive words to paint a picture in the readers mind. In addition to that he makes the readers feel like theyre in the main characters shoes in a whole new world with futuristic devices and a whole new prospective on life. Lastly, Uglies has a strong purpose and meaning to it. The lesson taken by Tally is that it doesnt matter what people look like on the outside, its whats inside that counts. Its extremely suspenseful when the authorities track her down and hover cars are everywhere. The Smokies stay strong, but they are no match for the authorities,and are taken to the city, where some have the operation, while others are stay locked up at Special Circumstances.However, the adventure, betrayal, heart aches have only just begun.

Reader reviewed by Jennie

Uglies is about people who are "ugly". When they turn 16 they get the privilage of turning pretty. But when Tally's new found friend, Shay decides to run away to a place called the "Smokes" , Tally's chances of becoming a pretty are runied, unless she can bring her friend back.

Reader reviewed by Lenore

When I heard there was a book series out there where everyone got plastic surgery to turn them pretty on their 16th birthday, I knew it would be right up my alley. It's high concept, it's dystopian, it involves a female protagonist - and I came to it so late that I could buy the whole series and not have to wait between books.

Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld, introduces us to a world where civilization has inched its way back into a robust existence after being nearly destroyed by us careless "Rusties" of the 21st century. Hundreds of years later, there is no more war because everyone over 16 is pretty and lives a vapid life of partying and feeling "bubbly". Tally Youngblood, nearly 16, can't wait to join the pretty life and rejoin her best friend Peris who had his pretty transformation already. But for now, she's still ugly and still up to playing ugly tricks - tricks that grow more dangerous after she meets Shay, also close to her 16th birthday but unsure she really wants to go through with the operation. Shay insists she's made contact with people off the grid, "Smokies", who say that being pretty is not all it's cut out to be. When Shay runs away, Tally is recruited for a mission by the ruling class "Specials" to get Shay back or shell be denied the chance to turn and will be ugly forever.

The plot is very well paced, following Tally from the city out into the wilderness on her search for Shay and the Smokies. Westerfeld grinds his exposition so finely that I never felt bored by a bunch of telly scenes. And even though Tally has a lot of her decisions made for her and character growth is pretty much accidental, it feels authentic to the story. The social commentary is very sharp as well, especially in regards to the superficial life of the post-op pretties. In one passage, Tally is told about a beautiful, rare orchid that was genetically reengineered and is now a monoculture, choking out any biodiversity it comes in contact with. Doesnt that sound just so pretty?

Highly recommended!

Reprinted here with author's permission