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Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
The Blurb On The Back:
Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?
Tally can't wait to turn sixteen and become Pretty. Sixteen is the magic number that brings a transformation from a repellant Ugly into a stunningly attractive Pretty, and catapaults 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 imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn Pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.
This is a clever, fast-paced and exciting novel that takes the current pre-occupation with beauty and jumps forward several hundred years to create a world wherein almost everyone gets an operation at the age of 16 to make them Pretty.
Scott Westerfeld envisages a cataclysmic event in the near future where the genetic mutation of oil sets off a chain of events that kills millions of people (known in the future as Rusties) and destroys cities. In Tally's world, people live in split cities, with the Pretties living in a non-stop partyland of appartment blocks and firework displays and the Uglies (those waiting until they turn 16 and can get the operation to turn Pretty) who live in dorm buildings, dreaming of how they will look after the op and offsetting their humdrum lives by playing tricks. On her way back from trying to see her friend Peris in New Pretty Town, Tally meets Shay, a girl who shares her birthday. Whilst they're waiting for the operation, they form a friendship wherein Shay teaches Tally to hoverboard and takes her out to the ruins of the Rusties' world to ride the tracks of a rollercoaster on their hoverboards. As their friendship deepends, Shay confides in Tally about the existence of a place called the Smoke (where people live who don't want to turn Pretty) and of David, a boy who can take them there. Unlike Shay however, Tally dreams of being Pretty and refuses to join Shay in searching for the Smoke. It's only after Shay runs away one night, leaving cryptic instructions on how to find her that Tally starts to learn about the more sinister side of New Pretty Town and the existence of Special Circumstances, modified and cruel Pretties who force her to find and betray her friend.
Westerfeld's writing is slick and tense and he effortlessly introduces the reader to his central concepts without ever going into turgid passages of exposition. I found it very easy to believe in Tally and her dilemma, not least because Westerfeld first introduces Tally's friend Peris who has already turned Pretty and who was Tally's best friend whilst they were both Uglies. Tally's search for the Smoke could have been long and drawn out, but Westerfeld keeps it fast-moving and whilst he places Tally in danger, he never over-eggs the pudding and also takes the opportunity to introduce further elements of world building - I particularly liked the idea of genetically modified orchids spreading out over the world, destroying the ecosystems and needing to be constantly flamed and beaten back by Rangers. I also loved his depictions of bungy jackets, hoverboards and belly sensors, all of which could easily have descended into MacGuffins in lesser hands but which never stop being convinving. Particularly poignant is his look back at the world in which we live in, and whilst I think his depiction of anorexia was a little too in-passing to be effective, it's nevertheless reassuring to read a book that does not equate being Pretty with being thin.
The Specials are an intimidating and cruel bunch and whilst I would have liked to see a bit more about Dr Cable beyond cold cruelty, the set-up is there for more development in the rest of the quartet, which I'm very much looking forward to reading. In fact, the way Westerfeld ends the book is a superb example of a how to handle a cliffhanger whilst resolving the initial storyline. None of the characters are left dangling on the page and you feel as though you've read a great story whilst also wanting to find out what will happen next to David, Tally and Shay. The only picky thing I can think of to say is that I wonder why Tally is so sure that her plan will work given what's already happened between her and Special Circumstances, which would seem to me to suggest that it couldn't. However like I said, it's a picky thing to say and it certainly isn't enough to put me off reading the rest. All in all, it's an excellent read and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
The Verdict:
Brilliant book and it's wonderful to see a writer willing to write science fiction aimed at teenagers that taps into current issues. Most definitely worth a look.
Tally can't wait to turn sixteen and become Pretty. Sixteen is the magic number that brings a transformation from a repellant Ugly into a stunningly attractive Pretty, and catapaults 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 imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn Pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.
This is a clever, fast-paced and exciting novel that takes the current pre-occupation with beauty and jumps forward several hundred years to create a world wherein almost everyone gets an operation at the age of 16 to make them Pretty.
Scott Westerfeld envisages a cataclysmic event in the near future where the genetic mutation of oil sets off a chain of events that kills millions of people (known in the future as Rusties) and destroys cities. In Tally's world, people live in split cities, with the Pretties living in a non-stop partyland of appartment blocks and firework displays and the Uglies (those waiting until they turn 16 and can get the operation to turn Pretty) who live in dorm buildings, dreaming of how they will look after the op and offsetting their humdrum lives by playing tricks. On her way back from trying to see her friend Peris in New Pretty Town, Tally meets Shay, a girl who shares her birthday. Whilst they're waiting for the operation, they form a friendship wherein Shay teaches Tally to hoverboard and takes her out to the ruins of the Rusties' world to ride the tracks of a rollercoaster on their hoverboards. As their friendship deepends, Shay confides in Tally about the existence of a place called the Smoke (where people live who don't want to turn Pretty) and of David, a boy who can take them there. Unlike Shay however, Tally dreams of being Pretty and refuses to join Shay in searching for the Smoke. It's only after Shay runs away one night, leaving cryptic instructions on how to find her that Tally starts to learn about the more sinister side of New Pretty Town and the existence of Special Circumstances, modified and cruel Pretties who force her to find and betray her friend.
Westerfeld's writing is slick and tense and he effortlessly introduces the reader to his central concepts without ever going into turgid passages of exposition. I found it very easy to believe in Tally and her dilemma, not least because Westerfeld first introduces Tally's friend Peris who has already turned Pretty and who was Tally's best friend whilst they were both Uglies. Tally's search for the Smoke could have been long and drawn out, but Westerfeld keeps it fast-moving and whilst he places Tally in danger, he never over-eggs the pudding and also takes the opportunity to introduce further elements of world building - I particularly liked the idea of genetically modified orchids spreading out over the world, destroying the ecosystems and needing to be constantly flamed and beaten back by Rangers. I also loved his depictions of bungy jackets, hoverboards and belly sensors, all of which could easily have descended into MacGuffins in lesser hands but which never stop being convinving. Particularly poignant is his look back at the world in which we live in, and whilst I think his depiction of anorexia was a little too in-passing to be effective, it's nevertheless reassuring to read a book that does not equate being Pretty with being thin.
The Specials are an intimidating and cruel bunch and whilst I would have liked to see a bit more about Dr Cable beyond cold cruelty, the set-up is there for more development in the rest of the quartet, which I'm very much looking forward to reading. In fact, the way Westerfeld ends the book is a superb example of a how to handle a cliffhanger whilst resolving the initial storyline. None of the characters are left dangling on the page and you feel as though you've read a great story whilst also wanting to find out what will happen next to David, Tally and Shay. The only picky thing I can think of to say is that I wonder why Tally is so sure that her plan will work given what's already happened between her and Special Circumstances, which would seem to me to suggest that it couldn't. However like I said, it's a picky thing to say and it certainly isn't enough to put me off reading the rest. All in all, it's an excellent read and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
The Verdict:
Brilliant book and it's wonderful to see a writer willing to write science fiction aimed at teenagers that taps into current issues. Most definitely worth a look.