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Pretties by Scott Westerfeld.
The Blurb On The Back:
Gorgeous. Popular. Perfect. Perfectly wrong.
Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are cool, her boyfriend is totally gorgeous, and she's completely popular. It's everything she's ever wanted.
But beneath all the fun - the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom - is a nagging sense that something is very wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what's wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold.
Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life ...
Set a couple of months after the events in Uglies, Tally has become a pretty and is waiting anxiously to discover whether she's been voted into the Crims (a group of pretties known for their ability to play tricks). Tally hangs out with Peris and Shay, but is drawn to the leader of the Crims, Zane, and is disturbed by vague memories she has of her time in the Smoke. When her former friend from the Smoke, Croy crashes into a party to give her a message, she begins to wonder about her life as a pretty and discovers that Zane has the same questions, having discovered that his thinking becomes clearer when he stops eating food in Pretty Town and pursues new sensations. Together they decide to act on Croy's message, the repurcussions of which have a drastic impact on the Crims and Tally's renewed friendship with Shay and brings them to the attention of the terrifying Specials.
Westerfeld maintains the excellent pace of Uglies and weaves in more details of pretty society, notably the cliques that have formed between different groups of pretties interested in specific things. The way in which Westerfeld expands on the mind-control elements of being made pretty is also interesting and the scenes where Tally and Zane counter this by trying to be 'bubbly' all the time are well portrayed (although I do have concerns about the scenes where they stop eating food and become slim, because there's a potential for some readers to misinterpret the purpose of this). Westerfeld also sets up a nice contrast between Tally and Zane's attempts to stay 'bubbly' and the solution that Shay comes up with. In fact, if I had a quibble with the book it's that I'd have liked to see more of what happens to Shay and Tally when Shay's memories return as it would have helped flesh out some of her anger and jealousy and also provided more of a backdrop to her self-destructive behaviour.
David makes a return towards the end of the book, although the scenes are brief and I felt the attempted love triangle between David, Tally and Zane was too cursorily handled to make much impact and I hope that this will be explored more in Specials. I also felt that the scenes set in the New Smoke were too brief and would again liked to see this expanded so that we get more of an idea of what's been going on with the Smokies whilst Tally has been pretty.
The end of the book is chilling and definitely makes you want to read on to see what will happen to Tally next. At the same time, I think this works as a complete story within its own right, although you do need to read Uglies first to get the best out of it. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
The Verdict:
You need to read Uglies to get the most out of this book but that's a good thing because this doesn't suffer from the usual 'second book in a series' problems. It's a complete story in its own right that ends on a cliffhanger that provides a definite ending and a set up to the third book. I'd have liked to see more interaction between Shay and Tally to explain Shay's motivation, but Westerfeld's plotting and pacing is well put together and I look forward to reading on.
Gorgeous. Popular. Perfect. Perfectly wrong.
Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are cool, her boyfriend is totally gorgeous, and she's completely popular. It's everything she's ever wanted.
But beneath all the fun - the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom - is a nagging sense that something is very wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what's wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold.
Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life ...
Set a couple of months after the events in Uglies, Tally has become a pretty and is waiting anxiously to discover whether she's been voted into the Crims (a group of pretties known for their ability to play tricks). Tally hangs out with Peris and Shay, but is drawn to the leader of the Crims, Zane, and is disturbed by vague memories she has of her time in the Smoke. When her former friend from the Smoke, Croy crashes into a party to give her a message, she begins to wonder about her life as a pretty and discovers that Zane has the same questions, having discovered that his thinking becomes clearer when he stops eating food in Pretty Town and pursues new sensations. Together they decide to act on Croy's message, the repurcussions of which have a drastic impact on the Crims and Tally's renewed friendship with Shay and brings them to the attention of the terrifying Specials.
Westerfeld maintains the excellent pace of Uglies and weaves in more details of pretty society, notably the cliques that have formed between different groups of pretties interested in specific things. The way in which Westerfeld expands on the mind-control elements of being made pretty is also interesting and the scenes where Tally and Zane counter this by trying to be 'bubbly' all the time are well portrayed (although I do have concerns about the scenes where they stop eating food and become slim, because there's a potential for some readers to misinterpret the purpose of this). Westerfeld also sets up a nice contrast between Tally and Zane's attempts to stay 'bubbly' and the solution that Shay comes up with. In fact, if I had a quibble with the book it's that I'd have liked to see more of what happens to Shay and Tally when Shay's memories return as it would have helped flesh out some of her anger and jealousy and also provided more of a backdrop to her self-destructive behaviour.
David makes a return towards the end of the book, although the scenes are brief and I felt the attempted love triangle between David, Tally and Zane was too cursorily handled to make much impact and I hope that this will be explored more in Specials. I also felt that the scenes set in the New Smoke were too brief and would again liked to see this expanded so that we get more of an idea of what's been going on with the Smokies whilst Tally has been pretty.
The end of the book is chilling and definitely makes you want to read on to see what will happen to Tally next. At the same time, I think this works as a complete story within its own right, although you do need to read Uglies first to get the best out of it. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
The Verdict:
You need to read Uglies to get the most out of this book but that's a good thing because this doesn't suffer from the usual 'second book in a series' problems. It's a complete story in its own right that ends on a cliffhanger that provides a definite ending and a set up to the third book. I'd have liked to see more interaction between Shay and Tally to explain Shay's motivation, but Westerfeld's plotting and pacing is well put together and I look forward to reading on.