Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Plot

Tally Youngblood has 3 months until she can become Pretty but if it was that simple the book would be boring. So at the beginning of her final year of being an Ugly, Tally meets Shay, a fellow Ugly, but Shat refuses to become society's idea of what's acceptable.

So when Shay runs away a week before she has to become Pretty, the repercussions go straight to Tally who is told that if she wants to become Pretty, she will have to go after Shay and bring her home. Can Tally betray her friend for the life she has spent her existence craving?

Writing

I really liked this book. The writing drew me in, it took a few pages for it to do so but once it had me I was completely hooked.

The author has created a future that I could see clearly in my head. I felt as if I was a part of the story. I realise that this book is the ultimate portrayal of of 'it's what's inside that truly counts' but the author has made the fact that if we don't realise this soon, quite a sinister occurence will happen. However in a world that's filled with vain people I don't see how the message is a bad thing.

Characters

I adored Tally and I could completely understand her dilemmas and why she chose to do what she did. Her voice was truly believable and she stood out from a lot of other main characters of the books I've recently read. Her strength and determination to correct mistakes that she made is admirable.

Shay is another amazing character. She's so strong and she knew what she wanted and she went for it whole heartedly. The sad thing is definitely the way she ended up. I wouldn't have wished that on anyone but definitely not her.

The majority of the other characters were good too but there were good too but there were a couple of duds (the most notable one for me was David. I really wasn't too keen on him.) The characters definitely made me feel that the book could have gone on for longer.

Overall

This is a genuinely good book that makes you realise what could happen to the world if our current obsession with beauty and looking perfect continues.

I gave it 4 stars, it's well thought out, well written and it offered a good premise that was delivered on. It also had some brilliant plot twists that I didn't see coming. If I'm honest a knocked a star off because of the slow beginning and the fact that I didn't like one of the most important characters. Other than those little niggles I definitely think people should buy this. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I recommend it whole heartedly.