BOOK REVIEW: UGLIES BY SCOTT WESTERFELD

READING TIMELINE: Read June 15,2010; Done June 18, 2010

Pages: 423

Where I got it: Powerbooks in Festival Mall Alabang

Price: Php309 / somewhere around $6.87

UGLIES: THE BOOK THAT BEGAN IT ALL

BACK COVER:

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. In just a few weeks she'll have the operation that will turn her from a repellent ugly into a stunning pretty. And as a pretty, she'll be catapulted into a high-tech paradise where her only job is to have fun.

But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to become a pretty. 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 a choice: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. Tally's choice will change her world forever...

MY TWO CENTS:

When everything's too good and too perfect to be true, it probably is.

The plot in this book was set sometime in the future humans are referred as Rusties and the place where they used to live in is known as Rusty Ruins. Cars do not exist anymore and is replaced with Hovercars and the authorities are known as the Specials.

Before anyone is turned into a Pretty, they live in a small town named Uglyville and wait for their turns to turn sixteen and be transformed and move to Pretty Town.

Tally is a normal 15-year old who can't wait to turn into pretty and join her friend, Peris. Just when she gets too lonely, she met Shay and made the waiting a breeze.

But Shay doesn't want to become pretty and ran away before 16th birthday, coaxing Tally to join her. The Specials offered Tally a now or never proposition and her future of becoming a pretty would depend on it.Tally is then torn between keeping her promise to Shay and her desire to become pretty and join her friend, Peris.

This is a story of friendship, love and sacrifice and everything in between. Tally may appear to be shallow in the beginning but she redeems herself in the end.

This is a different genre from what I usually read and I'm not really a sucker for Science Fiction Lit but I enjoyed this book anyway. The second book of the series is "Pretties" and yeah, I might buy it. =)

RATING: ♥♥♥♥