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| Title: Uglies (Uglies #1) Author: Scott Westerfeld Publisher: Simon Pulse (Feb. 28, 2005) |
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.*
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I'll admit straight off the bat that the only reason I read this was because I was sick of hearing about how great it was and feeling like the only person in the world who hadn't read it, so I finally picked it up and read... thankfully.
At the beginning, I was kind of regretting the decision, and my expectations for the rest of the book dropped pretty dramatically. (They were pretty high considering all the hype I've heard over it.) I would argue that the beginning is pretty necessary to understand the rest of the book, but that doesn't mean I fully enjoyed it.
It took a good seventy, eighty pages to get into it. But, when I finally did, I really got into it. It took off from about ten miles an hour to seventy, and it kept the pace up through the end. I don't have much to say about the middle or the end that without spoiling anything.
I loved the sci-fi element of the book. I thought Scott did a fantastic job of imagining a future like this. It was very thorough and explained well without being too much or getting boring (past the very beginning). He also incorporated the things we do now into the story, and it all fit perfectly.
All in all, an excellent book. Maybe not the best beginning, but after pushing past it, I really came to enjoy it. I already have Pretties (Uglies #2) on hold at the library, and I can't wait to get it.
*summary from back cover of paperback
