Pretties

Read September 2009.
Photo courtesy Simon Pulse.


The Scoop: The second in the young adult sci-fi Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld (US). Published by Simon Pulse also in 2005.

The Ingredients: The continuing story of protagonist Tally Youngblood. Don't want to give away too much, because it might spoil the preceding book.

Serves: Young adult.

[Chapter 1] Criminal: Getting dressed was always the hardest part of the afternoon. [2/5 Again, not very inventive or enthralling, but the style does play to describing a 16-year-old's "pretty" life.]

Result: I didn't like this one as much as Uglies. We learn a lot more about the life of "pretties" and it couldn't be more of the kind of people and lifestyle I don't like. Also, the language of the pretties (their slang, you could say) got on my nerves quickly, but I just got used to it. It's still an easy read, I still was able to read it over the course of a day, but it just dragged on more than the first, as I guess the premise was getting stale. Not to say there's no excitement in it; there still are thrills and suspense, even some pretty emotional parts. But some things (and people) I liked about the first one weren't here to the same extent. It's been awhile since I finished it, but still I'd have to go back and skim the end to remember what happened and see where the next will pick up from (and yes, I do plan on finishing the series, so that's still saying something...) [2.5/5 A bit lower than the first, but still a good young adult fiction book compared to some trash that makes it out there. Not a high reread value, but I will move on to the following book.]