The Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld

Summary for the first book in the series, Uglies (summary taken from Goodreads)-

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

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.

When I looked and saw that I had never reviewed any of the Uglies books by Scott Westerfeld, I was outraged. So I thought that writing a review of the whole series, just in time for the new paperbacks to be released- would work well. Before I start this review, I want to talk covers.

Covers-

The old "Uglies” book covers will always hold a special place in my heart because those covers are the ones I picked up 4 years ago when I stumbled in to my schools book faire. I like how the old books were mysterious and dark and just overall good covers. However, I also really like the new ones (pictures on the right). I think they capture the feel of the series well, while still looking really interesting and following some of the trends that are now common in YA book covers.

Characters-

The characters this series are so wonderfully conflicted-and I loved them all. I admit, every time I reread these book, half the time I have an overwhelming need to slap the characters. I loved how Tally was such a non-rebel in the beginning of the first book, but I liked how throughout the series she grew to be a well-rounded character. All of the other characters who show up in the series- Shay, Zane, Peris, David- are all written so wonderfully, I can’t give Scott Westerfeld enough praise.

Plot-

This was the first dystopian novel I ever read, and it’s probably still my favorite dystopian novel (The Hunger Games and Wither are both in a really close second). I like how Scott Westerfeld took a part of society that is relevant (plastic surgery) and puts it to a drastic extreme. These books talk about things that could potentially happen in the future. It isn’t too far off that you don’t believe it, but it’s distant enough that it becomes dystopian.

Overall-

I cannot even tell you how much I recommend these books. If you are reluctant to read or enjoy just good literature, I recommend them. These books are some of the first YA books that I read, and I liked them at a point in time where I didn’t really like to read. If you have read the Uglies books, I recommend you read Scott’s other books (Peeps, So Yesterday, The Last Days, Levithan (and the other books in the Leviathan series), and The Midnighters books. I promise that you won’t regret it. My copies of all the Uglies books are completely falling apart from me reading them so much, and I hope that you enjoy them as much as I did.

Edit- Someone just reminded me of this, but the slang in these books is also really awesome. It's a mix of Australian slang and slang that Scott Westerfeld made up. After you read these books, you will be using the slang for weeks afterward.

FTC- Bought.

Best Wishes,

Zoe-la