Febuary Book Review: Uglies by Scott Westerfield February 8, 2008

UGLIES is about a future civilization, where people have a mandatory operation at age 16, that makes them “pretty”.  Tally can’t wait to get rid of her old self - untill she meets Shay.  Shay doesn’t want to turn pretty, but she does want a friend, and that friend is Tally.  Shay shows Tally the good parts about being “ugly”, but when Shay runs away to escape the operation, Tally is blackmailed into following her, and the group of “forever uglies”  she’s gone to join.  Tally finds them, but then decides not to report them to the authorities, and wants to stay there permenantly.  Right after she tentatively makes her decision, she learns something that horrifys her, and solidifys her choice - the truth about being pretty.  And it’s not pretty.  Not at all.  But then the authorities raid the camp, forcing Tally to run yet again, and make a choice that shapes the rest of her life.  I really liked UGLIES, because it has lots of suspense.  I literally could not put it down!  The characters and the situations are so real and alive that I was semi-surprised to look up from the end and see that the real world still exists.  All in all, a fabulous read that got five stars from wildwool, a.k.a. Lily.