Series: Uglies #2
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Sci-Fi
Pub Date: Nov. 2005, Simon & Schuster
Paperback, 384 pages
Source/FTC Disclosure: I purchased my copy of this book. I was in no way compensated for this review and my opinions are my own.
Source/FTC Disclosure: I purchased my copy of this book. I was in no way compensated for this review and my opinions are my own.
Gorgeous. Popular. Perfect. Perfectly wrong.
Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are awesome, her boyfriend is totally hot, and she's completely popular. It's everything she's ever wanted.
But beneath all the fun — the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom — is a nagging sense that something's wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what's wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold.
Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life — because the authorities don't intend to let anyone with this information survive.
MY THOUGHTS
While I devoured Uglies and was sucked in from early on, I had a much more difficult time getting into Pretties. My biggest problem with the book was the language that the Pretties used--it was really annoying, and unfortunately highly prevalent during most of the first half of the book. They have a habit of hyphenating words together to get a descriptive point across, like "pretty-making," "brain-missing," and "dizzy-making." Another irritation, adding a syllable to the end of their names--such as Shay-la and Tally-wa. It just sounds obnoxious.
OK, now that I'm done ranting about that, I'll get to the rest of this review. :-) In the end, I did enjoy the book, as thankfully the story redeemed itself as the Pretties started clearing their heads a bit, fighting the lesions (first mentioned in Uglies) that were added to their brains during their operation to become pretty. In this book, Tally becomes good friends with fellow pretty Zane, and it seems David and The Smoke are a distant memory. Through the first half, they are doing everything possible to stay "bubbly," as they call it, but, near as I can tell, that essentially means that their heads are clearer and they aren't just thinking "pretty thoughts," and they're even recovering any memories they may have of The Smoke. Unsurprisingly, through it all Shay and Tally end up on the outs again, as Shay remembers what happened in The Smoke, and accuses Tally of further betrayal again in Pretties.
Without giving away too much, eventually Tally, Zane and a group of their fellow "Crims" (Criminals, their clique) escape via hot air balloons, trying to reach the New Smoke. They are successful, but before making it to the Rusty Ruins, Tally has a side adventure that leads her to some descendants of the Rusties, and her reunion with David didn't turn out quite how she'd expected... There's another great twist and cliffhanger at the end of this one, so now I've got to get my hands on Specials, though I probably won't read it right away.
Other reviews of Pretties:
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I definitely need to check out this book. although, now i kind of just want to start at the second half. :) A lot of reviews complain about the Pretty talk.
ReplyDeleteI shouldn't have read your review until I wrote mine because now I just want to say go see Melissa's. And I have been a bad blogger and haven't written mine yet...maybe tomorrow.
ReplyDeletei read another book by this author...and want to read this one as well. thanks for reminding me!!!
ReplyDeleteI have wanted to read this series for years now. Now that you reviewed two of the books I think it'll time for me to finally put it on my TBR list.
ReplyDeleteEm ~ I think you'll be able to make it through the Pretty talk, though I admit it WAS rough going at times. It was an acceptable sacrifice this time around :-)
ReplyDeleteErika Lynn ~ Thank you, that's sweet of you to say. I look forward to reading your review on it. I've really been interested to see what people have to say about this one.
BookLineandsinker & Lilly ~ Hope you enjoy this series. I'll look forward to your reviews sometime down the road :-)
I didn't mind the Pretty talk at all, because I understood why they used it. This was my favorite book of the series. I thought the second half, especially when Tally's on the reservation, was a little slow.
ReplyDeletelol, Melissa - the pretty-talk reminded me of high school, where each clique had their own slang... =)
ReplyDelete& lilly - you CANNOT add more books to your TBR pile, or you will never finish my challenge!!!! =P
Amanda ~ I did understand why the Pretty talk was used, all I can say is that for me it was a relief when they could finally stop using it :-)
ReplyDeletedrey ~ you're right about that and LOL about your comment to lilly.
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