Title: Pretties
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Page count: 368 pages
Rating: 5/5 stars
*WARNING: spoilers inside!
I read Uglies earlier this year, just before I started doing book reviews, and I loved it to bits. It sucked me right into the world, while making me wonder about my own world. The characters were easy to relate to, they were interesting and diverse, the story was very interesting. Basically, everything I want in a book.
Now the second part, Pretties, is just as good. There`s the same interesting, diverse characters that were easy to relate to. Another interesting story, that sucked me right into its world while making me think about my own. The same obvious critique on our society, though done in a very good way.
What this book brought, though, was a new perspective. Aside from the obvious New Prettytown instead of Uglyville part, you can also see how Tally has been through more and has different perspectives now. The people think differently, it`s a different world.
The book was a bit over the top sometimes though. I mean, jumping from a hot air balloon? Really? And didn`t that fall last ages? I also thought the pretty-making technology was sometimes a bit too convenient and used as an excuse too easily.
One more thing I didn`t really like was the “oh no I have to choose between two boys” part. It just seems a bit too much like history repeating (Tally/David), plus it`s overdone to introduce a new love interest in the second book of a series while the first one is conveniently out of the picture. Come on, YA (and any other) writers. A bit more originality there, please.
Still, on the plus side: there were some plot twists that made go “I should have seen that coming miles ago, that was really kind of obvious”. But since I didn`t see them coming because I was too engrossed in the story itself, I don`t mind.
And admittedly, the book really was good enough to make me finish it in only a few days, while working long hours at a crappy job. I may or may not have sacrificed some (okay a lot) sleep so I could keep reading.
All in all, this book was totally bubbly and you should all totally go read it.
(Fun fact: my housemate borrowed it after I finished. She returned it to me today, with the words “so when are you buying the next part?”)
Currently reading: Red Dragon, by Thomas Harris
