Uglies (Uglies, #1) in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Apr 01, 2008 Terri rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult

In a society where every 16 year old is made "pretty" by an operation in order to avoid social strife, Tally meets Shay, a girl who will change her life.

A very quick and enjoyable read making me want to read the next one in the series ...more

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Oct 12, 2011 Jen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: booksfornephewsandnieces

Uglies are people under the age of 16 in a future dystopia posing as utopia. When they turn 16, they become Pretties - plastic surgeons modify them to look like the ideal of beauty (large eyes to convey vulnerability, tons of liposuction...). Tally's best friend turned 16 three months before she did, and he's whisked off to New Pretty Town. She's a rebel, flying her hoverboard over to New Pretty Town, to try to sneak in and meet him. Everyone is partying and vapid and gorgeous, and Peris is no d ...more

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Jul 27, 2009 Sarah Sammis rated it it was amazing

Shelves: scifi, borrowed, challenge, read-in-2009

Sigh. I love reading. I love blogging. Unfortunately I read much faster than I write reviews for my blog. Add into the mix my own faulty memory... and I find myself thinking I've posted reviews when I haven't even written them yet. For example, Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, I read in October 2009. I really thought I had already posted my review but realized I hadn't when I started to write the review for the sequel, Pretties.

In this first book, Tally is nearly sixteen. When she is, she'll be given Sigh. I love reading. I love blogging. Unfortunately I read much faster than I write reviews for my blog. Add into the mix my own faulty memory... and I find myself thinking I've posted reviews when I haven't even written them yet. For example, Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, I read in October 2009. I really thought I had already posted my review but realized I hadn't when I started to write the review for the sequel, Pretties.

In this first book, Tally is nearly sixteen. When she is, she'll be given the operation to make her a pretty. She'll move into the city with all the other pretties where she'll have access parties, toys and other fun stuff.

Tally though is having second thoughts about being a Pretty. She's the youngest of her friends and therefore the last to go. Left alone she's feeling abandoned. While finding ways to spend her free time she makes new friends, friends who show her what life outside of her closed society is like.

The first third of the book builds a utopia based on a mandated homogeneity. People who are all the same, or at least all within the bounds of what society considers "beautiful" and who have all their needs cared for in excess will be happier and therefore easier to control. While I found the limits of this society and how it was affecting Tally and her friends interesting, I didn't really dive into the book until Tally leaves the confines of her city.

The second third follows Tally as she explores the remains of a long dead society, colloquially called the Rusties. Here we see glimmers of our current society. By keeping the details vague the remains could be almost any city, making the book all the more compelling.

There aren't just ruins out there. There are people. Some of them work for Tally's society but others are off the grid. They live without the operation and they try to recreate an older style society. This fringe society reminded me a bit of the rebel encampment in the caves as described in The Host by Stephanie Meyer. The difference here though, is that less time is spent on mundane details, meaning the pace of the book doesn't suffer from a momentary pause in the action.

As Uglies is the first in the series, it ends on a cliffhanger, leaving Tally to make the ultimate sacrifice to possibly save her friends and to bring an end to the flawed utopia she grew up in. Although the book is the first and ends as it does, the book can stand well by itself. ...more

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Mar 06, 2008 Cindywho rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, fantasy-sf, ya

Some of the most entertaining SF takes an aspect of current life and exaggerates it with interesting results. Tally lives in a future world where all adolescents are "ugly" and live in dorms, going to school and awaiting the ultimate sweet sixteen - surgical transformation into a "pretty" who have years of parties awaiting them. Uglies blow off steam by sneaking out at night and pulling off stunts, but Tally seems to have a knack of getting into more trouble than most. She has adventures with bu ...more

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Jul 27, 2009 Tani rated it it was amazing

Shelves: male-author, 2012, scifi, youngadult, five-stars

This one got off to a shaky start for me, but finished super-strong. I was a little put off by the beginning. It felt childish and simplistic, and I was very worried that this was going to be one of those popular books that I just didn't get.

Looking back, it seems like that might have been a deliberate choice because in the beginning, Tally is childish. She's simplistic. I think that's what made watching her grow so much better. I loved seeing her grow into herself, from the girl who misses her ...more

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Aug 18, 2009 Andrea rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, youngadult, dystopia

Tally can't wait to turn 16 so that she can have an operation to become a Pretty, like all the adults in her city, and to get across to New Pretty Town where her best friend Peris has been without her for months. But in the lonely waiting time in between, she meets Shay, another senior Ugly who isn't so sure that she wants to become pretty like everyone else. Her friendship with Shay leads Tally down a path on which she learns much more about her society and the price Pretties may be paying for ...more

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May 02, 2009 Flitterkit rated it liked it

I liked this book but it did take me quite a long time to get into it.

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Nov 18, 2011 Kerry (The Roaming Librarian) O'Donnell rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, ya-fiction, science-fiction

This story has a great concept behind it and that helped me get passed my initial dislike of the main character Tally and her friend Shay. I began to enjoy the characters more as the series went on though. Overall I think I liked the themes and ideas more than the actual story (which I was able to predict most of while I was reading. But I'm intruiged enough to pick up the next titlein the series, Pretties. We'll see how that goes. I'm anticipating a future love triangle... ...more

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