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Christina's Reviews > Extras
Extras (Uglies, #4)
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I really struggled to finish this book, and I thought it was significantly worse than the others in the series. A lot of the dialogue was agonizingly stilted. The characters actually said things like "Not good!" and "uh, oh!" to react to approaching falling objects and other imminent bumps-on-the-head. AAAAAARGH. Those lines drive me crazy enough in movies. I was horrified to find them in a book.
At one point, characters from two different countries meet and have some communication difficulties. After a few pages, the author seems to forget about the language barrier and the characters converse naturally, as if they're all speaking the same language. Then, toward the end, things get awkward again. SLOPPY. Sloppy writing, I say.
Thoughout the series, the characters were pretty one-sided. Tally (the protagonist from the first three books) entered this book about half-way through, and I was surprised to find her totally changed; whereas in the first three books she was a victim, thrown about by circumstances and surgeries, in this book she was suddenly a confident, rough-and-tumble leader. I just didn't buy it.
I don't think Westerfeld wrote very well from a teenage girl's point of view. Neither Aya nor Tally were very strong characters, and the "ew, bugs and mud!" part of this book really annoyed me.
I was also confused by the fact that this story took place in a different country from the first three. I wish that had been well established early on so that I didn't have to wonder what the location was for such a long time.
Wow, this review has gotten WAY longer than necessary. To sum up: There were some really good, interesting, creative ideas in the Uglies series, but they weren't good books.
At one point, characters from two different countries meet and have some communication difficulties. After a few pages, the author seems to forget about the language barrier and the characters converse naturally, as if they're all speaking the same language. Then, toward the end, things get awkward again. SLOPPY. Sloppy writing, I say.
Thoughout the series, the characters were pretty one-sided. Tally (the protagonist from the first three books) entered this book about half-way through, and I was surprised to find her totally changed; whereas in the first three books she was a victim, thrown about by circumstances and surgeries, in this book she was suddenly a confident, rough-and-tumble leader. I just didn't buy it.
I don't think Westerfeld wrote very well from a teenage girl's point of view. Neither Aya nor Tally were very strong characters, and the "ew, bugs and mud!" part of this book really annoyed me.
I was also confused by the fact that this story took place in a different country from the first three. I wish that had been well established early on so that I didn't have to wonder what the location was for such a long time.
Wow, this review has gotten WAY longer than necessary. To sum up: There were some really good, interesting, creative ideas in the Uglies series, but they weren't good books.
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Reading Progress
February 22, 2009
– Shelved
Started Reading
March 2, 2009
–
Finished Reading
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Sarah
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Mar 03, 2009 10:24AM
Hi Christina! I haven't read the book, but I sure thought the writing in your review was both amusing and stimulating!
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Thanks! I LOVE your mad scientist photo. :)
i read the first three books but like u said the ideas are intersting but there not devolped well enough......i found the first three books was just a pattern so i just didnt even give the last fourth book a chance
I just finished reading it and your summary is exactly what I was thinking. I had trouble reading it when the book said something about switching from Japanese to English. Many things should have been stated in the first chapter of the book so I think he was in a rush to get this book published.
This I'd pretty much how I felt about it. So glad its over.
It is specified in the first 1-2 chapters that Aya lives in a Japanese city. And it's normal that 3 years make a difference in Tally's attitude...it better make a difference after what she's been through :))
thanks for posting this review. I was debating on reading this book, more so to complete the series. But I finished Specials very disappointed. So now I can remove this from my to-read list. :)
I think they are like "ew bugs and mud" because they aren't used to being not sheltered
Although it didn't come out early in the book that its set in a different country, I'm pretty sure the names of most of the first introduced characters was a dead giveaway. Just saying. Also a lot of things can happen in 3 years, especially people's attitudes.
TOTALLY agree! (:
TOTALLY agree! :)
TOTALLY agree! :)
TOTALLY agree! :)
TOTALLY agree! :)
Spot on review! Such good ideas in the books that just got lost in subplots...
I struggled too! Ugh!
I started reading this book a few months ago and I struggled. I thought I was the only one until I came on here. I'm glad that I'm not alone. I can't finish the book, tbh. It is really boring and the writing is just bad.
I have to say I agree with this review. I really enjoyed the first three books but Extras has let the team down. I really didn鈥檛 like how Tally has developed. She鈥檚 arrogant and condescending, not the hero she was in the first three books. I found a lot of the action scenes hard to visualise. I had to read them a few times over to figure out what was happening. I still don鈥檛 understand the chase scene when Tally first showed up. This book had a lot of things about it that could have been great. I loved the idea of a society where popularity earns you credits. A but like that Black Mirror episode. But the execution wasn鈥檛 the best. It felt like a rushed ending to the franchise to me. If you stop at Specials I would still recommend the series.
