Review: Uglies, Scott Westerfield

I read this book for the first time about four years ago, and I was instantly in love. It was one of those books that you are so blinded by the plot and the characters and the writing to really think about any flaws. Now, over the past four years I've read the book many times again (and the other three in the.... 'trilogy'..), which kinda shows that the book is re-readable and interesting to a YA audience. But there are flaws. First, have the blurb:

Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her licence - for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellant ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world - and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

When I first read this, I was intrigued. To say the least. OK, so I rushed straight out and bought Uglies AND the second book, Pretties (which I'll review soon!) Now, I'd never read anything by Scott Westerfield before, and I was immediately enraptured by this series. As I reread the first book, however, naturally I pick up on flaws that I didn't really notice the first few times. But we'll get to that.

First of all, the plot and story is amazing. The book is set three hundred years in the future, when most humans of today (or 'Rusties', in the books) have died out, and those who survived planned a superior society, which exists within several self-sufficient cities (we presume the events take place in what WAS America, probably around the West Coast). Now, the main idea is this: when someone turns 16, they go from being an 'ugly' (aka, a normal-looking person) to a 'pretty', which entails having the Operation which is pretty much an entire body reconstruction that causes one to look pretty much entirely different: an older, more sophisticated, more beautiful version of themselves. The problem with this astounding concept is, I sometimes grow weary of hearing about how ugly people are, which is mentioned about twenty times on every page. Ok, yes, that's the point, I know. But I kinda feel bombarded with the ideas of 'ugliness', y'know? But apart from that, the story is amazingly written and conceptualised.

There's also quite a bit of nature imagery used in the book. I mean, for half of it she's in the wilderness. This part kinda drags for me, in a borderline boring way. But then the action starts up again and everything's all exciting. It also makes me curious how they're going to portray the parts where it's just her in the wilderness for ages in the upcoming movie (can't wait!). But I guess we WILL have to wait to find out. Sigh.

The characters are engaging, and you fall a little bit in love with all of them (except the meanie ones). Oooh, and a clever tidbit? Westerfield ends each book with the title of the next one. Well, kinda. At the end of Uglies, she says "pretty", and the next book is Pretties. That was badly explained. You know what, just read them. Now. You won't regret it. In fact, I give this another **** out of five, because I love it that much. One point off for the borderline boring part in the middle. But still. Go read it!

 Title: Uglies
 Author: Scott Westerfield
 Publisher: Simon & Schuster
 Publication Date: 2005
 Pages: 425
 Source: Bought