Wowee, I've had a busy week! I've been really slack with posting (clearly), so I figured I'd probably do my next review! Seeing as I haven't finished reviewing the Uglies series yet, I'll continue that with the next book in the series: Specials.
So, if you're yet to read the first and second books, I must warn that here be spoilers. So if you don't wanna ruin the earlier books, don't read this review just yet!
Now, Specials is probably my least favourite book in the series, not because I don't like it, but because I don't like who Tally has become (which, of course, is a result of her latest operation). In the first book, she was an ugly. At the very end, she gave herself up to be pretty. In the second book, she was a pretty. Then, at the end of Pretties, Special Circumstances caught her and turned her Special. So Tally has been pretty much everything you can be in the world of her city, and she's still messing things up for herself.
So, have the blurb:
Tally thought they were a rumour, but now she's one of them. A Special. A super-amped fighting machine, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid.
But maybe being perfectly programmed with strength and focus isn't better than anything she's ever know. Tally still has memories of something else.
But it's easy for her to tune that out -- until she's offered a chance to stamp out the rebels of the New Smoke permanently. It all comes down to one last choice: listen to the tiny, faint heartbeat, or carry out the mission she's programmed to complete. Either way, Tally's world will never be the same.
Just as well written as the other two, if not better. And yet... I just don't like it as much. Tally in her new form is not the Tally I've grown to love, and for that reason, I can't attach myself to the book like I did the other two. Now, it's the final in the... trilogy. Except for Extras, but that doesn't really count. And Tally is a Cutter, one of Dr. Cable's special specials. Now, Tally and Shay plan an escape for Zane to get to the New Smoke so they can trick him, capture the New Smoke, get Zane turned into a Cutter, and all live happily ever after. Needless to say, it doesn't turn out that way at all.
One thing I like about Westerfield is that he's nothing if not unpredictable. The twists and turns in Specials will keep you on the edge of your seat, just as in the other books. And of course, there is still a healthy level of hatred for all who are different, by the main characters. But it's not their fault their brains continue to be altered. Also, Specials continues the 'destroying the world' message, but perhaps a little more subtly and eloquently than Uglies did.
Just a word of warning: you will cry. I do everytime. Then I put the book down and curse Scott Westerfield for a while. Then I stop crying, pick up the book, and promptly begin the cycle again until I am past those few pages. It's just not fair.
What do I rate it? Probably *** out of five. Not because of the writing or the plot, but because I don't like Tally. Or the twist. And that's where we'll leave this review, I think! Soon, I'll put the Extras review up. :)
Title: Specials
Author: Scott Westerfield
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 372
Source: Bought
That word we never use.
You'll find Weekly Geeks here. Each week, the blog posts a different theme, and bloggers (or not) can participate in them! So, here's my first one. May as well try everything, right?
The challenge for this week is:
"1 - I would like to make you all parents and send you over to Save The Word.org to look at all the words that are either not being used enough or are due for a cull probably within the next couple of years. Adopt a word.
2 – What is your pet peeve word? – the word that makes you grind your teeth with either it’s over use or being used out of context.
3 – What is a word you adore, or a word that you feel is not used enough. Irrespective of meaning or even era it’s a word that you just love
4 - Lastly what is your opinon on word culling or the rise in "text speak" that's happening now.. "
So. First, I headed to Save The Word.org to, you know, save some words. Which is a fantastic idea, I thought. The site is great and totally hilarious (read the spread-the-word suggestions. Or even the adopt-a-word introduction: What have future generations done for you lately? Well, not much. Gosh that made me laugh.) There, I adopted my perfect word: speustic. An adjective that means "Made, done, or (especially) cooked hastily". How very me! So, now I've adopted him, I can rest assured that he will not be culled from the English language. Hypothetically.
The second part is a bit harder. Pet peeve word? Well, there are several swears that I don't ever like to hear, but let's not go there. What word do I hate seeing used out of context? I must say, I particularly hate when people mix up their homophones. They're; there; their. You're; your. (That one in particular!) Its; it's. To; too. Seriously. Gahhhh I'm getting frustrated just thinking about it.
Now, what word do I adore? I find that not enough people use the word 'inconspicuous'. I love how it sounds. But I'm also partial to the word 'chug'. It's fun to say.
Finally, what do I think about word culling and text speak? Now, I don't particularly agree with word culling. Who says what words are used often enough to stay 'in vogue'? I understand why it needs to be done: if it wasn't, we would have 7000 page dictionaries that are mostly irrelevant. But that being said, they could easily cull words that ARE still relevant - how many times have you searched through a dictionary, only to discover that the word you're looking for isn't there? Text speak frustrates me to no end. I occasionally say 'lol' or 'ftw' (but that last is a joke between friends). Bt 2 speek lyke dis al da tyme iz jst anoyin 2 reed & jst promtes bad grama skillz. Not to mention, it is practically flippin' illegible! Shakespeare would roll over in his grave if he ever received a text message from the average fourteen year old of today. So why are things like the Urban Dictionary promoting 'new fangled' ways of speaking, while decent, intelligent words such as speustic are being ignored, shunted and forgotten?
What are your thoughts? Feel free to share them, and why not do your own Weekly Geeks meme?
The second in the Uglies series, this book is even more fantastic than the first. Just a quick warning, this review will probably spoil Uglies for you if you are yet to read it, so you better get crackin'!
Tally has gone back to her city, and she is now pretty. Which she did for science, to try and cure the lesions the Operation places in a new pretty's brain. But of course, thanks to those pesky lesions, she has no memory of why she became a pretty, and little memory of the Smoke. So Tally parties hard every night, trying to join a group of Shay's old friends (pretties who remember being uglies, and who want to be tricky again). She even gets a new love interest (well, she doesn't remember David, after all!), and I must say, I'm a bit in love with Zane. Sigh. Anywho, here's the blurb:
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 underneath all the fun - the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom - something's wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugle paast 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.
See?! This whole series is just INTENSE. It sounds kinda vapid, the whole 'her boyfriend is totally hot' thing, but trust me, it fits perfectly with the world that Westerfield has created. (Another interesting book, when you read the whole series, is Bogus to Bubbly. He explains a bunch of stuff about writing the books, trivia and such, and even includes technical stuff about hoverboards and bungee jackets.) Pretties is more exciting than Uglies, as it's mostly set in the city (however, again, there's a long part where Tally is in the wilderness by herself). It's obvious how the characters have developed from the first book: Tally is far more grown up and well-rounded than she was in Uglies. Which is a great thing, because it means she becomes more interesting to read about. It's also interesting to realise how different she becomes every time she has a different operation (as an ugly, she was little more than a child who wanted to be pretty, as a pretty she essentially had a city-made brain which she fights). You want her to be triumphant, and you want her to kick the city's butt. And trust me, she tries.
This series really makes a person think. Obviously, Scott Westerfield wants people to question how we abuse the environment (he could not make it any more explicit, in fact, with a comment about humanity being a disease that plagues the planet on every page), but it does raise many valid points. And he asks the reader, are the cities going about it the best way? Or is the Smoke? The cities are abusing their power and using the Operation to control their citizens. But, after all, the Smoke burns trees. As readers, we feel the constant struggle in our minds about which community is 'right'. I mean, it's entirely possible that we ourselves are heading towards a future where something very similar to this could become a reality. Who knows?
So I think that's all I want to say about this book, except the end is almost as devastating as the next book's (Specials). Almost, but not quite. Have I hooked you in, yet? Well... That was the plan. This one gets *****!! Yeah, that's how much I love this series!
Oh! And of course, there is an incredibly gorgeous guy and girl on the front cover. The book IS about attractive people. Although I must say, I didn't think the girl on the cover of Uglies was too bad!
Title: Pretties (Uglies series, #2)
Author: Scott Westerfield
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 370
Source: Bought
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
So, this review is my first. (Yay!) Naturally, I decided to review the book I most recently finished, which happened to be Stephen King's IT. Most widely-known for the movie adaptation (which I honestly haven't seen, and don't really know if I want to), this book is probably better known as 'the one with the scary clown'. Yes, there is a scary clown. But if you are a fan of King, or the thriller genre in general, I would strongly recommend this novel. But before I explain my reasons, here's the blurb:
To the children, the town was their whole world. To the adults, knowing better, Derry, Maine was just their home town: familiar, well-ordered for the most part. A good place to live.
It was the children who saw - and felt - what made Derry so horribly different. In the storm drains, in the sewers, IT lurked, taking on the shape of every nightmare, each one's deepest dread. Sometimes IT reached up, seizing, tearing, killing...
The adults, knowing better, knew nothing.
Time passed and the children grew up, moved away. The horror of IT was deep-buried, wrapped in forgetfulness. Until they were called back, once more to confront IT as it stirred and coiled in the sullen depths of their memories, reaching up again to make their past nightmares a terrible present reality.
Image taken from cynniegurl's blog.
The Details:
Title: IT
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publication Date: 1986
Pages: 1376
Source: Bought
