Pretties (Uglies, #2)

by Scott Westerfeld

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Pretties is a dark and exciting sequel to Uglies that will keep readers on the edges of their seats. It may be difficult to believe, but the tricks are bigger, the stakes are higher, and everything is more dangerous once Tally and her friends become (supposedly) complacent pretties. New tensions arise between Tally and the Specials, Tally and Shay, and Tally and David—and the choices she must make to try to keep everything together are harder than ever. This is a book fans of Uglies will not want to wait to get their hands on—and of course it ends with a huge cliffhanger that will have them scrambling for Specials.

On a more technical note, Westerfeld has done a fantastic job of fleshing out his dystopian world in Pretties. Uglies has technology like the smart walls, interface rings, and hoverboards, but Tally spends so much of her time tricking the technology that it can fade into background. Then the action moves to the ruins and the Smoke where there is much less technology, so in some ways the world of Uglies does not seem greatly different from our own. In Pretties, however, Tally and her friends are living in the heart of New Pretty Town, surrounded by technology people do not often try to trick—and much more closely monitored by it, since she and her group are considered threats. Westerfeld’s vision of his dystopia really comes to life in this book.

He also has done a remarkable job of inventing and incorporating “pretty-speak,” which includes the word “bubbly,” of course, but also phrases like, “Snow would be so pretty-making!” and “The sun would be so warming!” He successfully conveys the insipidness of the pretties without making his readers want to bash their heads against a wall because everyone has been stating obvious things in cutesy language for so long. His best addition is “surge” for an abbreviation of “surgery,” conveying that operations for cosmetic purposes have become so common and so frequently discussed that the word has been shortened for everyday use.

Westerfeld’s exploration of his world and philosophy simply becomes deeper with each successive novel, making Uglies a series uncommonly well-executed.