Impostors (Impostors, #1)

by Scott Westerfeld

[nightingalereads]

3.25 stars

I read the Uglies series back in middle-school, around the same time I read The Hunger Games. Since then, my love for Uglies has not faded with time - in fact, the more I reflect on it, the more impressed I am at how insightful the story was in regard to cultural and technological development. I will stand by my opinion that Scott Westerfeld predicted the rise of YouTube stardom, especially in his book Extras.

So, Impostors:

I was excited about this continuation series, while of course being wary of disappointment. Thankfully, Scott Westerfeld's writing is as immersive and illustrative as ever. It has that same hard-to-explain quality to it that made reading Impostors feel like coming home. My only true complaint would be that the world-building lacked some fleshing out. We get references to hoverboards and crash bracelets and such, but I finished the book still a little fuzzy about what all has changed since the original series (this new one is set a decade or two post-Tally' story, I believe).

I enjoyed Frey, our protagonist, and loved her storyline of being a fighter decoy for her twin sister, Rafia. Frey's shadowed childhood and the development of their sister-bond kept me curious because it's such a fraught yet familiar dynamic. I think Westerfeld really nailed the conflict of what each sister struggled with. That said, the book could've spent more time building the characters. Impostors has a decent amount of action and moves along at a nice clip, but I think sometimes that came at the expense of natural character development. Some relationships felt rushed, while others felt too unexplored. Hopefully, the sequel will expand on these elements, because the potential is huge.

Overall, I loved getting to throw myself back into the world of Uglies. And YES there are references to Tally, the Rusties, the Pretty Regime, etc! I'm dying to see where the sequel takes us.