Extras (Uglies, #4)

by Scott Westerfeld

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Extras is an excellent addition to the Uglies series, a book that tackles big themes but different big themes and with different characters. Westerfeld gives his readers the satisfaction of seeing what happens after the world changes, but is smart enough to tell the story from a fresh perspective—that of Aya Fuse, a fifteen-year-old Japanese girl with dreams of becoming as popular as her older brother. Society has accepted a broader definition of beauty (though what is ugly still seems to be quite clear), and the new obsession is fame. Westerfeld expertly explores the value of fame, the meaning of fame, and how far one should go to acquire it. There is a fair amount of discussion about truth and integrity in journalism, though the conclusions are a little hazy. Of course, amongst all the philosophy he gives readers action, adventure, and romance of the caliber that colored the first three books.

The one annoying element (and this is very much a matter of opinion) is the continuation of the comments about Rusties’ horrible treatment of the planet. Many readers will agree that pollution is something better avoided and that, yes, humans ought to have some respect for nature, but the characters’ constant condemnation of all the Rusties’ habits is somewhat insulting since we are the Rusties. Westerfeld (and the characters harp on the topic so much that they do eventually come across as Westerfeld’s opinions) begins to give the impression he does not like us very much.

His viewpoint also changes from normal concern for the earth to something very radical. The characters are against cutting down trees, killing animals, and mining. There is also a lot of talk about keeping the population under control, which might be the most troubling of all. Their worries are hypocritical since they do actually eat meat and since it is rather convenient that a bunch of trees were cut down and a ton of metal was mined before they were even born, thus allowing them to live the lifestyles they do. But things get far out of control at the end of the story when (spoiler ahead!) a great plan is revealed to send people to live in orbit around the planet, thus allowing them to both keep the population down and take lots of metal with them so that the earth dwellers will be unable to expand their cities further into the wild. This is all seen as amazingly praiseworthy for some reason, although it comes across to me as another group of people controlling everyone else by force (or at the very least stealing, since the vast metal reserves are not actually theirs). This was bad when the Specials did it, but apparently good now since now since these people are “saving the planet.” Uglies seemed to be promoting dialogue and decisions made by societies instead of secret elite groups working “for the benefit” of people too stupid to know what was good for them on their own, but in Extras those rules just do not apply.

I loved this book, and it is really very good. Anyone who liked the first three will definitely want to read it. But there is something about saving the environment that makes Westerfeld a little crazy, and it became a little too obvious in this final book for my comfort.

This review was also posted at Pages Unbound Book Reviews.