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| Picture from Chapters.ca |
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia
Format: Paperback (370 pages)
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: November 1st 2005
Rating: 4/5Source: Library Loan
Get it at: Chapters | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Author Website: http://scottwesterfeld.com/
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 beneath all the fun -- the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom -- is a nagging sense that something's wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugly past 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.
What I Think:
Right after I finished reading Uglies, I immediately started on Pretties. The beginning is intriguing as the heroine of the story has turned into a "pretty" like she always wanted before she met Shay (Shay is also a Pretty now; read the first book to find out what happen). But here's the catch, Tally's memories have been tampered with and cannot remember in detailed about the days when she was an Ugly. Now, with her new look, she is best friend forever with Shay and of course, Peris. Somehow, during one of her wild parties with all the new Pretties, she met up with an old acquaintance. From then on, she start to regain her memories of her betrayal and the real purpose why she turned into a Pretty. Zane, a "flawed" Pretty. just like Tally, is ready to help her with the mission. However, the Special Circumstances (soldiers of the strict society of the Pretties) are one step ahead of her as her friends all fell into the grasp of authorities.
Again, Scott Westerfeld did a marvelous job describing everything, yet not to put too much detail. He also emphasize the important points such as the dialect of the Pretties (which can be annoying at times). There were more character development focusing on Tally and Zane, but not so much on Peris. I thought it was funny how Peris seemed to inserted in the story again, even though he seemed to disappeared from the face of earth in the first book (I have yet to figure out his purpose in the story). Shay, on the other hand, was exactly like in the first book, going from all giddy, friendly, mindless girl into a mean person. This time, she has a reason to do that so her personality change was not that annoying compared to her change in Uglies. Dr. Cable (leader of the Special Circumstances) came back to mess with Tally once again so she is still alive from the first book.
Pacing and plot wise, I thought it was a bit slow in middle of the book, but picked up again towards the end. Similar with the first book, it takes a bit of time to get use of the inconsistent pacing. Surprisingly, I really like the twisted ending. It's not opened but with closure that you just have to read the next book.
What I don't like about this book is the love triangle. Towards the end, the story re-introduced David and Tally made up her mind to be with Zane rather than David as she has more things in common with Zane. I felt the whole break up was rushed because in the first book she was super attached to David. Honestly, I don't think Romance is Scott Westerfeld's forte.
Overall, it seems like Scott Westerfeld is making this trilogy a very big cat and mouse chase. At first, I'm not sure what to make of Shay, other than hate her, but towards the end, Shay is like a big bait to lure out Tally and that Tally is a whole experiment thing designed by Dr Cable and her Special Circumstances. That is my guess so far. I think everyone that read the first book should read the second book. There are so much twists and turns that would surprise you!
I am definitely rushing to the library tomorrow morning to grab the last book!
Rating: ★★★★
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