Book Review: Uglies

Book review: Uglies

This series starts out with the book Uglies, which introduces us to the character of Tally Youngblood, and moves through the books Pretties and concludes with Specials. Tally starts out as a girl who desperately wants to be "pretty" which in this world, a post apocalyptic society, we learn involves an operation performed on every person who turns 16. The operation literally turns them pretty, and as a result those who are not yet pretty are referred to as "uglies." There are no uglies in this world that Tally knows of above the age of 16. Everyone becomes pretty.

This changes when Tally's new friend Shay introduces her to the idea of a group outside the city, who live like the rusties (that's us) of old, called smokies. The smokies live off of the land and eat meat, and remain ugly all their lives, free of the pressures of the city. Shay flees to join them, but Tally refuses. As a result she ends up getting captured by Special Circumstances, a group of people designed to take care of the smokies and any other threats to the city. Tally is turned into a spy, and promised that if she helps to capture the smokies she will be turned pretty.

I'm not going to keep explaining the plot of every book, but know that one of this series strong points is it's well developed, intriguing world, which is unraveled believably and in such a way that is interesting to the reader. There are no "As you know, Bob" moments. The setting also allows the work to raise questions about perceptions of beauty, as well as questions about the permanence of human psyche when we realize later just what exactly becoming "pretty" entails. It raises questions about conformity as well as humans treatment of the environment, and these issues are not taken lightly. There is no easy answer.

These issues are not explored to the expense of the plot, however, which moves at a fast clip throughout all three books. The titles reflect Tally's progression, from an Ugly, to a Pretty, and finally to a Special, an enhanced pretty who excels in combat and tracking down troublemakers. The book is filled with action sequences, the lens fixed exclusively on Tally as she goes through these stages.

Unfortunately, the books would be better were it focused on someone else. The first book is acceptable, and you get a sense of who Tally is-someone who is a bit cowardly and easily influenced, but learning to be stronger. Her decision at the end of the first book to voluntarily become pretty in order to find the cure to the brain lesions given to new Pretties is admirable, and you feel like she has grown as a character.

Then in books two and three, it's all reversed. She becomes pretty and acts banally stupid, and then becomes special and acts just as stupid, to the point where you wish she would just give up. After book one she does nothing for herself, acting only because of Zane's persuasion in book two and on Shay's orders in book three. She improves at the end, but it comes too late to salvage the lost enjoyment. The problem here is that due to personality changes that come with turning pretty and special, Tally's personality changes, and it becomes hard to care about her because of it. It's the same problem that the show Dollhouse faced. Couple with Tally's weak characterization in book one, it's a major one.

On top of that, her story just isn't that interesting. In book one her actions were tied to the plot, but in books two and three the really interesting parts of the plot (the smokies resistance and integration into another city) all happen on the sidelines, while we are treated to long scenes of Tally figuring out how to escape from the city in book two and blowing up weapons caches in book three, which just so happens to trigger a war. If the books focused on David or Maddy, or even Zane, who actually overcomes something of consequence before his disappointing death, they would be far more interesting. Instead they read like an action movie at times, especially near the end, with focus on explosions and action instead of events that actually change the world the characters live in. We are told repeatedly that her actions are important, but there is no evidence to back up the claims.

I would have enjoyed the books more had I cared more about Tally. It is very much the story of a girl, one that tries to be the story of a world, but it does a poor job mixing the two. I give points for the interesting setting and plot-I just wish I had been able to actually experience more of the latter.

The Uglies series gets a 6/10. Great setting, great plot, great writing, poor characterization, poor execution. There is a fourth book that takes place after the trilogy called Extras, but I find myself uninterested in picking it up.