Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Uglies

Eugenics: the YA novel.

WARNING: this book ends with a cliffhanger!

I enjoyed this book and raced through it as it was easy to read. The plot is interesting - especially Westerfeld's futuristic ideas - and moves quickly, so plot points get their payoffs in a satisfactory way.

The characters were a little clichéd in the typical YA way. The main character was not likeable, but as a reader you can forgive it because she's admittedly been brainwashed her whole life, and she grows as the story goes on. However, I felt that towards the end of the novel, the main character's instincts about an event revealed them to be incredibly self-involved, regardless of the brainwashing. (I'm talking about

Tally's reaction to David and Maddy being alone together after he'd just found out his father had died. Her narration makes it all about herself - I couldn't believe what I was reading!

)

Yes, unfortunately there is a

totally unnecessary romance plot

, as often is the case with these YA dystopic novels.

I do wish that the author had delved more into the racial aspect of the eugenicist regime. It is frequently stated that, after the operation, people's eyes become bigger, their noses become smaller, and their lips more full. Wouldn't it be interesting for Tally to learn about the implications of this? Especially from a futuristic perspective. There is also a brief mention of the fact that people's skin tones get evened out, and even a moment where she thinks about how weird it was that people used to kill each other over their skin colour. I'd have just liked this to be explored a bit more. What if Tally starts to learn about her family's lineage, and discovers that she is of a certain heritage, the defining characteristics of which have been wiped out by the operation?

My biggest critique, however, is that I found it very hard to follow Westerfeld's descriptions of space, direction, and travel. I felt that, when characters' physical journeys were described (which was often), the author could have been more detailed and clear. Unfortunately, it became increasingly difficult to orientate the characters in my mind and I ended up giving up on trying to do so, ignoring the geographical comments, and just enjoying the action instead. (Neueodivergent problem?)

I'll probably be reading the sequel, because I'm interested to see where the story goes.

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cow_inthe_closet's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

tally and shay had more chemistry in this book than tally and david/zane ever did

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kstericker's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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sallytumbler13's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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tomnoor's review against another edition

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3.5

Slow build with a really unlikeable main character. Didn’t love the Instalove or really the love interest at all, it felt like as soon as he was introduced Tally stopped caring about her friend Shay at all. Hoping for more critique of the Pretty surgery in the next book bc this book didn’t really critique why those beauty standards were harmful in and of themselves, Tally only became anti surgery when it turned out being pretty also included a brain surgery to make you compliant with the distopian government.

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froggydanny's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Concept was interesting, but I just wanted more. More world building, more character development. Felt very surface level, and I wanted a richer story.

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reggid13's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This has been on my TBR for years and I wish I had read it sooner. It was a free book that ended up in my pile at home but always got pushed to the side. I decided reading it to my daughter, since she's too young to understand words right now, was a great opportunity to check this one off.

Tally Youngblood lives in a dystopian society where everyone gets to become pretty once they turn 16. She's only months away from getting her turn when she meets her new best friend, Shay. Through Shay we are introduced to another idea of living although Tally isn't sure she wants to join. When Tally's time comes to turn pretty and live her life out in New Pretty Town, she's forced to make a hard decision of betraying Shay.

The middle of the book moves slower but Westerfeld takes this time to build up the Smoke and what it all entails. Tally experiences a whole new world from what she'd ever known. As time goes on her point of view changes from what she once thought. She finally is able to make her choice to stay or leave.

An obvious plot twist for the book along with a sped up ending into the next one, but I'm intrigued to find out what happens next.

I do agree Westerfeld could've added more to what makes being Pretty so bad, but realizing how long ago it was released I know my YA heart would have adored it even more back in the day.

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