Here's what I wrote on my book club blog about Pretties, and the whole series: Westerfeld knows that he's writing to teens, so he's trying to address a LOT of issues that teens face. One is, obviously, being superficial. Remember reading the teen magazines, hearing all of the celebrity gossip (not to mention your own school gossip), trying to dress well and be "cool?" Maybe you were better than I was and didn't get pulled into that, but most teens are. And often the pull doesn't go away once you More...

Dear Tarah:

Well, I tried.

You were surprised that I didn't like Uglies. It was so much fun, you said! And you told me that you liked the sequel, Pretties, even more. When we talked about it, I wondered if it all boiled down to one's tolerance for hoverboards. Hoverboards are so played out, I said! It was a well-worn trope back in 1989, when Back to the Future was first released, I whined. It's certainly a cliche now.

You admitted that that might be true. But modern teenagers don't know from Marty More...

I liked this book better than the first. Maybe it’s because I'm more open to sci-fi or maybe it’s because it was just better. *shrug* Either way I liked it better. And I'm not a big sci-fi reader but I think the world Westerfeld creates is unique and things are explained well without it feeling like an overload of information. I didn't much like how the rusties (being us) are considered stupid but then again in the 1900s people took tape worm pills to lose weight, we know better now.

Anyways, get More...

Pretties is the sequel to Uglies, the second in a trilogy which I had started back two months previous. I opened the book with some hesitancy, despite the fact that I'd enjoyed the first book and had been anxious to start the second, since the details of the first book were kind of fuzzy — would I remember enough to piece together a coherent story?

Turns out I needn’t have worried. Pretties picks up where Uglies left off, yes — but the main character’s memory has been tampered with and she can’t More...

What I found most interesting about Pretties was its thematic use of various forms of bodily mutilation/eating disorders. In a perfect society, where everyone is brain-damaged into peace and transformed into absolutely perfectly beautiful creatures, how do you rebel? By starving yourself, cutting yourself - in a lesser sense, by covering your body in tattoos. (Tattoos as mutilation is a controversial thought, and I'm not sure I know where I stand with it - I mean, are some tattoos okay, but a bo More...

"Pretties" suffers from middle-of-a-trilogy-itis. It has to move the story forward, setting up things to come in the final installment, but it can't necessarily push things too far ahead for fear of losing audiences in the next installment.

"Pretties" picks up a few months after "Uglies" ended with Tally having undergone surgery and become pretty. We're treated to glimpses of her hedonistic lifestyle now, but a lot of the first third of this story had me wondering when the real plot would kick in More...

Scott Westerfield has a tallent that I enjoy as equally as it annoys me- he can change my mind like a remote control! At the end of the first book in this series, Uglies, I thought that it was the end of the world and that the next book couldn't possibly go the way I wanted it to go! But as I read Pretties, I found that what I had so stubbornly wanted while reading the first book dissolved and I suddenly wanted something else. At the end of this book the feeling of "Oh no! It's the end of the wo More...

In Pretties, the second installment of Scott Westerfeld’s series, the infamous ugly Tally is now a pretty.

Everything is perfect in Tally’s pretty world. She is with her friends again, and she has nothing but fun. But then Tally’s perfect world takes a turn when she is contacted by one of the uglies, and then finds the letter that she had written to herself.

Tally and her new beau Zane find the cure, but Tally is to afraid to go it alone. So, Tally takes one pill and Zane takes the other. But the More...

Really? Gotta bring in a love triangle? Sigh.
And if I never hear the word "bubbly" again, I'll die happy.
Pretty positive I won't be finishing this series, because I like my brain cells too much.

(EDITED: Updated star-status at the end)

Is this book really as bad I as I think it is? I need more friends to read this, to reassure me that it really is awful and it's not just that I'm sick (which I am. I mean, with bronchitis.) So do it! Read this! And tell me it is bad!! ("Ew, this is awful! taste it!")

Anyway, i'd say 2 stars just because i feel guilty giving only 1 star and I *did* finish it. So, 1.5 stars. Because you know something is wrong when "It Was Okay" sounds way too generous...

Whe More...

Tanto en el primero como el su secuela, el autor logra que la protagonista esté a punto de lograr su objetivo y en el último capitulo se de "vuelta la historia", logrando que Tally tenga que volver a pasar nuevamente por todo. Sin embargo, el libro me gustó mucho y me atrapó. Pienso que podría estar un poco mejor escrito.

De que trata? (SPOILERS):
Tally se convirtió en Perfecta. Como nos había anticipado el libro anterior, Tally perdió todos sus antiguos recuerdos. Ahora su vida se centra en ser a More...

i have to say that i loved the first book and i was so excited about the second one!!And it wasn't what i was expecting...it was so different not in a bad way...just different...i have to admit that the book some moments fell "so long" that i wouldn't be able to finish it...but after a little break from the story i felt in love with it all over agian....and now i just can't wait for the third book!!

I'm pretty disappointed with this book. The last one was pretty good but this one... not so great. They kept using this stupid pretty language that annoyed me to no end. If i hear that anything is "Bogus, bubbly, pretty-making, fashion-missing" ect. EVER again, i might have to strangle that person.

Besides the annoying slang, the main character is now a complete twit. She is a "Pretty" sure, but she made some really stupid decisions. The worst was at the end. She picked the WRONG guy. and that's More...

Book TWO!

Yes. Tally is now a Pretty. She is popular and completely adopting to the superficial hype of the pretties. But, she's met a new friend, Zane (who you will LOVE). What becomes amazing is that Zane isn't like the other pretties; in fact, he has a secret. He is a Crim, but he is a Crim who has actually managed to evade the superficial vibe that takes over in New Pretty Time and find ways to stay bubbly all the time, and as such, stay much more alert and like himself. Once he manages to br More...

3.5 stars.

I think the general consensus among people who have read this is that it is not as good as 'Uglies'. It is more of the same really, and I found it very VERY slow to begin with but, once Tally starts adventuring again, I really liked it! I think I preferred this one to 'Uglies' because it's much more sinister and dark and frustrating...which I know are not everyone's cup of tea but I like those elements!

Tally is a bit annoying in this one though. One of the things I likes about the firs More...

Pretties, the second book in the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld, is so far one if the best trilogy’s I’ve read so far. Starting off exactly where the first book left off, Pretties introduces the reader into the world of Tally Youngblood as a pretty.

Perfect beauty, an effortless lifestyle, and being pretty minded, is what being a normal pretty is all about but Tally is not a normal pretty and cant seem to get away from “ugly days”. Amidst her extensive partying, she is visited by an old frie More...

I am beyond dissapointed with this sequel. Uglies was intriguing, making it's society around our world's obsession with apperance. This book was just 350 pages of dull "action". I didn't even read most of the book: I just skimmed it so I could move onto Specials.
Where did the strong Tally that had developed so well go?

She turned into a brainless idiot, never to be seen for the majority of the book.
And, worst of all, she's attached to her new boyfriend like glue.
Yes, her new boyfriend.
THUS, Wes More...

Tally Youngblood’s sacrifice from Uglies has turned her into a beautiful, tall, fun-loving, disease-free, and anti-infection masterpiece. In short, she’s a Pretty. Like all pretties, she’s forgotten a lot of what most her life was like as an Ugly beyond the normal dumb “tricks” Uglies do for sport and, of course, being ugly. She drinks champagne, parties all night, stays up until the wee hours of the morning, and wakes up just in time to get ready for the next evening shindig. The only problem i More...

the only copy the library had of this was on CD...the lady has a REALLY annoying voice, so I am going to have to put this on hold and wait until I can get a copy to read myself.

At first, I thought this would be a 3-star book because the beginning was just more of the same from the first book. It was still enjoyable, but it was kind of "been there, done that." The second half of the book, however, picked up and became more of its own story. I found the idea of the anthropology study very interest More...

Sequel to Uglies, as I suppose is semi-obvious. I don’t want to say too much about this book because it would spoil Uglies, which I think a lot of you would enjoy. But, like volume one, this book was incredibly exciting and compelling. It falls a little bit into that sequel trap, repeating some of the aspects of the first book; in fact, there’s something frustratingly cyclical about the narrative. However, it has several thrilling set-pieces that are unique to it, and it introduces some interes More...

Вестерфельд классически проводит героиню сначала из уродин в бунтари (том 1), затем делает из нее шпиона, которому предлагают стать местным копом. Думаю, в третьем томе она должна стать копом, а в четвертом - войти в элиту. Так и заканчивают те, кто подают надежды, - становятся очередным драконом. Боюсь только, аудитория Вестерфельда до конца всех этих перипетий не понимает, а он излагает опыт "большого" в книгах для подростков.

My 2nd review:
(2 stars)
Why? O Why? The last chapters of the book kind of redeemed it a little bit. I love Zane, I'm Team Zane all the way.
(My first review below...)

My 1st review:
(1 star)
Gosh, I can't believe that I'm giving up on this book (did not finish it, I came until the 2/3 of the book). It's just like IMO the most annoying book I've ever read in my entire life, the dialogues are just crappy and the Pretties are like the dumbest, air-headed characters.

The conversations was just this annoyi More...

Pretties is interesting. Just interesting. I like the midnighters series, and scott westerfield writes well, if not a little to actiony. Now, pretties, a book about a post apocalyptic world. The similarity to other post apocalyptic worlds ends their. He just needs to set it like that so the story works. His ideas are new. His ideas are well worked out. The plot however, takes a deep dive. The plot, to put it blandly, stinks. The plot, while it has it's twist and turns, does not feel unexpected. More...