Uglies (Uglies, #1) in And So It Begins Reading Challenge

May 28, 2011 Angela rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. First Read: JUNE 6, 2011
Second Read: SEPT 29, 2011

Uglies is book one in the ‘Uglies’ YA Urban Fantasy Series by Scott Westerfeld.
This story is about Tally Youngblood and her friends in a futuristic dystopian world.

Tally Youngblood is a 15 year old girl living in a world of ‘Uglies’ and ‘Pretties’. When a child, or Littly, turns 12 years old they become an ‘Ugly’ and leave the comfort of their parents’ home to live in dorms in Ugliville. They’re taught that perfect facial symmetry, height, weight First Read: JUNE 6, 2011
Second Read: SEPT 29, 2011

Uglies is book one in the ‘Uglies’ YA Urban Fantasy Series by Scott Westerfeld.
This story is about Tally Youngblood and her friends in a futuristic dystopian world.

Tally Youngblood is a 15 year old girl living in a world of ‘Uglies’ and ‘Pretties’. When a child, or Littly, turns 12 years old they become an ‘Ugly’ and leave the comfort of their parents’ home to live in dorms in Ugliville. They’re taught that perfect facial symmetry, height, weight, and skin colour makes someone pretty. Large eyes, full lips, and clear skin trick the brain that they’re seeing babies and must protect them. When Uglies turn 16 they’re given cosmetic surgery to alter their appearance to become ‘Pretties’ and move to ‘New Pretty Town’. They claim that altering the appearance to make everyone pretty stops jealousy, feuding and wars which were the demise of the ‘Rusties’. Rusties are what this futuristic dystopian world calls the people of our time. This new world is eco-friendly and uses renewable energy, unlike the previous centuries destroyed by the Rusties.

This story begins with Tally sneaking out of her dorm room in ugliville to visit Peris, her best friend in New Pretty Town. She uses a pig mask to hide her ugly identity and sneaks into a pretty party. All the new pretties spend their time partying and socializing in their self-absorbed, superficial world. Peris and Tally used to make fun of the brainless pretties and promised never to become like them when they turned pretty. Tally misses Peris and needs to know that he’s the same person inside, now that his outsides have changed. Tally runs into some pretty complications and runs into Peris in the elevator. He’s upset that she snuck into new pretty town and makes her promise not to take any risks until she becomes pretty, just three months away. Tally can’t leave by the front door and Peris tells her to jump off the roof using a bungy vest. When she comes across pretties on the roof, she straps herself in and tells the pretties there’s a fire. The bungy vest takes her away to safety but New Pretty Town is swarming with authorities. While hiding in the bushes until the coast is clear, she meets Shay, another ugly who snuck into new pretty town. They both sneak back into ugliville and learn they have the same birthday. Shay and Tally become close; Shay teaches Tally to hoverboard and play tricks together. Tally can’t wait to become pretty, while Shay doesn’t see the appeal of turning pretty and likes herself ugly. One night, they venture outside of the city, which is forbidden, and Shay shows Tally the river rapids, forests, and a roller coaster. Shay wants to introduce Tally to David, her friend who lives in the wild. David doesn’t show up and Tally’s not sure he really exists. After pulling a trick (aka Prank), Tally and Shay get into an argument about their opposite perception of uglies vs pretties. After not speaking for a week, Shay turns up at Tally’s dorm room and tells her there’s a town called ‘The Smoke’ in the wild filled with people who didn’t want to turn into a pretty. Shay is running away there and asks Tally to join her. Tally refuses and Shay gives her riddled directions incase she changes her mind, and makes her promise not to tell anyone about the smoke. On the day of Tally’s surgery, she recycles most of her belongings and heads to the hospital for the turning. She’s told there’s a problem with her operation and is taken to another location, where she meets cruel looking pretties known as ‘Specials’. Dr Cable, a special, interrogates Tally about Shay and the Smoke, telling her she will not become pretty until she does everything in her power to help the specials locate Shay and the Smoke. Tally returns to Ugliville, where her room is empty and her belongings recycled. She receives two visits, one from her parents and one from Peris. Her parents tell her to help special circumstances and Peris reminds her she promised to join him in new pretty town. Tally returns to special circumstances and answers all of Dr Cables questions including handing over the directions. Dr Cable tells Tally she must use the directions written specifically for her to locate The Smoke and then contact Special Circumstances with a device disguised as a necklace. Simply open it and scan her eye and the specials will be there within a few short hours. Tally doesn’t want to betray her friend, but a lifetime of being ugly isn’t an option. Tally is given a survival pack and a cover story. The story is that she ran away at midnight before her birthday. Since she’s already lost four days, her story will be that she got temporarily lost in the woods. Shay’s directions are difficult to understand, but Tally finds her way to the smoke in record time. She’s sunburned, fire scorched, and tired but she makes it to the Smokies. Shay introduces her to David and Croy. Croy looks through Tally’s backpack and is suspicious of the abundance of dehydrated food. Tally meets ‘the boss’, not really a leader but a middle ugly (aka middle aged ugly) who’s in charge of the library. Tally decides to spend time with Shay before she calls the specials. The longer she waits, the more she learns to like the Smoke. She learns to trade goods, work with her hands, and live off the land. A few of the Smokies are still suspicious of Tally, but learning to accept her. David breaks up with Shay because he has feelings for Tally. Tally’s relationship with Shay is strained and when she tries to talk to David, she discovers she has feelings for him in return. David introduces her to his parents, Maddy and Az. Maddy and Az were Pretties who reversed the Procedure and returned to their Ugly appearance. They live on the edge of the Smoke, because young Uglies have difficulties trusting middle uglies. They reversed their transformation after discovering that part of the procedure includes creating lesions in the brain to make the pretties docile and compliant. This is the real reason for no wars and the reason the pretties become self-absorbed and superficial. The lesions are not given to everyone. The pretties with special talents, like doctors and enforcers are not given the lesions because they need to be able to think for themselves. Maddy and Az believe there is a way to cure the lesions and are working on a cure. Tally is stunned and destroys her necklace in a fire. David kisses her and she decides to talk to Shay in the morning. When Tally wakes up, the Smoke is being invaded by specials. It turns out the device was activated when she tried to destroy it. She fights with the specials but is taken into custody along with the other smokies. Shay blames Tally for the invasion and its confirmed when Tally is taken to see Dr Cable. She’s asked to retrieve the device and Tally manages to escape when they cut her cuffs. She runs to a nearby cave where David is hiding. They wait out the invasion and then devise a plan to rescue their friends. David and Tally grow closer and she’s afraid of what will happen when David finds out the truth. They find their friends at Special Circumstances; Shay is now a pretty and Az is dead. With Shay’s transformation, she no longer cares that Tally and David are a couple or that she betrayed the smokies. She just wants to party. Maddy, David, Croy, Tally, and an unhappy Shay all meet at the rusty ruins. Maddie discovered a cure for the lesions but Shay won’t take it. Maddy refuses to force her to take an untested drug. Tally blames herself and says she will become a pretty, the smokies can kidnap her, and test the drug on Tally. David refuses her plan until Tally explains the truth about bringing the specials to the smoke. Shay goes with Tally to New Pretty Town where they’re confronted by an enforcer. The book ends with Tally saying, ‘My name is Tally Youngblood. Make me pretty.’
I loved this story! It’s absolutely fantastic and filled with life lessons, actions, betrayal, mystery. I can’t wait to read the next one!
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Jan 19, 2025 Darlene rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, young-adult, science-fiction, book-to-screen, audio-1000

Ends in a cliffhanger! Enjoyed the start to this series and will continue on.

Good premise. Dangle something someone wants in front of them and they do what you want even if there are consequences. Easy to see the brainwashing effect. I can’t wait to see how the truth unravels.

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Mar 04, 2015 Magenta Cooly rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: teen, strong-female-protagonists

I really wasn't feelin' it with his book.

At first I was pretty excited. All I could think about was The Twilight Zone episode "Number 12 Looks Just Like You," which has the exact same plot and everything. But as I struggled through the uneventful introduction and on through the middle I could feel things weren't going to change for me.

I didn't care about any of the characters one bit, especially the main character Tally. Their personalities were boring, their dialog was bland, and I couldn't c

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