Uglies by Scott Westerfeld - 3-1/2 Stars Rounded to 4

[Regina Lindsey]

In a future society all teenagers undergo an operation on their sixteenth birthday to correct any "deficiencies" and turn them all pretty in order to combat bullying, prejudice, and cliques. Tally Youngblood has waited all of her life for this day to come and now that her childhood best friend, Peris, has proceeded her that desire has intensified.

However, with the loss of Peris for companionship, Tally clings to a new friend - Shay. Shay has decided to thwart her time for the operation and follows many of her former friends by running away to the "Smoke". Tally is given an ultimatum by the authorities. She either follows the cryptic clues Shay has left her if Tally decides to follow and lead authorities to the runaways or she will remain an "Ugly" forever.

The book had a decent plot and the angle of capturing every teenager's fear of being an outcast was interesting. However, it felt like a watered down version of The Giver to me. I found The Giver superior to Uglies. It kept my attention in wanting to know what happened next but the ending was no real surprise. I don't think I will read the remaining books in the series.

[annapi]

It was an ok series. At least I was able to finish it all - certainly much better than Divergent (was only able to finish the first book) or Maze Runner (couldn't even finish book 1).

[Joi]

I gave this 3 stars, pretty average YA Dystopian. I read the sequel, Pretties, also gave it 3 stars- the abandoned the series.

[Karin]

Yes, this is an okay series, but the third book is not as good. I read it when my kids were reading it. The first one is the best one so I rounded it up to 4. The others were both 3 stars, but Pretties was a strong 3 stars and Specials barely made it.