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Pretties (Uglies Trilogy, Book 2) by Scott…
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Pretties (Uglies Trilogy, Book 2) (edition 2005)

by Scott Westerfeld

Series: Uglies (2)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
9,411281823 (3.82)1 / 229
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 McFly, you contended, and besides, hoverboards are awesome.But the problem is that I still don't think hoverboards are enough to carry a novel. And the truth is, hoverboards are far from the silliest thing I stumbled across in Scott Westerfeld's Pretties. His universe is filled with silly things. Clocks embedded in eyeballs. Tattoos that glow with heartbeats. Floating skating rinks and jackets and poorly explained nanotechnology. Painful slang. And a seriously silly main character who I found seriously unlikeable.With the exception of my dislike for Tally Youngblood, I may have been able to forgive all the goofiness of Westerfeld's world if it coalesced into something tangible, believable, and concrete. Now, don't get me wrong--I love sci-fi even when it's at its goofiest. I mean, I'll take a good ol' Ferengi episode of Star Trek: Deep Space 9 any day. But that's because I buy Ferengi culture. I believe it. And even a hundred and eighty pages into the second book in this series (which is the point where I gave up on reading closely, and just started skimming), I never believed in Tally's world. The technology seems fluffy--as if I'm meant to just find it wicked cool and ignore how utterly unlikely it seems. And the sociology is even worse. Adults in this society are either impotent or evil. Our rebellion is populated entirely by an under-twenty set with a strange dearth of participation from "Middle" or "Late" Pretties. There's exactly one adult fighting for "good," and she is completely unlikeable. I understand a young adult author's urge to dispense with parents or parental figures. However, I just didn't buy it--it violated my willing suspension of disbelief. Compare this universe with the one Suzanne Collins gives us in The Hunger Games. There, you also have self-sufficient teenagers who participate in exciting action sequences and are integral to a rebellion. However, they're bolstered and supported by adults even as they are separate from them. This created characters--and a world--which was much more human and much more believable. But maybe all of that wouldn't have bugged me very much if I liked Tally. But I really, really didn't.Because as Tally "progresses" in this series, going from Ugly to Pretty to "bubbly" to Special, she remains largely shallow in her motivations. She wants to be Pretty and she wants a powerful boy (though her preference for which powerful boy changes according to her situation) to like her. She lacks any real initiative. Any changes in her motivations are initiated and inspired by the boys she's involved with. Contrast this to Shay. I'm still not sure how we're supposed to feel about Shay--that is, how Westerfeld wants us to feel about Shay--but I can't help but like her. Despite her informed flaw of jealousy, not to mention her apparent scrappiness, she displays real initiative time and time again in this series. For all that David claims in Uglies that she's a follower, she still leaves for the Smoke without Tally. In Pretties, as a Pretty, she finds a means towards "bubbliness" without medical intervention or encouragement by a boy. Now, I know we're meant to view the cutting here as horrific, particularly in comparison with Tally's "natural" ways of achieving mental clarity. But Westerfeld breaks his Aesop by having Tally eat calorie purgers and starve herself. Her behavior is equally self-destructive, and something she does only with the support of a stronger man. Meanwhile, Shay acts independently, and is eventually able to find both followers and power through these actions. I couldn't help but feel like her story was the more interesting of the two--and I couldn't help but wish that Westerfeld had shown us more of it.I mean, there are a few times in this series where Shay confronts Tally, accusing her of going after the guys that Shay likes, of attaching herself to the cutest and most popular men. I couldn't help but just nod in agreement with everything she was saying, and that's a problem, don't you think? It's one thing if a character is realistically complex. It's another if you just start to hope that she'll be cut down to size by other characters.That's the major reason why I gave up on this book, only skimming to the end. And that's why I'm not even going to bother with the rest of the series. I just really didn't like Tally--and didn't want to spend another minute with her. No matter how cool hoverboards are.Yours even in diverging tastes,Phoebe ( )
  PhoebeReading | Nov 24, 2010 |
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Showing 1-25 of 276 (next | show all)
I was right about the worldbuilding expanding in future novels. I like how complex everything is getting, and how Tally is coming to understand that neither side is 100% right. I liked Tally and Zane's relationship, but the love triangle is a little meh. I will give it grace seeing how these books were published in 2005, long before certain famous books over did the love triangle.

There was some language used that I also wasn't a fan of. I will give it a partial pass, again because of when the novel was written, but since I'm reading original editions, I'm curious if the language was changed in future editions. ( )
  BarnesBookshelf | Mar 11, 2024 |
Dystopia
  BooksInMirror | Feb 19, 2024 |
A good continuation of the trilogy begun in [b:Uglies|24770|Uglies (Uglies, #1)|Scott Westerfeld|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255574770s/24770.jpg|2895388]. I thought the pacing was a bit too slow even for me; I'm not sure how a real YA would react. (Audiobook note: The narrator's habit of having almost all the characters stre-e-e-e-etch out the first syllable of a sentence's first word is really beginning to annoy me. I'll almost certainly listen to the 3rd book, [b:Specials|968|The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)|Dan Brown|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255581720s/968.jpg|2982101], but I'm not certain I'll be able to endure the narration all the way through. I might have to resort to print.] ( )
  Treebeard_404 | Jan 23, 2024 |
Well... can't say I didn't expect this after Uglies, but still anything like pretty-world is giving me shivers. It's like disgust slightly clouded by rationalization. It's something I can't really like no matter the reasons. And besides, level of selfdoubting in this book is through the roof for me. ( )
  WorkLastDay | Dec 17, 2023 |
Same comment as I gave to the first installment. This one was a quick and very entertaining read. Really loved the flip perspective from ugly to pretty! The pace was right on track and the new characters added a nice layer of depth to the narrative. Can't wait to read #3! :) ( )
  BreePye | Oct 6, 2023 |
I read the Uglies quartet back in middle school and absolutely adored them. I must have reread them at least twice, but I hadn't done so again in a while. I was at a library yesterday and saw Westerfeld and picked up Pretties to kill time. As is the case with all fast paced books, I had almost finished it by the time I left. This remains one of the strongest dystopian series I've read, and I daresay I've read a few.

The premise behind this world is that all kids have a surgery on their sixteenth birthday that beautifies them, and also obviously does something else--otherwise the new pretties wouldn't be running around with no cares in the world but partying and having fun.

One of the strongest aspects of Westerfeld's writing comes in his world making. Tally is one of the "new-pretties" and as such lives in New Pretty town and will until she's a middle pretty. There, the utmost care is taken with safety for the various completely dangerous activities that residents can partake in. Tally's clique, the Crims, engages in a stunt that melts a floating ice rink and sends them all crashing to the ground, but as they were all wearing bungee jackets, they were safe.

The plot is fast paced and action packed. As soon as we're finished hearing about the antics in New Pretty Town, Westerfeld throws us into drama and exciting events, and from there on, there's no stopping.

There's enough romance to satisfy me without distracting from the plot or making it a star, which is a refreshing balance.

For anyone into dystopias, this series is a must read. Just make sure you have all four books at your hands when you do so! ( )
  whakaora | Mar 5, 2023 |
2nd book as good as the first. I'm going to read one more! ( )
  kslade | Dec 8, 2022 |
The beginning of the book was difficult to get through, mostly because of the 'pretty' language. I understand what the author was going for, but it felt like a lack of imagination on his part. Bubbly-making, nervous-making, pretty-making, etc. was irritating and I do not think it added to the story itself. Take the language annoyance out and you have another good story. ( )
  ArcherKel | Aug 17, 2022 |
I hadn't realized how crucial David was to my enjoyment of the series until he was a non-entity in Pretties. Despite the fact that Zane is practically a carbon copy in every other way, I missed David's maturity and perspective to balance Tally's pretty worldview. Without him---and without much likelihood of seeing him play a significant role in the series again---I don't think I'll be continuing to read the books. ( )
  slimikin | Mar 27, 2022 |
Once again an interesting mix of scifi and social commentary.

Warning for self harm in the appropriately titled chapter Cutters mid book. ( )
  mutantpudding | Dec 26, 2021 |
Assessment booklet by the publisher.
  BLTSbraille | Oct 21, 2021 |
Tally has now been turned into a Special, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid.
  BLTSbraille | Sep 27, 2021 |
Even more YA ( )
  codykh | Jun 28, 2021 |
This was good, though I may have liked Uglies better. I wasn't happy with the ending, though I figured that something like it had to happen. (Sometimes knowing the title of the sequel is not such a good thing.) ( )
  ssperson | Apr 3, 2021 |
This continues the 'Uglies' story; very well written, tautly plotted dysfunctional society book. ( )
  StephenKimber | Mar 5, 2021 |
I'm kind of sucked into the story, but I still feel a bit detached from the characters. I'm not sure if this is me or if it's something about the books. I will definitely finish the trilogy, but I'm kind of hoping for something more all the time... ( )
  RankkaApina | Feb 22, 2021 |
And by ok, I mean a quick read that kept my attention. I just really don't find myself connecting or sympathizing with Tally, and that makes it very difficult to get at all invested in her story even when I find myself loving the way the world around her unfolds. I'll definitely be reading [b:Specials|3|Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)|J.K. Rowling|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51VC8RPZA2L._SL75_.jpg|4640799] soon though. ( )
  bookbrig | Aug 5, 2020 |
Having everything is can sometimes make it seem like you have nothing. Addressing the superficial world, as we follow her into this next world. Slower than Uglies. ( )
  Sovranty | Jun 21, 2020 |
So, unlike the first book in the trilogy, this did not live up to my fond memories of it.

I think the main problem is the plot. Second instalments of trilogies often seem a bit difficult, and this isn't the first time I've read one where there's a giant disconnect between the first half and the second, such that it seems really jarring. That's exactly what happens here. The first half is about Tally's new life as a pretty, and struggling against it – and then the second half is practically the first book redux. Only, this time around she meets a "primitive tribe" which seems to serve purely as a vehicle for Westerfeld to ruminate on the violence and self-destructiveness he sees as inherent to human nature.

As I recall, the first book could be preachy too, but this one is even preachier. Tally is suddenly full of exposition and philosophical ramblings, and it's just... well, it doesn't appeal very much. The conclusion of this book is literally a re-run of the conclusion to the last book. I just don't think we, as the reader, made a lot of progress.

I also didn't care much at all for the love triangle, and I thought it was absurd that kissing Zane, and falling in love with Zane should improve Tally's clarity of thought. That makes no sense. But really, nothing about the brain damage inflicted on pretties nor the cure makes any sense, and I preferred the last book which didn't spend so much time dwelling on this nonsensical cure.

I'd also have liked to have seen more on the dynamic between Tally and Shay, and the sense of betrayal that Shay has every right to feel, honestly. Then the end of the book was far too rushed – considering that the romantic subplot about Tally and David was so central to the last book, in this one they reunite and break up again in what, thirty pages? and she's excessively nasty to him too? WHAT IS THIS. Maybe more time should have been spent on this, and less on camping in the woods.

So while it saddens me to give this book such a low star rating, I can't really justify giving it any higher. It was a fast read, which made it a nice change, but it just didn't hold up for me. ( )
  Jayeless | May 27, 2020 |
Tally is a Pretty now; all memory of her time as an Ugly erased or suppressed. But even as she shifts into the carefree, party-filled world of the Pretties, she gets the nagging feeling that there's something more she needs to be doing.

When she meets Zane, the head of a daredevil, rebellious clique called the Crims, Tally thinks that she may have uncovered a key. Zane is handsome, clever, and unafraid to break the rules, and more than that, he and the Crims have discovered a state of mind called "bubbly," which helps stave off the vapid mindset of the Pretty operation. With Zane's help, and her growing attraction for him, Tally begins to remember clues about the past, including the experimental nanos that could free her mind permanently.

But the dark Dr. Cable and Special Circumstances are still on her tail, determined to keep Tally from remembering David and the Smoke. Can Tally ever go back to what she chose to leave behind when she became Pretty? Or is the only thing to do to move forward?

Not quite as riveting as "Uglies," but with more character development and explanation of the bigger picture, "Pretties" is the ominous precursor to the final book in Tally's trilogy. ( )
  booksong | Mar 18, 2020 |
The second book in the series, following Tally Youngblood in her life as a New Pretty. ( )
  TAPearson | Feb 24, 2020 |
this one was kinda boring in retrospect of the first one, I hope specials is better. ( )
  hixxup79 | Feb 23, 2020 |
The main character seems very much "wrong place wrong time", I don't think she's strong enough to warrant a lead role. Still fascinated with the changes in society the book shows. ( )
  Linyarai | Feb 16, 2020 |
I hope to never hear the words "bubbly" and "bogus" again. ( )
  Kayla.Krantz | Feb 14, 2020 |
The Writing and Worldbuilding

It builds on the world Uglies established, expanding and giving insight into the behind the scenes of the society. I was annoyed with the whole ~love cures all~ thing, as well as aspects of the love triangle, as, at this point, they're very old tropes, but since this came out over ten years ago, before The Hunger Games even, I'll give it some free passes. The slight glorification of Zane's undernourishment and gaunt appearance wasn't okay, though. I understand why he was gaunt, but I don't understand why Tally thought it was attractive.

The Characters

Tally: My sister warned me that she is very annoying as a Pretty, but honestly, she wasn't really, and if she was, it wasn't for very long. She was just as proactive as she had been in book 1, and I still really liked her.

Zane: I'm not a fan of love triangles, but he was a super nice and I loved him. He was distinct from David and lovable in his own way.

Shay: I'm so sad my hyper, lovable Shay is gone forever :(

Fausto: I loved him! He wasn't super important, but he was funny and even in his few appearances, I got a good feel for his character.

Andrew Simpson Smith: My lovable caveman! ❤❤❤ I don't care that he's stereotypical and a sexist, I love him.

Conclusion

I read this in almost one sitting and in less than 24 hours, so I think they gives a general idea of how engrossed I was in this, and how much I generally really liked it, but I didn't totally love it or anything. To put it in pretty speech: It wasn't totally love-making (which sounds dirty, but I swear it isn't) ( )
  Faith_Murri | Dec 9, 2019 |
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