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Pretties
by Scott Westerfeld
Even though Tally is now a pretty and has everything she’s ever wanted, she still has a nagging feeling that something’s missing.
“Pretties,” Scott Westerfeld’s sequel to “Uglies,” is as captivating and unnerving as its predecessor. After volunteering as a guinea pig, Tally Youngblood finds herself a Pretty with no recollection of her former life as a member of the Smoke: a band of refuges in hiding to avoid becoming pretty. The founders of the Smoke know the surgery’s dark secret: The pretty operation doesn’t just alter people on the outside, it changes the way their brain works, making them submissive and oblivious. However, they believe they have discovered a way to reverse the surgery, which is why they need Tally. As a Pretty, Tally slowly figures out the clues that lead her to the cure they left for her. Because there are two pills, she splits the cure with her Pretty friend, Zane. Unfortunately, while Tally begins to regain her lucidity, Zane develops horrible headaches and other symptoms. In desperation and fear, Tally decides it’s time to hunt down her former friends from the Smoke, because they may be the only ones who can save Zane.
In “Pretties,” Westerfeld plunges readers deeper into the mysterious world of the Pretties. In the first book, readers were given a firsthand look at what it’s like to be an Ugly; in the sequel, they will whirl through the parties and silliness that make up the life of a Pretty. However, Westerfeld then pumps up the intensity with the horror and foreboding of Zane’s deteriorating condition and Tally’s race against the clock (and the government agency known as Special Circumstances) to save him. Readers will be on the edge of their seats to see if she succeeds, eager for her triumph and Zane’s salvation. Even as a Pretty, the young heroine remains strong and Tally’s determination to overcome her “pretty haze” in order to save Zane is endearing. While readers will miss David, they will quickly fall in love with Zane, who is David’s polar opposite in every way, except in his love for Tally. Every character has a very distinct personality, which lends them each a realism that will draw in readers. The world Westerfeld creates is extremely consistent, allowing readers to completely immerse themselves and leaving them eager to return for the third installment of Tally’s story, “Specials.”
Title: Pretties
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Simon Pulse
ISBN: 9780689865398
Review written by: Casey Blackwell
Reviewer's Rating:9
Reader's Rating: 9.00
Reader's Votes: 1
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