Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

Pretties

Scott Westerfeld

Grades 8 and up

YA Fiction

Series: Uglies Series, Book Two

After the cliffhanger in the Uglies, Pretties picks up after Tally has had the surgery to become a Pretty. She joins the ranks of New Pretty Town hooking up with Shay, Peris and a group called the Crims. Wanting desperately to fit in with the Crims, Tally tries to act as “bubbly” as possible despite nagging thoughts about David and the New Smoke. When someone from the past comes to remind her of a forgotten promise, Tally is once again thrown into action against the Special Circumstance office. With initial pushing from Zane, a member of the Crim group, Tally remembers what is happening in her society and begins to make a stand against conformity. Will Tally succeed in changing her society or will Special Circumstances crush her resistance once again?

The second book in the Uglies Trilogy did not disappoint me. Shorter than the first at 370 pages, the bulk of the book is Tally and Zane’s motions to break free of the New Pretty Town and Special Circumstances grips. There is a bit more romance though nothing explicit except a reference to a conversation Peris had with Tally after she became a Pretty regarding sex. Zane and Tally do have a romance and find kissing helps make them feel more “bubbly” and mentioning of them spending the night together since the visit from someone from Tally’s past though it is left up to the reader’s imagination to infer as they wish. The ending left me mad as heck and eagerly anticipating the third and final installment of the trilogy.