Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

Rating: 3 Out of 5

Pages:
Genre: Fiction (Young Adult)
Series: Yes (Uglies Series Book 2 out of 3)
Publication Date:


Synopsis (From Google Books):

Gorgeous. Popular.Perfect. Perfectly wrong.Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are awesome, her boyfriend is totally hot, and she's completely popular. It's everything she's ever wanted.But beneath all the fun -- the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom -- is a nagging sense that something's wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what's wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold.Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life -- because the authorities don't intend to let anyone with this
information survive.

Review:

This is my second go around with Tally Youngblood and Scott Westerfeld. Now I really did not like the first book in the series, Uglies.

Some of the main issues that I had with that book were not fixed in this book. But at least this time around they are a little more tolerable. Mainly the word choice. Westerfeld still tries to create this futuristic environment by coming up with slang terms and while I understand the concept the execution leaves much to be desired. Instead of pulling me into the story, the slang, left me puzzled and often times wondering what the characters were talking about. I found myself supplementing Westerfeld word choices with my own to make sentences make more sense. The most annoying habit he had in this book was hyphenating words and doing it often. For example:

nevorus-making
dizzy-making

And lot of other ones. Almost on every single page.

Last time I mentioned that I really did not connect with the characters in the book. I did not have the same problem this time. I liked Tally Youngblood's character and the other main character that he introduced in the installment, Zane. I thought that the characters were a little more realistic this time. Also, Tally seemed more mature. The personality of the characters (especially Tally) really shined through this time.

I also enjoyed that Pretties was much more fast paced to me. There was a lot more action happening and that helped. But with those actions you could see Tally's character growing and developing.

Westerfeld also picked up nicely in between the two books. There was no awkward reintroduction. I just gave a few paragraphs to remind the reader of what happened last time.

Overall a much better book than the first.

Pros: Characters, Action
Cons: Slang

Overall Recommendation:

To fully understand this book you have to read Uglies first. I personally would not recommend this series. It is mediocre to me. The concept good, execution not so good.

Challenges:
Library Challenge (9 out of 25)

Series Challenge (4 out of 15)

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