Scott Westerfeld. Uglies. New York: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster, 2005. ISBN 0-689-86538-4 US$7.99

Laurel Petrulionis, Reviewer

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, is the first of a trilogy in a futuristic sci-fi setting. Meet Tally Youngblood, an almost sixteen year old “ugly” in a world where you become “pretty” on your 16^th birthday. Tally counts the days until she will cross the river from Uglyville into New Pretty Town, a place with non-stop partying in a world where being pretty is everything. Tally doesn’t understand her new friend, Shay’s, reluctance to become pretty. Once when Shay runs away from Uglyville, leaving nothing but cryptic directions to a town full of rebel uglies, Tally sees a new side of her world, a side that she isn’t quite sure she likes. This novel will appeal to teenage girls of this era, where—for some of them—being supermodel gorgeous is also everything. Others will sympathize with Tally and her longings become ours when we read before and after descriptions of uglies turned pretty, and the wild parties that only the new pretties can enjoy.

But before the end of this book, we aren’t quite so sure if even our world is what it seems. Westerfeld has portrayed the thoughts and feelings of a teenage girl so credibly that it is hard to know where Tally’s world ends and ours begins. This fast-paced read, full of hoverboards, ring sized mega-computers, and calorie purgers, hints subtly at what could happen to us if our world became the fabled “rusties” who existed pre-“pretties,” and the influence of our world on teenage girls at the present. Scott Westerfeld has wrought a believable future for our world in a fast-paced sci-fi novel. Once it grabs your attention, it will never give way, until well after the last page.