Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

I can't tell you how much I have come to love Youth Fiction. They hardly ever disappoint and I can count on them to be fairly clean and fast-paced. Such is the case with Uglies. It is a science fiction book that centers around a civilization that follows ours where everyone is turned pretty by their 16th birthday. They are told that the differences in appearance is what lead to our (the rusties...because we love metal) demise. Each person at age 12 enters uglyville to await their 16th birthday when they will be given a surgery to make them precisely beautiful and then they will spend the next few years in prettyville. The main character is Talley Youngblood whose best friend has just been changed and she must wait a few more months until she can join him. She discovers during this time that becoming pretty has a cost and that not everyone may want to become pretty.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I found Talley to be realistic but a strong female character. There is enough action to keep it interesting but not too much to make it a typical sci/fi...if you know what I mean. It really got me thinking about appearance and how in some ways, as a society, we are becoming like uglies in a way. Cosmetic surgery is so prevalent among those in Hollywood that regular people are beginning to think they need to be 5'10", 100 lbs, blond with fake big boobs, fake big lips, fake tan, and fake flat forehead to be seen as beautiful. Are we starting to loose what makes us individuals? Or are we discounting what lies within a person? Sorry to get all philosophical on you but these were all questions that came to my mind while I read this book. I really liked the futuristic world that the author created and I was really sucked into it. This is part of a trilogy. I'm currently reading Pretties and the third is called Specials. Great author...great books.