Extras by Scott Westerfeld

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Slight Spoilers

If the previous books were about the world’s obsession with looks, not being invisible and the need to be something you’re not in order to feel special than this book is about the obsession with reality TV and the need to expose everything of ourselves in the effort to get some attention.

New characters abound and while Aya’s naiveté was understood I often found myself annoyed with the way in which she acted, which I suspect was the intention. She cares more about being famous, than being trusted but there is a delightful evolution from the girl she is in the beginning of the book and who she comes by the end.

This is truly an interesting novel, and shows how the world can become corrupt even when there is a perceived freedom.

I really enjoyed this novel, despite what I felt was a slow beginning and the action and pacing of it toward the middle and end was what made it for me.

I would encourage almost everyone to read this series.

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Specials by Scott Westerfeld

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was the one I had the hardest time getting into out of the series thus far but yet the end was fantastic. The development and growth of Tally after the degradation of yet another manipulation was supremely well done.

The thought of invisibility, and being unknown to those around you had me nodding my head in a few parts.

But it was in the thought of how brutality man can be that really had me frightened about the implications of a world like this, where people push into the wild to take what they want and take no prisoners while doing so. But the almost triumphant ending had me quite content.

The slang fell away slightly in this novel to some glorious descriptive explanations of what was going on that allowed me to close my eyes and really picture the world as it burned down around them.

It’s an interesting commentary on the direction the world is currently heading in and there are few characters with whom I could not sympathize with during this book.

Anyone who likes dystopian reflected in a way that is engrained with messages of where our current “Utopia” is heading this is definitely the book for you. It shows us the direction of lives and people who have not heeded the warning messages inherent in nature.

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Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was not a book I looked forward to reading but one I felt I needed to have on my list. I’m not really sure why but when I opened it I did not expect what I got.

And what I got was beyond my wildest imagination.

The beauty in this book is in the details of the world around them in the beginning. The way everyone is watched, but especially it seems the “uglies” those who have unique features and faces and aren’t yet up to snuff in society.

The beauty in the continuation of the book is the realization in that there is nothing wrong with being unique, and nothing wrong with being who you are but knowing that sometimes masks have to be worn in order to survive and triumph over that pigeonhole society is trying to fit you into.

The characters in this are very human, in their concerns, in their want and need to be pretty, or their rejection of all that is considered beautiful by the mainstream.

It was a very fulfilling novel and I’m certain Pretties will be the same.

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