Corrie’s Rating: 3.7 Stars Emily’s Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.86 Stars Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. In just a few weeks she'll have the operation that will turn her from a repellent ugly into a stunning pretty. And as a pretty, she'll be catapulted into a high-tech paradise where her only job is to have fun. But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to become a pretty. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world-- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally a choice: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. Tally's choice will change her world forever… (goodreads.com) Intro Thingy: Hey to all the peoples! Welcome to the very special, never been done before, mega, awesome, super blog post! What makes this particular blog post very special, never been done before, mega, awesome, and super? Well, today we have a guest *loud cheering, mainly from me*! I have recently read the book Uglies as you can probably tell by the title of this post. Before I started reading this novel I mentioned that I was going to read it to my good friend, and fellow bookworm, Emily. She told me her opinion of this book as she had already read it. Knowing her as well as I do and knowing how our opinions differ on things, I assumed that I may not agree with her. Lo and behold, yep, that happened. So, I thought it might be fun to do a two person review. Before we get started here’s a little about Emily, her writing will be in purple-ish so you can tell us apart. About Emily: Who am I? What am I? My name is Emily and I’m a fellow book lover and person in this void we call life. I recently finished a several year-long project on young adult dystopian fiction and Uglies was one of the many books I read while working on said project. When Corrie asked me if I wanted to share some of my (many) opinions on Uglies, I couldn’t refuse. As you can tell, she is uber qualified to do this kind of thing. So qualified. *attempts to flip hair* *gets hair in face instead* Here’s how it’s gonna go down: there are going to be various category things that we are both going to give you our opinion on. It won’t matter too much if we agree or if we disagree, I think it will be fun to have two reviewers regardless of our conclusions. Let’s get started, shall we? Why you read it in the first place: Corrie: Ahem, well… I like to read online sometimes. Occasionally, I dare to venture to Wattpad. On one such internet outting I came across a sample thingy majigums of Uglies. I read the first chapter or so and I thought it sounded really interesting. At the point that I found it I hadn’t ever read any dystopian fiction before, so it was totally new to me. I guess since I found that a few years back I’ve always kinda wanted to read it so I kept almost buying it places. I almost bought it from Amazon, I almost bought it from Barnes and Noble, I almost bought it on Book Outlet, I almost checked it out from the library… and then I actually did buy it from a consignment store because it was just sitting there waiting for me. Emily: I actually read this book for the first time way back in 2013 when The Hunger Games had just become a movie and dystopian fiction was “cool”. I was consuming YA dystopian fiction like a starving person on a deserted island might consume questionable fish, with a desperate need and little concern for the quality. I came across Uglies after I’d finished with the “popular” novels. Being as I mentioned, desperate, I decided to give it a chance. However, like consuming questionable fish, it did not go well. Plot: Corrie: M’kay, I think this may be where the dual person review gets interesting. Plotwise, I was hooked. Occasionally I had a hard time putting it down. There were even a few instances when I threw the book at my pillow in frustration - which is, of course, always a good determining factor for the quality of a plot. Some parts were kind of predictable, but there were a couple of really good twists in there. One towards the end really frustrated and irritated me to the point of exclaiming “noooooooo” and wondering why the heck I picked this book up in the first place (to answer that question see above). On a side note, the plot was totally taken from a Twilight Zone episode called Number 12 Looks Just Like You, which I saw before I read Uglies, but after I knew the general idea of it. Scott Westerfeld even admitted to seeing the episode, but he said he’d forgotten the details. The details are pretty similar to the plot of this book, Scott. Emily: Similarly to Corrie, the premise of the book was what first caught my eye. A simple operation that makes me look perfect? I get to live in a city where I party all the time? No more pimples? Heck yes, sign me up. High school Emily could much better appreciate the nod to American culture’s obsession with physical appearances, twelve year-old Emily just wanted dystopian drama. However, unlike Corrie, I had no difficulty putting it down… frequently. I honestly think this is because I had already read many dystopian novels and was pretty familiar with the storyline they follow. Uglies didn’t offer anything I hadn’t already seen in other dystopian novels. Corrie and I do agree on the ending, after four hundred some pages it was more than a little annoying. THANK YOU CORRIE FOR POINTING OUT THE TWILIGHT ZONE THING BECAUSE THIS BUGS ME A GREAT DEAL. I know people say there are no more original ideas, but… *coughs* “get an original idea Scott” *coughs*. Characters: Corrie: So, our main gal, Tally, was *makes disappointed raspberry sound with mouth*, ya know? She was okay. I guess. I like that she started out wanting to be “pretty” just like everyone else. Raised and taught to believe that it was genuinely right, she didn’t have any argument with the authorities. Not to spoil too much, but when something comes up that questions what the government is teaching everyone she isn’t immediately sold on the idea that her society is wrong. This felt realistic to me. Although, later she just kinda makes up her mind really quickly about what is right and what is wrong. Then we have Shay. I want so badly to spoil the story for you right now, but I promise I won’t. Let’s just say I have a lot of feelings about this character. I don’t know much about her past, hopefully it is explained in one the three sequels (Emily, is it? Did you read any of the sequels?). Shay is by far my favorite character. She’s stubborn and opinionated and - oh my gosh I just realized that she is the foil (ooh, fancy literature word) of Tally! Like, dude, I knew a few examples of the word “foil” before this (not the stuff you wrap leftovers in, the literary term) but I’m 88.88% sure that Shay is Tally’s foil. To clarify, a foil is a character who is sharply different from another character, generally the MC, to kind of highlight certain things about the MC. Cool, that makes me like Shay even more. And finally, there’s David *sighs loudly* *rolls eyes* *gags*. I feel like David was thrown in to introduce us to Az and Maddy (actually important characters) and to be a *shudders* love interest. Emily: So remember when Corrie said we were gonna say very different things? That’s not true right here. I like to rank MCs on a scale of great to Bella Swan. Tally’s the human version of water. We need her or there won’t be a story, but she’s not adding anything and I’m not incredibly excited to see her on the next page. I understand she is obsessed with becoming a “pretty” because that’s the mentality of her society, but it was also very annoying. Unlike MCs in most dystopian novels, she isn’t somehow different or special and she’s pretty (pun intended) unconcerned with changing her society. Her opinions shift (kinda) as the book progresses, but I was very unimpressed with her character development. Of all the characters in this novel, Shay is definitely one of the better ones, she knows what she wants (or doesn’t), and is more than a little rebellious. When I first started this book I thought she should be the main character because she definitely seems more like the stereotypical dystopian heroine. Is her backstory explained more in the sequels? I have no idea. There are too many great books out there to read, I don’t have time to waste on this mediocrity. I’ll spare you my thoughts on Peris. He was completely unnecessary. David. David. David. *Insert displeased noise*.There’s nothing to say, he’s the human version of… something boring, like corn flakes. No taste, no texture, just David, boring David, and his great boringness. (Are y’all sick of food metaphors yet?) I guess as a teenage guy he’s pretty accurate. Was that too mean? Corrie said I wasn’t allowed to be too mean. Eh, I don’t think many teenage guys read this anyway, so you’re probably good. To any teenage guys out there: Emily’s sorry (probably not really). So sorry. Romance: Corrie: *takes a deep breath* By this point you probably know how I feel about romance in books. I’m not opposed but romance for the sake of romance is… repulsive. I mean, c’mon! Tally was insanely boring as a character, but she had this whole plot thing going on and she absolutely did not need David to pop in and start saying *cue deep mocking voice* “oh, you’re so special, Tally, sooooo special, you’re the specialist person I’ve ever met”. And besides that, he had a girlfriend when he met Tally. Well, sort of? I don’t know if David and Shay were a thing or not, but they had something going on and David messed it up when Tally walked in. Now I’m thinking David should just walk away and leave both girls alone. He doesn’t deserve them. The whole romance thing in this book just didn’t work. There were no sweet moments. It made me think of first graders declaring that they were boyfriend and girlfriend, even though they have no idea what that really means. It wasn’t fun to read and it took away from the plot that I was otherwise enjoying. Emily: I have read many terrible YA romances, *glares at Twilight* *Throws rotten tomatoes at Rock and a Hard Place* *Projectile vomits all over Perfect Chemistry* I have also read many well-written YA romances. Part of what makes the romance work in those books is that the reader gets to watch the characters get to know each other and slowly form a relationship. (And no the 2,400 page mess that was the Twilight Saga does not count). Tally and David don’t have that. There was no banter, there were no aww moments, and there were no “David stop being an amazing person” moments. One second they’re meeting and then suddenly they’re trying to find each other’s tonsils. And gazing deeply into each other’s eyes. (Who does that?). And LITERALLY falling into each other’s arms. (I’ve done that, it isn’t romantic, it’s painful). There is a fine line between aww cute and aww there’s so much cheese I physically cannot. Scott buddy you leaped right over that line. The “romance” adds nothing to the story, it sure isn’t helping Tally’s character development. David’s supposed to show Tally a new way of life, but honestly I would’ve prefered to just see more Shay. Favorite Thing: Corrie: I won’t be surprised it Emily leaves this part blank. I’m not sure I have a favorite part exactly. I really like the book as a whole, and I enjoyed it, but there weren’t any moments that really stuck out to me - no wait, I thought of one. When they meet Boss. I can’t tell you too much because I don’t want to spoil anything, but there is a library in this book that is run by a very cranky man named Boss. He yells at Tally and Shay for almost damaging his books and I couldn’t help but agree with him. Emily: When it was over. Least Favorite Thing: Corrie: David. Just David... Also how things turn out for Shay. I hope that isn’t too much of a spoiler. I won’t go into details, but if they don’t give Shay a happy ending in the next three books of this series we may have to do another review in which I will be even more unforgiving toward this series than Emily is. NO MERCY IF THEY HURT SHAY. Emily: The whole dang thing. Corrie told me I can’t say that. I found Scott Westerfeld’s writing style and Tally’s voice really annoying. The very first line of the book is “The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit.” Gurl, have you seen cat vomit? It’s hairy and chunky, you gonna tell me the sky has chunks? Is that really the first thing you thought of when you looked up? Tally also gives many unnecessary comments and overly detailed descriptions. These descriptions also include basic actions, such as walking, or breathing. I’m not kidding, the phrase “deep breath” is used over twenty times. We get it Tally, you have lungs. Thank you for mentioning the cat vomit thing because I forgot to. It’s even weirder that she references it near the end of the book. I burst out laughing the first time she said it and the second time was just as bizarre, but not as funny because we’d heard it before. Overall Thoughts: Corrie: As I’ve said, I did actually enjoy the book even if there were some aspects *cough* David *cough* that I didn’t like. I thought it was an interesting concept and it was played out fairly well for having such boring characters (‘cept Shay). I’ll definitely be picking up the next book in the series. If I like that one I may even read the next ones. Sometimes I fall victim to cliffhangers, okay? Even if I don’t like the book I sometimes just need closure. *squints and Emily* Don’t judge me. Emily: *Squints back* I don’t like this book, if I haven’t made that very clear by now. I have issues with the (possible) plagiarism, the terrible romance, and the (in my opinion) not-so-great character development. I respect this book for the role it’s played in the history of YA dystopian literature, but as I always say, liking a book and respecting a book are two different things. Adios: Well this was fun, we should do it again sometime. I enjoy mocking the things you love. Thank you, Emily, for giving us your point of view and for making this review extra special. We will definitely have to do this again because I enjoy reading your comments that mock the things I love. Thanks to everyone who read this and for putting up with our antics *cough* Emily’s antics *cough*. I hope you enjoyed this two person review and that you’ll let us know your opinion on this book if you ever read it. If you come back next time that’d be just bubbly (I forgot to mention the strange slang terms they use in this book)! I heard that. Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24770.Uglies
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