When I heard that Scott Westerfield had put together a companion volume to his Uglies series, I was stoked. I love me a good companion volume. I logged onto the library's website and put in a request for it straight away.

And I'll tell you, the book is just as fun as it sounds. It's evidently geared at younger Uglies fans, (which does make sense, this being a YA series and all), but there's enough good stuff here that older fans will learn something, too. Westerfield includes a hoverboard manual, maps, (maps!!!!), a history of Tally's world, a guide to life phases in the Prettytime, notes on all the cliques, information on the science that went into the series, notes on the language Tally and her friends use, a glossary, and some other miscellaneous goodness.

Personally, I got the most out of the science stuff. I'm sure you science types will find it overly simplistic, but my artistic little self thought Westerfield did a great job of putting everyting into layman's terms. He writes about where the technology in Tally's world comes from. Some things, like nanos, are time-honoured sci fi traditions. Others, like the self-heating food packets, are real, while skintennas and the like are Westerfeld's own invention. Perhaps the most interesting chapter, though, deals with the science of beauty. Westerfeld describes the various theories that went into the Prettytime. It's fascinating stuff.

If you enjoyed the Uglies series, I'm sure you'll get a kick out of this book. It's a fast, fun read.

(This review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )

This was much-needed, and I'm so glad it came out. I want more books in the 'Pretties' universe, a prequel, another sequel, anything! I loved the science bits, too. It was all correct when facts were mentioned (especially the bits about Japanese ones), and so well-researched I thought I'd explode from happy.

If you're a fan of the 'Pretties' universe, this is a must have. ( )

To be perfectly honest, I wish I hadn't gotten this book. It might be more worth-reading if I was more interested in technology (which was basically what the whole thing was about), but in actuality I thought it was extremely long-winded for such a little book. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone not extremely into sci-fi. Also, I got the impression more than once that Scott Westerfeld was a woman. I don't know why, but it definitely seemed that way.

P.S. : Don't let this sway anyone from the Uglies series. Those books were really good. ( )

It’s a fairly quick, light read, a sort of journal from the author to explain where some of the ideas for the things in the Uglies series came from with maps, diagrams, descriptions, details about the different cliques, etc. An interesting ‘background’ book that offered some insights into things, into parallels between our present-day world and the world before the Rusties came along—which is a few hundred years into our future. Most of what was said as far as the social commentary involved I’d already inferred to some degree. I had to skip over some parts as there were spoilers about the one book in the series (Extras) that I haven’t read yet and I didn’t want to find out too much about what happened there, so I would recommend that others hold off on reading this until after you’ve completed reading the series. I’m not really sure what the purpose of the book is, to be honest…I mean, it was interesting to a degree, but certainly not necessary, though it was a fun, enjoyable read--but I’m glad I didn’t actually pay money for it. I think if I had, I’d likely have been more disappointed as it was a pretty lightweight, bubbly book. ( )

I'm classifying this as non-fiction even though it's about half non-fiction and half fictional non-fiction. In Bogus to Bubbly, Westerfeld talks about how he came up with the idea for his Uglies series and for various things in the books, including the slang, the names, and the technologies. He also includes "instruction manuals" for some technologies, like the hoverboards, and "history" passages, such as how future generations would view what happened in the books. It was an interesting, if quick, read. ( )