Tally and Peris have been best friends since before Tally can remember. Now that Peris is sixteen, Tally won’t see him again for another couple of months. In Tally’s world when you turn sixteen you get to be made pretty.Tally lives in Uglyville and everyone that lives there is ugly. It isn’t until your sixteen birthday that you undergo the operation that will turn you into a Pretty. Tally can’t wait to be turned pretty for her thin lips to be lusciously full and her eyes to be beautifully spaced. Everyone gets to be pretty that way everyone has an equal chance.Just before she is to have her operation Tally meets Shay who happens to share a birthday with Tally. But Shay isn’t like Tally. She doesn’t think that being ugly is all that bad. Ultimately Shay decides to run away from Uglyville before her operation and join a possibly mythical city where everyone is ugly. But Shay can’t convince Tally to join her, but finds away to show Tally the way if she would ever change her mind.When Tally leaves for her operation something goes terribly wrong. They know that Shay has run away to the city of uglies called the Smoke. And they won’t make Tally pretty unless she finds Shay and eventually lead them to the Smoke.But once Tally finds the Smoke and lives amongst its people, will she want to betray them? Then she unexpectedly finds out a secret that they are keeping from the Pretties.Scott Westerfeld’s first installment of the Uglies trilogy proves to be a captivating experience that will leave you wanting more even after you read the last page. I’ve read other books by Westerfeld and I have to say this is defiantly my favorite. It is a futuristic sci-fi, but could totally be nonfiction in the distant future! The book was clearly thought provoking, yet entertaining. I will be reading Pretties very soon! ( )

My first attempt at this highly recommended young adult series.

Uglies is how at the age of 16 all teens must undergo a transformational surgery to become a “pretty” and join all the other pretties in New Pretty Town. Except it appears not all uglies want to become pretty.

I was excited to start reading this series because I’ve heard so much about it, and when I did I suddenly felt that I had just read a YA version of The Host by Stephenie Meyer, in a sense.

While I enjoyed reading this book, flying through the pages and very interested what was going to happen to the characters from beginning to end, I wasn’t as excited to start book 2 as I thought. It’s on my shelf and ready to go, so I will be reading it soon, but I think as the series goes on I will become even more interested in this idea of a new world. ( )

I think this is an excellent book with a good plot that keeps you interested throughout. The characters are well developed and the situations they are in and their reactions are very believable even though it is happening in a futuristic society. I liked the book alot even though I don't usually like science fiction. The reading level is very easy and the vocabulary is not challenging, which is a weakness when using this with middle school students. The strength of this book is it's well developed plot and characters. ( )

http://thenovelworld.com/2009/05/29/u... ( )

A fascinating tale, a great depth to the world, plot and charachters, very well thought out. I picked up Pretties and Specials before I started reading this, and I am so glad I did. I could run from one to the next easily without the frustration of waiting. Tally is a likeable charachter and the story is one for boys and girls and aimed much more at the teen/ya market, but quite an adventure making it acceptable to those slightly older [that's me!] ( )