Currently reading: Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld

Imagine a world where physical perfection is distinctly within your grasp. Elaborate and highly detailed surgeries can smooth frizzy hair, mold perfect muscles, create flawless skin—in short, can grant the ultimate result in terms of physical beauty. Imagine that the surgery contains no risks. It has been successfully performed upon thousands of people with no negative side affects.

Now imagine that this chance for perfection is not just an option. It’s a requirement as soon as you turn sixteen. Up until age sixteen, you have lived in Uglyville, residing in dorms and going to school just like any other kid. But once you turn sixteen, you’re told, you “get to” have the Pretty surgery and move to New Pretty Town across the river. Life is all fun and games after that, with parties and balls almost every night, and of course, the ever-present adventurous bunch of “Crims” to spice things up a bit.

It is against this backdrop that author Scott Westerfeld introduces Tally Youngblood. Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she simply cannot wait for the chance to turn Pretty and move across the river. Her best friend Peris has already had the operation and gone to New Pretty Town, and Tally wants nothing more than to join him there. But then Tally meets Shay. Unlike Tally’s other friends, Shay isn’t so sure she wants to have the operation. In fact, Shay wants to escape Uglyville and New Pretty Town entirely, going instead to a strange place called the Smoke, where the Pretty surgery doesn’t even exist and people stay ugly all their lives. As Tally gets to know Shay better and starts to care about her friend, she soon must face a choice that will change her life forever.

Such is the opening of the first book in Scott Westerfeld’s acclaimed Uglies trilogy. Tally’s story begins in the first book, Uglies, and is completed in the second and third books, Pretties and Specials. I have to admit that I was somewhat wary of these books for various reasons, but I also have to admit that they actually turned out to be quite interesting, if viewed in the proper light.

Of course, one of the strongest themes of the books is that of physical beauty and its effects on life and relationships. Many of the characters struggle with the temptation to simply conform to their society’s norms rather than fight for what they have come to believe—that true beauty is much more than just flawless skin and perfect teeth. When Tally meets people who are not at all charmed by the idea of physical perfection, she suddenly finds herself questioning much of what she has been taught. She begins to wonder if beauty is, in fact, the sum total of a person’s existence, or if life means much more than that.

Also woven throughout the books are themes of honesty versus deception, loyalty versus betrayal, the strong ties of friendship, the wickedness of manipulation, and even a very interesting environmental position as Tally’s world attempts to restore the planet after “the Rusties” (our modern civilization) had nearly destroyed it.

It’s amusing to see how sometimes my assumptions about a book can be proven completely wrong. I was pleasantly surprised by this series. Westerfeld’s style—although not by any means what I would call literary genius—is engaging, and the storyline is intriguing enough to hold the attention of even a skeptic such as myself. Tally is not a Mary-Sue heroine; she has flaws and weaknesses, and the reader both sympathizes with her and scoffs at her through various parts of the story. This is a decided point in Westerfeld’s favor. The technology of his story is also quite clever. With magnetic-powered hoverboards and hovercars, bungee jackets, and recyclers to eat up dirty dishes and discarded clothes, the technical aspect is enough even to engross a science fiction lover.

All in all, the Uglies trilogy is worth reading as “fluff” material. It is not great literature, nor are the themes it contains profoundly impacting, but it makes for perfect beach reading material.