Operation Annihilate Dust Bunnies (+ a little late bookwormism update)

THE SCIENCE OF BEAUTY. In ancient Greece it was all about the math. They believed that beauty had a ratio: roughly 1.618 to 1. The Greeks called this ratio phi and used it obsessively in their architecture and art. Temples like the Parthenon and the Acropolis have phi all over them. And so does George Clooney’s face.

-From Bogus to Bubbly: An Insider’s Guide to the World of Uglies (Scott Westerfeld) 

THE UGLIES SERIES by Scott Westerfeld: Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras.

Uglies series (old US version).

Uglies series (UK edition)

Thank you! I like the Uglies series, but I like Westerfeld’s Leviathan trilogy more. :) Try it if you have time!

And sure, I’ll post all the three cover editions I know.

prettybooks:

(by Sophie)

gotta love the series. :)

New cover art for the Uglies trilogy-plus-one by Scott Westerfeld, coming out in May 2011. Pretty neat and simple, but I love the old American covers more.

Glad to hear that! :D

If you want something that almost has the same feel as The Hunger Games, try Scott Westerfeld’s The Uglies series (Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras). It’s set in a more futuristic society than Hunger Games though, and has its share of dry parts. But over all it’s a good series too. :D

An interesting trivia about the American covers of the first three books in the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld: The first book, Uglies, features a mouth in its spine; Pretties has an eye; Specials has an ear. It’s a possible reference to the “three wise monkeys”, a pictorial maxim that signifies the principle “see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil”.

I just started Specials yesterday so I can’t comment about it yet. :) I’ll let you know in a review when I finish it. <3

Thanks for the comments, guys! :)
I’m continuing with the series, of course—in fact I’m done with the second book. I’ll go spazz about it in a review later! :D 

UGLIES by Scott Westerfeld

After suffering from a “withdrawal syndrome” of some sort after finishing Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy, I asked for recommendations around Tumblr—specifically for books or series that have the same feel or fall in the same genre as The Hunger Games. Almost 90% of the Tumblr bookworms I asked told me to secure copies of the Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. And I did, after checking out various spolier-free reviews in the internet.

The series starts with the book Uglies. In a post-scarcity dystopian society that is obsessed with physical appearance, people undergo cosmetic surgery at the age of sixteen so that they can be turned “Pretty”. Teenager Tally Youngblood has spent most of her Ugly life waiting and wanting to be Pretty. But a few months before her sixteenth birthday she meets up with fellow Ugly Shay, who does not want to be turned at all. Shay shows Tally some of the ugly truths about being Pretty, about conforming to the rules set by the society. When Shay runs away to live with the Smokies—people who rebelled and kept their Ugly faces—Tally has to make a choice: go bring back her friend, or don’t turn Pretty at all.

The verdict? For me, this book is a mixed bag.

Let’s start with the good points. I commend this book for deftly discussing deep, thought-provoking themes that most young adult books don’t have nowadays. While the story revolves around topics like the price of beauty and the physical and emotional changes that a teenager experiences, several other significant subjects are touched, ones that made this book a not-so-subtle social commentary. Environmental issues are raised when characters think of the past, often including how these modern people think of the foolishness of the Rusties (what they call people from the past, which is us, people who live today). It is blatant that the book is anti-war too, especially when you read the last parts of the book. The most important theme however, is maintaining your individuality in a world where you are expected to follow every rule set for you, where Big Brother watches you wherever you go. As what the cliché goes: the hardest battle is to be yourself in a world that wants you to be somebody else.

Now on with the not-so-pretty points. I have to say that I didn’t feel the characters that much. While they are nowhere far from being three-dimensional, there is something that doesn’t cling with me as I read. I did not like any character that much, but I did not hate anyone—that’s not necessarily a good thing though. I’m hoping that the next installments will make up for this. Also, while there is action, it was not kept constant through the whole book. Some parts are pretty predictable as well. It is easy to find out that this book is really written for young adults. The pacing is quite good, but it’s not so much of a page-turner for me.

There are scenes that remind me so much of The Hunger Games and I admit that there’s a moment that wondered if Collins read the series long ago. The city of Pretties itself is like the Capitol in THG—remember how almost everyone there are surgically altered? Authorities are strict and controlling too. Also, the parts where Tally is travelling to the Rusty Ruins remind me of Katniss Everdeen’s time in the arena where she’s still roughing it out alone. There’s even this one scene where Tally wakes up and finds her world “on fire”, and she spends the next chapter (Firestorm) dodging the flames. In a scene in THG, Katniss wakes up to find a “wall of fire” descending on her, and she spends the next chapter dodging fireballs.  There are still a lot of similar tidbits, but I won’t go into that anymore. Pretties, the second book, have more important similarities with THG and I’ll discuss that when I make a review for that.

All in all, this is still a good read, though there are parts that can be shallow at times (or maybe it’s really supposed to be that way, because of some of the shallow characters?). I enjoyed it for the most part. 

I’ve finished reading Uglies four days ago, and I’m more than halfway done with Pretties. So good. Yes, the series is written for young adults, but the themes are deep and are relevant to the society we have today, something that even adults would enjoy…What is the price of beauty? What if perfection is not good enough? Would you rather live in a perfect place where your mind is controlled or in the wild where you can be yourself?

Also, I discovered why people keep on recommending me this when I said I like The Hunger Games. I’ll write a proper review tomorrow. :D