Uglies (Uglies Trilogy, Book 1) [Paperback]

Scott Westerfeld (Author), Rodrigo Corral (Designer)

Book Description

Release date: February 8, 2005 | Series: Uglies Trilogy, Book 1

A few years after rebel Tally Youngblood took down the uglies/pretties/specials regime, a cultural renaissance swept the world. Now popularity rules. Everyone craves fame—and fifteen-year-old Aya Fuse is no exception. But her face rank of 451,396 is so low, she’s a total nobody. An extra. Aya’s only chance to escape extra-land is to find a big story to kick—something wild and unexpected. Then Aya meets a clique of girls who pull crazy tricks. She knows she can propel herself into celebrity; but at what cost? There’s more at stake than Aya realizes in this spectacular conclusion to the Uglies series.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Playing on every teen’s passionate desire to look as good as everybody else, Scott Westerfeld (Midnighters) projects a future world in which a compulsory operation at sixteen wipes out physical differences and makes everyone pretty by conforming to an ideal standard of beauty. The "New Pretties" are then free to play and party, while the younger "Uglies" look on enviously and spend the time before their own transformations in plotting mischievous tricks against their elders. Tally Youngblood is one of the most daring of the Uglies, and her imaginative tricks have gotten her in trouble with the menacing department of Special Circumstances. She has yearned to be pretty, but since her best friend Shay ran away to the rumored rebel settlement of recalcitrant Uglies called The Smoke, Tally has been troubled. The authorities give her an impossible choice: either she follows Shay’s cryptic directions to The Smoke with the purpose of betraying the rebels, or she will never be allowed to become pretty. Hoping to rescue Shay, Tally sets off on the dangerous journey as a spy. But after finally reaching The Smoke she has a change of heart when her new lover David reveals to her the sinister secret behind becoming pretty. The fast-moving story is enlivened by many action sequences in the style of videogames, using intriguing inventions like hoverboards that use the rider’s skateboard skills to skim through the air, and bungee jackets that make wild downward plunges survivable -- and fun. Behind all the commotion is the disturbing vision of our own society -- the Rusties -- visible only in rusting ruins after a virus destroyed all petroleum. Teens will be entranced, and the cliffhanger ending will leave them gasping for the sequel. (Ages 12 and up) --Patty Campbell

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 6 Up–Tally Youngblood lives in a futuristic society that acculturates its citizens to believe that they are ugly until age 16 when they'll undergo an operation that will change them into pleasure-seeking "pretties." Anticipating this happy transformation, Tally meets Shay, another female ugly, who shares her enjoyment of hoverboarding and risky pranks. But Shay also disdains the false values and programmed conformity of the society and urges Tally to defect with her to the Smoke, a distant settlement of simple-living conscientious objectors. Tally declines, yet when Shay is found missing by the authorities, Tally is coerced by the cruel Dr. Cable to find her and her compatriots–or remain forever "ugly." Tally's adventuresome spirit helps her locate Shay and the Smoke. It also attracts the eye of David, the aptly named youthful rebel leader to whose attentions Tally warms. However, she knows she is living a lie, for she is a spy who wears an eye-activated locator pendant that threatens to blow the rebels' cover. Ethical concerns will provide a good source of discussion as honesty, justice, and free will are all oppressed in this well-conceived dystopia. Characterization, which flirts so openly with the importance of teen self-concept, is strong, and although lengthy, the novel is highly readable with a convincing plot that incorporates futuristic technologies and a disturbing commentary on our current public policies. Fortunately, the cliff-hanger ending promises a sequel.–Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT

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Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse; First Edition edition (February 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689865384
• ISBN-13: 978-0689865381
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1.2 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (688 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Scott Westerfeld's teen novels include the Uglies series, the Midnighters trilogy, The Last Days, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and the sequel to Peeps. Scott was born in Texas, and alternates summers between Sydney, Australia, and New York City.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#30 in Books > Teens

#30 in Books > Teens

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

171 of 180 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Put it Down September 1, 2007

By M. Dartez

Format:Paperback

I am a middle school English teacher and enjoy reading Young Adult literature. I also have seen the Twilight Zone episode, with a very similar story line, and it was an episode that has lingered hauntingly in my thoughts....so when I heard of this series, I was very eager to read it. I don't frequently write reviews, but I had to react to the negative reviews that I saw on this site. Though the story line may not be original, the author writes beautifully, using specific vocabulary and beautiful similes, without, at least in my opinion, holding back the story line. Tally is a well-developed character, thoughtful and fully understanding the consequences of her actions. I saved this book for a three-day weekend but read it all last night and this morning. I was unable to put it down and am planning to read all three books this week. I highly recommend this book for readers who enjoy thinking about what our future will be like. I plan to share the first chapter with my Junior Great Books class. I think it will be great fodder for intellectual discussion.

105 of 116 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Can't wait to read the next one... December 14, 2005

By L. Bligh VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I have not read other novels by the author, but I will be after reading this one. This was an incredibly well written book. The setting was well created and the characters were believable and well developed. There are no great leaps of faith that one has to make with some science fiction attempts. The story line makes sense. You're wondering how could this all work, and just about when you get to the point were you have to have some type of explanation or you're going to get frustrated, the author gives it to you. And I liked the explanations and the logic behind how the world got to this point.

Uglies reminds of The Giver, in that the people feel as though they are in a utopia, and the reader thinks this is great to start out with, and then it all starts falling a part at the seams once you begin really thinking about the plot. I like this book because it raises some of the same questions; how much control should we give the people in power, should you question the world around you, what's with all the rules, conformity, but it does it with the whole idea of receiving cosmetic surgery and hoverboards. The science and technology added to this story make it easier to swallow then The Giver.

60 of 67 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Uglies, anything but August 28, 2006

By Nancy E. Merrill

Format:Paperback

I bought this book on the recommendations I found online and I'm really glad I did. The synopsis has already been well described here. I just want to add my "thumbs WAAAY up" to all the other glowing reviews. As I read this book, I kept thinking of how the concept of beauty changes so much over time. I wonder what will be considered beautiful in 300 years (about the time this series is set). I was also wondering who got to decide what was beautiful when the operations started, and had it evolved over time. Interesting things to ponder as you read...but making you think is what really good fiction should do.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVED IT!!! January 27, 2007

A Kid's Review

Format:Paperback

In this futuristic world, when you turn 16, you get an operation that turns you beautiful. Everyone pretty gets a new house in the glamorous part of town-New Pretty Town. This is where Tally Youngblood wants to be. How can she help it, when all anyone learns in school is how much better life is when everyone is beautiful, and when all the people you know don't call you by your name, they call you by your main imperfection? Tally's best friend Peris has just turned pretty,too. After a daring escape into New Pretty Town(no Uglies allowed-after all, why would the plastic -surgeoned people want to look at a real face?) she meets Shay, who shares Tally's birthday. This means neither will have to leave the other for a single day while she becomes pretty,which makes Tally happy. But Shay is a little unusual. She hates the operation, and wants to keep her own face. Despite tally's protests she runs away to a mysterious place called The Smoke, where runaways can be safe, and stay ugly forever. Repulsive, at least to Tally, who Shay begs to come. But she won't. In just a few days, it's Tally's birthday, her ticket out of the Ugly dorm and gazing out the window at New Pretty Town. She'll be a Pretty. Then, on the long-awaited day there's a problem with Tally's operation. A barely believed group called the Special Circumstances takes the reins, giving Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find Shay and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. And Tally wants to be pretty so much... I could not put this book down. It's not pure unbelievability like some sci-fi, giving good reasons for why society is like this, but it's not boring either, fraught with hoverboard chases and things exploding. I'm totally hooked on the trilogy, and will definitely be reading more of Scott Westerfeld's books in the future.... Uglies should be recomended reading. Read more ›

37 of 44 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Uglies: interesting but not satisfying December 14, 2007

By Rebecca J. Carlson

Format:Paperback

The first sentence of this book nearly lost me. "The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit?" I nearly missed the very decent prose of the next paragraph because I was still reeling from the shock of that first line. I mean, if you want to use a metaphor to evoke color, please use something that has a definite color. Might as well have said the sky was the color of a smelly beach towel.

By the end of the first page I realized that "cat vomit" had nothing to do with the sky but was more a metaphor for how the point of view character felt about life in general. It isn't hard to see why she feels wretched. She's been waiting all her life for the operation that will make her pretty: gorgeous features, perfect body shape, big beautiful eyes, so that she can look like all of the other sixteen-year-olds and join them in their eternal pretty party across the river. Right now she feels ugly and petulant, and has nothing better to do than sneak out and break the rules by trying to find her best friend, who already turned pretty and lives in that other glittering world she is waiting to join.

Then she meets someone else, someone who isn't sure that turning pretty is all it's cracked up to be. Pretty soon our heroine is entangled in intrigues, underground resistances, espionage, betrayal, and even gets to do a little smooching on the way.

The book is full of interesting ideas. Hoverboards are REALLY COOL. I wish I had one. The issues of body image and judging people on looks are dealt with in a thought provoking manner, and there's also some environmentalism and remarks on the evils of totalitarianism thrown in there. I enjoy Westerfeld's prose, direct and colorful.... He is endlessly inventive with his imaginary technology, and the world he has created is interesting to consider as a fable if not entirely believable as a possible future.

On the other hand, it wasn't a deeply satisfying read. The constant hair-breadth escapes are fun at first, but eventually grow tedious. By the end I wasn't even paying attention to how they "got out of that one." I knew the author would contrive some way for them to manage it. The characters all seemed a little thick: good guys, bad guys, everyone seems to be thinking far too little about what's going on and what they really ought to do about it. The pacing in the middle was so slow I put the book down for a whole week. The second half did draw me along well enough, but at the end I was once again questioning everyone's competence.

It was a good book, don't get me wrong. It was well worth reading, but it had some problems. Nothing really offended me, but younger children wouldn't understand a lot of the issues. I recommend it for ages ten and up. Read more ›