Cover of Pretties (Uglies Trilogy, Book 2)
“Pretties (Uglies Book #2)” by Scott Westerfeld
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Science Fiction
Source: Bought
Summary from Goodreads:
Gorgeous. Popular. Perfect. Perfectly wrong.
Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are awesome, her boyfriend is totally hot, and she’s completely popular. It’s everything she’s ever wanted.
But beneath all the fun — the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom — is a nagging sense that something’s wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally’s ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what’s wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold.
Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life — because the authorities don’t intend to let anyone with this information survive.
I was warned when I started to read this that Pretties wasn’t as good as Uglies. I scoffed at the idea. Uglies was awesome, the sequel should be awesome too, right? After finishing the book, I completely understand what everyone was warning me about. Pretties was good but it definitely lacked something that Uglies had.
I’m really not a fan of romances. They always just seem forced in YA books. With that being said, I kind of liked whatever Tally and David had going in the first book. So when Pretties began I was annoyed at Tally’s behavior but I had to remind myself of the circumstances of the last book. I let it slide. Maybe it’s just me but the book’s romantic vibes were just weird. Tally’s relationship with Zane felt really rushed and then towards the end of the book, the love triangle was odd. I mean, I understand why it’s there but it was too cliche for my taste.
The overall story was okay. It reminded me a lot of Catching Fire in the sense that it was like “awww man, we have to do this again?”. If you’ve read the book, you know what I mean. The reader finds out more about the pretty world but I was kind of hoping for more.
I loved the twists and turns in the book. Some of what happened was a little predictable. Other revelations shocked me. It was a nice mix of events. I was fairly glued to my book which is always a good sign.
I enjoyed getting to see more of the pretty world. It was interesting to see it from an “insider’s” point of view. Maybe we’ll see more of it in future books? The lingo irks me though.
Once again, Westerfeld started annoying me with the social commentary stuff. Yes, we get that you don’t like how we currently are environmentally. We get that people today are too superficial. Blah, blah, blah. It’s annoying but not annoying enough to make me stop reading the series.
Rating 3.5/5
Enjoyable follow up. Can’t wait to read Specials in the future.
The Cheap Reader 
I felt the exact same way about everything you said. Pretties disappointed me because Uglies was SO good. The book just wasn’t as good. It just wasn’t. And I totally know what you mean about it being like “Catching Fire.” This again? Haha. I’m waiting for it to happen again in “The Ask and the Answer.” I’m sure Todd and Viola will have to run from the army again at some point. Although I’m almost halfway through and they haven’t yet.
I was also annoyed with how the character Paris was written. At the beginning of Uglies, I thought they were “best friends.” Yet his character is never really developed and he plays no major roles. That’s always bugged me.
You’ll get all the answers in Specials. It’s also not as good as Uglies, but I enjoyed it more than Pretties.
The “this again?” mentality exists in SO many sequels. It drives me a bit crazy.
I know what you mean about Peris. I wonder how much of his flakiness comes from being Pretty. It’s a shame he wasn’t introduced before the surgery.
Sounds like second book syndrome. I haven’t read Uglies yet, but I know how disappointing it can be when the second installment doesn’t live up to the first.
That’s good that it had some twists and surprises though that held your attention. Hope that Specials brings back some of the magic from the first book.
It is a bummer but I’m not too worried about it. From what I’ve seen the 3rd and 4th books are better so things can only go up from here!
Ow, it seems I am an outsider in this club… I really can’t draw any line between first and second books, they both are same good for me and even more, if I could I would make ONE book out of these two volumes. Talking about romance things, it didn’t annoy me at all. I like love stories to be banal because they just are like that in a real life. And the presence of such very “hello reality” moments in fantasy or/and science-fiction books makes me to feel the story way better. It is enough for me that everything else in the world is totally unfamiliar for me, I want to understand feelings at least. Somehow I have never got all that heroic impulses and view of the world.
Probably I am too marginal for it XD
They should put Uglies, Pretties, and Specials into one big book. They’d be much more enjoyable if you read them back to back. (And it would help everything make sense)
Yeah, there is not so much going on to print 3 volumes and I wish it was a little more complicated. But how ever it is, the first two volumes are still enjoyable and I am happy I got no that “second book syndrome” feeling.
P.S.: highly recommended to read in foreign language to improve it as it is really nothing philosophical and overcomplicated. xDD
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