Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

TITLE: UGLIES
AUTHOR: SCOTT WESTERFELD
GENRE: YOUNG ADULT FICTION
RATING: 4 STARS

This is one of those books that I have kept putting off reading, and now that I've read it, I have no idea why it took me so long! The one good thing about putting it off is that the series has all been released already. I don't have to wait for the next one!

They are YA Science Fiction and I swear that I think every teenager should be required to read these books! They are set in our world, but about 300 years in the future. The characters live in a society where you are either an ugly or a pretty. Uglies are normal people, mostly kids, and when you turn 16 you get MAJOR reconstructive surgery to be the ideal pretty. The main character, Tally, meets a girl named Shay. They are just about 3 months from their 16 birthdays and Tally is just counting down the days until she can become pretty. But Shay has a different perspective on things. She likes the way that she looks right now. Why does she have to have surgery to become pretty?

This series really delves into issues that face all of us every day. It did take a little bit for me to get into this book, and that's the only reason that I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.  But once I did it just grabs you and holds on until the last page. Then once you've read that last page you have to race out and get the next one!

As a side note, for those of you who enjoy audiobooks, this was a great one. Some of the voices that the reader used for some characters took me a bit to get used to, but it was overall a great audio book series!