Pretties

Westerfeld, Scott. 2005. Pretties.

I just finished reading Pretties by Scott Westerfeld. It is the second in the series. While I had only good memories about Uglies, Pretties has...well...in all honesty not stuck with me like the original. I knew it was about Tally. And I knew it was about her being pretty. And I remember how it ended. (I won't spoil that here.) But about 80% of the middle I had clearly forgotten. While I feel that Pretties is not nearly as clever as the original, it will keep readers reading on simply because they will want to know what happens to Tally and Shay and Peris. (Okay, maybe no one really cares about Peris. But Tally and Shay are pretty significant characters. And I don't think anyone who read and liked Uglies...can leave them hanging there....not caring to know what happens next.)

Tally is pretty now. So is Shay. They are running with the "Crim" crowd of bubble heads. To be a "Crim" you would have had to have been a trickster as an Ugly. A rule breaker. A rebel. And some of this mindset has remained. This is a group that likes to do tricks. Play pranks. Be seen as the rebels by the other pretties. Other pretties introduced to the story are Fausto and Zane. They will be important to the story. Especially Zane.

The story opens with Tally, Shay, Zane, and fellow Crims going to a pretty party. (Parties are all they ever do.) This party is slightly different. Someone from the Smoke--a teen who is still Ugly--is crashing the party to deliver a very important message to Tally. When Tally sees her old friend, Croy, she doesn't quite know how to react. Once you're pretty, seeing a person in their ugly-state is painful and unpleasant. But he tells her that he left something for her--he's hidden something just for her--in room 317 in the Valentino building.

Tally finds the mystery very bubbly-making. Tally and Zane set out to solve this mystery. What did he leave for her? Who is it from? What is expected from her? The solution is only the beginning of their problems...

Can Tally and friends ever be free of the mind control of the City?