A Pretty Special Series

 Uglies. Scott Westerfeld.

This series blew me away.

It is a trilogy-plus-one, meaning that the first three books all involve the same characters that are continuous, but there is another book afterward in the same world and the same characters are probably mentioned (I have not read the fourth one yet) but it deals with different things or perhaps characters.

The first book, Uglies, was recommended to me by two different people. At first, I was kind of wary. I had no idea what to expect, and it took me a while to understand the gist of the story, and how it is futuristic and they have many, many cool things that we do not have. All very future-like things, obviously, since it takes place hundreds of years from now. Now, I have never read a formal futuristic book. But I LOVED this! I was warned that it may take a while to get into, but that did not happen whatsoever. After I basically understood it, it was breathtaking. And the chapter cliffhangers were always very good, but it wasn't until near the end that a HUGE cliffhanger that made me gasp came. I won't spoil anything for anyone who hasn't read these yet, but I HIGHLY recommend them.

Basically, there are different stages of life. Littlie, Ugly, Pretty, so on. Once the people of the city turn sixteen, they get an operation that turns them pretty. Tally, the main character, wants nothing more than to be pretty. She spends all her ugly time dreaming of being pretty. She meets Shay, the crazy best friend. Shay shies away from the idea of being pretty. Then, just before their shared sixteenth birthday, Shay tells Tally about running away and where she can run to so they won't get the operation. After a turn of events, Tally has two options: She can turn in Shay to the authorities and turn pretty, or she can stay ugly forever.

(OK, so the format from here on out may be a little weird because working with these pictures is very, very confusing. But anyhow.)

Pretties is the amazing sequel. I found this one even better than uglies which is relatively unusual for sequels. I thought the last one was good and I thought I was enraptured with the characters, but I could not have been more wrong. This was-surprisingly-even more engrossing with the characters. I got so attached to every character in this book, and many choices the characters made either made me smile with pride, want to hurt them, or really confuse me. Either or. This book was also higher on the action level and deviousness. And talk about cliffhangers.This one had much more intense cliffhangers, many of which made me gasp and spasm out inside. That's what I call a good cliffhanger. This book had many, and many surprises as well. Like Uglies, the cliffhanger it ended with was AMAZING, making you crave the next book and keeping it in the front of your mind until you have started the next book, which starts the cycle over again.

Specials is the thrilling third book in the trilogy. Not only was this my favorite, it was the most unpredictable. Just when you think you have it figured out, you don't. I will not say in any detail what this book is about because it will give away the first two. But this was definitely my favorite out of the series. It made me laugh out loud, cry, and want to never leave this amazing futuristic world. Just, wow. If I could write something half as magnificent as these, I would be more than ecstatic. (I would like to add that this one definitely has the coolest cover art.) Keeping me on my toes, throwing surprises, and such, this book kept me on my toes straight up until the end. The end made for what I consider a truly amazing book. It was one of those books you don't really know HOW you feel about the way it all played out. I had no idea what to think, honestly. At first, it was I LOVE THIS SERIES. But then, it became 'I may have just wasted a three book period of my life on these.' After seriously thinking it through and trying to figure out what I thought, I came to the conclusion that I loved these books. Despite some of the feelings I had, I realized not every story can end the way you want. Not every story will. And its the truly magnificent books that you still love and would recommend to anyone even if they didn't end the way you would have chosen. And Scott Westerfeld is an amazing author for that.

I am THRILLED to get the next one, Extras, which is the extra trilogy book. (Get it? Speaking of jokes, Pretties and Specials books are discussed here, and look at the title of this blog entry. Yeah, that's clever.) I don't think it's even possible that I will be disappointed by Extras. I will be a happy person once I get my hands on that one! Until then, have a great weekend! And read!