Book Review: Extras by Scott Westerfeld

SERIES SPOILER ALERT. SERIES SPOILER ALERT. SERIES SPOILER ALERT.
WARNING: The contents of this review may give away some of the major plotlines within the series. Do not continue reading if you want to be pleasantly surprised by the book.

Extras - Scott Westerfeld

Synopsis:
It has been several years since Tally Youngblood brought down the social segregation system that divided uglies, pretties and specials.
Now, people live in a society that is no longer governed by strict regulations that force everybody to be ‘brain-missing’. Instead, people are embracing their individuality- taking on crazy surgery and trends in order to be the person that stands out the most amongst their peers.
Although Aya Fuse is only fifteen years old, she, too, wishes to raise her popularity rank and become famous. With a rank numbering just under 500,000, Aya is considered a nobody- or extra- by the rich and famous. She dreams of becoming a famous kicker (a type of amateur journalist), and in a city where the main currency is popularity (which can buy you anything you desire), Aya has great aspirations to find a story that will propel her to stardom. Although she has kicked many small stories, along with her faithful hovercam Moggle, Aya just hasn’t been able to get her big break.
That is, of course, until she meets the Sly Girls- a group of extras whose main aim is to pull crazy stunts but remain anonymous. Long considered an urban myth, the mystery surrounding the clique would be enough to boost her rank significantly. But then Aya and the girls uncover a secret that could change the course of history and put all of them in danger.
In her eagerness to kick the biggest story of the millennium, Aya could soon become more famous than she ever imagined possible. But will her story also put the world, as she knows it, at risk?

What I gained from reading this book:
This novel is all about fame, celebrity, and society’s perceptions of self-worth. Aya is only fifteen years old, but she aspires to be in the top one thousand people of her city- a difficult feat considering that at the start of the novel, she is ranked at the lowly number of 451, 369. Her city, which awards its citizens according to their popularity in society, creates a different type of hierarchy to the uglies/pretties/specials system, which separated the ‘elite’ from the ‘non elite’. But in reality, this system is not much better, as it incites people to go to extremes in order to boost their popularity. This is obvious through people’s behaviour, especially when they undergo surgery in order to look as ‘out there’ as humanly possible. The kickers also go to extreme lengths to find crazy stories, hoping that they will be able to make a name for themselves in their ever-competitive society. Through the introduction of characters like the Sly Girls, the author highlights the absurdity of fame, and shows that that you don’t need to have a high status in society to be worthy of attention from your peers.

Positives:
Because Aya never experienced the brain lesions, and has only learnt about them at school, it means that a new perspective is thrown on the events of the previous novels. Adding to that is the fact that she is Japanese, and therefore not even of the same culture as Tally Youngblood. This means that readers are able to see how Tally’s actions have spread across the world, and allows them to see how each country has reacted to these changes.

Negatives:
People who are expecting this novel to be similar in style to the previous three books may be slightly disappointed. Although Extras is considered part of the series, and features some of the characters from the other books, it also has its differences. Aya’s story is nothing like Tally’s- it is more about Aya’s quest to kick a fabulous story and join the social elite, rather than forge her own individuality, as Tally’s was.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Genre: Teenage Fiction

Recommended for: People who are eager to read the fourth book in the ‘trilogy’, and find out about how life changed after Tally’s exploits.

Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book Review: Specials by Scott Westerfeld

SERIES SPOILER ALERT. SERIES SPOILER ALERT. SERIES SPOILER ALERT.
WARNING: The contents of this review may give away some of the major plotlines within the series. Do not continue reading if you want to be pleasantly surprised by the book.

Specials - Scott Westerfeld

Synopsis:
Tally Youngblood has become one of the creatures she most feared as an ugly and a pretty- she is now a special.
Biologically enhanced so that her senses are superior and her reflexes amazingly fast, Tally’s body is now streamlined with strong new muscles, and unbreakable ceramic bones, ensuring that her superiority over everybody else is complete. Along with her physical reconditioning, Tally’s latest operation has given her the opportunity to remain clear-headed while she attempts to hunt down the New Smokies and destroy their rebellious camp.
As a member of the Cutters- a group of young specials who have their own set of rules- Tally, along with Shay, is programmed to locate and eradicate the New Smokies, who are threatening to cure the pretties of their brain lesions with a vast supply of Maddy’s pills. As a special, Tally cannot allow that to happen, especially considering the dangerous problems that her boyfriend Zane experienced when he took the pills. But it appears that the Smokies have strong allies, who have given them access to things that they previously couldn’t get, and which enable them to reach an even broader section of society.
The only way that Tally can negotiate this new development is to use a group of pretties as ‘bait’ and uncover the Smokies’ hideout. But the plan doesn’t go as well as she hopes, and she soon finds herself questioning the mission that she is programmed to complete. Will the world be safe from destruction if all pretties are clear-headed? Can uglies and pretties really live in cohesion? And if the Cutters’ mission fails, what will happen to the world as she knows it?

What I gained from reading this book:
As a special, Tally Youngblood finally feels as though she’s found her place in life. As an ugly she felt inferior, while being a pretty was fine until she rediscovered the truth about the brain lesions (that turn all pretties into bubbleheads). As a special, Tally not only belongs to a clique known as the Cutters- who share a special bond through aspects of their creation- but she is also faster, stronger and physically more superior than the rest of the people living in her city.
The one drawback, however, can be found in the actions that gave her clique their nickname- members cut their arms, and some even brand themselves with hot firebrands, in order to feel ‘icy’. This self-harming behaviour gives them adrenaline rushes that keep their minds clear, but is also representative of the destructive path that the Cutters are taking by acting as ‘soldiers’ of the city- they can only get their release by hurting themselves.
Similarly to the Cutters in the novel, there are some people nowadays who cut themselves as a way of coping with their daily lives. Many of these people do not stop until they get the support that they need- support that can be found in close friends and family. In the novel, Tally does not feel compelled to stop until Zane makes her promise that she will end her self-harming ways.
In this way, the author is sending a message by encouraging people to speak up and help friends and family who are dealing with destructive behaviour.

Positives:
This novel introduces even more technology that enables the uglies, pretties and specials to function in society. Sneaksuits, which camouflage their wearer and therefore render them almost invisible to the naked eye, are just one of the author’s many creations that further enhance the futuristic feel of the series.

Negatives:
Unlike the first two books, where it is easy to relate to Tally and her adventures, Specials seems more detached. Perhaps this is representative of Tally’s new persona- as a cool, calm and collected special- but it also makes it more difficult for readers to share in what Tally feels, and justify her actions as a ruthless machine intent on stamping out the rebels of the New Smoke.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Genre: Teenage Fiction

Recommended for: People who want to find out what happens to Tally and all the other characters from the previous novels.

Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book Review: Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

Pretties - Scott Westerfeld

Synopsis:
It has been months since Tally Youngblood returned to New Pretty Town, and underwent the operation that changed her from an ugly into a pretty.
Since then, she has been reunited with her old friends Peris and Shay, and been introduced to an exclusive clique named the Crims, whose main prerequisite for joining is having completed daring feats as uglies. With Tally’s tricky experiences far outweighing those of her fellow pretties, she has more than earned the right to join the gang, under the leadership of the handsome Zane.
But while she is happy to be incredibly attractive, have fabulous clothes, and a large group of friends, Tally can’t help but feel that something is missing.
When Tally runs into an ugly from her past, she rediscovers the truth about the operation and New Pretty Town, which the operation has partially erased from her memory. As her memories return, she is determined to have her old, clear-headed life back.
But first she has to combat her guilt after remembering her betrayal of the Smokies, find the New Smokies hideout, and convince the Crims that leaving the city is the best thing that they will ever do in their entire lives.
However, doing that while keeping the elite Special Circumstances team from learning of her plans is easier said than done…

What I gained from reading this book:
In this novel, Tally encounters people from various ‘cultures’, and she has to learn to adapt to their ways of life- rather than the comforts she is used to- in order to survive.
Having lived as a Smokey with David and the rest of the runaway community, Tally has had some experience in living in the wild and surviving from the land.
But when she comes across a group of people who seem to have escaped from the sights of Special Circumstances, she discovers that her life with the Smokies was far more urban than she imagined. The villagers of the place she discovers are primitive in their beliefs and theories, live in a blood feud with other outsiders, and see the pretties as Gods who must be obeyed otherwise harm will befall them. This is in stark contrast to the Smokies, who, while in awe of the beauty of the pretties, certainly don’t deify them, and have never engaged in murder for the sake of avenging people killed in the past.
While this kind of situation is not prevalent in today’s society, similar circumstances have played out in the past, in the form of one ‘superior’ race of people exerting their authority over another’s. This has also occurred in third-world countries where people from more well-off countries have challenged people’s primitive beliefs, and attempted to treat them as test-subjects for various anthropological studies.

Positives:
The action scenes in this novel are more intense, as Tally fights to remember what she once learnt, and tries to regain what she has lost in her new life as a pretty. As a pretty, Tally gets involved in even more dangerous stunts than when she was an ugly, and readers who enjoyed the action last time will be even more impressed this time around.

Negatives:
Pretty language can become quite annoying at times, even if it is representative of the vacant-mindedness of the pretties. Readers will probably get sick of reading words like bubbly and bogus, and will get annoyed at seeing –missing and –making tacked on to normal words, turning them into phrases that the pretties would use.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Genre: Teenage Fiction

Recommended for: People eager to see the cliffhanger from the first Uglies book resolved.

Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below: