helhas3letters's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Eugenics: the YA novel.
WARNING: this book ends with a cliffhanger!
I enjoyed this book and raced through it as it was easy to read. The plot is interesting - especially Westerfeld's futuristic ideas - and moves quickly, so plot points get their payoffs in a satisfactory way.
The characters were a little clichéd in the typical YA way. The main character was not likeable, but as a reader you can forgive it because she's admittedly been brainwashed her whole life, and she grows as the story goes on. However, I felt that towards the end of the novel, the main character's instincts about an event revealed them to be incredibly self-involved, regardless of the brainwashing. (I'm talking about)
Yes, unfortunately there is a, as often is the case with these YA dystopic novels.
I do wish that the author had delved more into the racial aspect of the eugenicist regime. It is frequently stated that, after the operation, people's eyes become bigger, their noses become smaller, and their lips more full. Wouldn't it be interesting for Tally to learn about the implications of this? Especially from a futuristic perspective. There is also a brief mention of the fact that people's skin tones get evened out, and even a moment where she thinks about how weird it was that people used to kill each other over their skin colour. I'd have just liked this to be explored a bit more. What if Tally starts to learn about her family's lineage, and discovers that she is of a certain heritage, the defining characteristics of which have been wiped out by the operation?
My biggest critique, however, is that I found it very hard to follow Westerfeld's descriptions of space, direction, and travel. I felt that, when characters' physical journeys were described (which was often), the author could have been more detailed and clear. Unfortunately, it became increasingly difficult to orientate the characters in my mind and I ended up giving up on trying to do so, ignoring the geographical comments, and just enjoying the action instead. (Neueodivergent problem?)
I'll probably be reading the sequel, because I'm interested to see where the story goes.
WARNING: this book ends with a cliffhanger!
I enjoyed this book and raced through it as it was easy to read. The plot is interesting - especially Westerfeld's futuristic ideas - and moves quickly, so plot points get their payoffs in a satisfactory way.
The characters were a little clichéd in the typical YA way. The main character was not likeable, but as a reader you can forgive it because she's admittedly been brainwashed her whole life, and she grows as the story goes on. However, I felt that towards the end of the novel, the main character's instincts about an event revealed them to be incredibly self-involved, regardless of the brainwashing. (I'm talking about
Spoiler
Tally's reaction to David and Maddy being alone together after he'd just found out his father had died. Her narration makes it all about herself - I couldn't believe what I was reading!Yes, unfortunately there is a
Spoiler
totally unnecessary romance plotI do wish that the author had delved more into the racial aspect of the eugenicist regime. It is frequently stated that, after the operation, people's eyes become bigger, their noses become smaller, and their lips more full. Wouldn't it be interesting for Tally to learn about the implications of this? Especially from a futuristic perspective. There is also a brief mention of the fact that people's skin tones get evened out, and even a moment where she thinks about how weird it was that people used to kill each other over their skin colour. I'd have just liked this to be explored a bit more. What if Tally starts to learn about her family's lineage, and discovers that she is of a certain heritage, the defining characteristics of which have been wiped out by the operation?
My biggest critique, however, is that I found it very hard to follow Westerfeld's descriptions of space, direction, and travel. I felt that, when characters' physical journeys were described (which was often), the author could have been more detailed and clear. Unfortunately, it became increasingly difficult to orientate the characters in my mind and I ended up giving up on trying to do so, ignoring the geographical comments, and just enjoying the action instead. (Neueodivergent problem?)
I'll probably be reading the sequel, because I'm interested to see where the story goes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma
Moderate: Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Death of parent, and Body shaming
Minor: Confinement, Death, Police brutality, War, Classism, Animal death, Colonisation, Grief, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism
cow_inthe_closet's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Spoiler
tally and shay had more chemistry in this book than tally and david/zane ever did
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Classism
Moderate: Death of parent and Confinement
Minor: Medical content and Death
sallytumbler13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Dysphoria, Classism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Medical content, Police brutality, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, and Violence
dayniw's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Medical content, Police brutality, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Murder
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Animal death
jessicohen15's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The world building is unreal here. Cannot wait to read the next book.
Spoiler
it’s definitely heartbreaking to hear about the lesions but the depth it brings to the story is breathtaking
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Genocide, Bullying, Confinement, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, War, Classism, and Death
optimisms's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I am currently in the process of going back and rereading many of the books that were favorites from my childhood, the books that I remember fondly but vaguely. Unfortunately, I've found that many of them just don't hold up. And Uglies is no exception.
What is there, really, to say about this book? It's enjoyable while you're reading it and utterly forgettable the second you're finished. It's really quite unremarkable. There are a few problems I have with it and I will get into those, but even those don't really rile me up the way worse books sometimes do. I just...don't care that much.
The main strength of this book is the plot and the pacing; it always keeps moving forward. After reading the rest of the review, it may surprise you to know that I plan to read the rest of the series, as long as it continues to be this enjoyable. I never felt like I was just waiting for something to happen. It was interesting and fun and I didn't want to put it down; I read it all in one day! The book does a good job of moving from point to point without lingering pointlessly. And that doesn't always mean something really big is happening, which is also good because that personally always takes me out of the story. But I was never bored while reading, and that deserves mentioning.
However, everything else is pretty weak. The characters, including our protagonist, are pretty flat. They do each have a semblance of a personality but not enough to make any of them feel like a fully realized person. The narrative, though well-paced, is predictable. After the first 1/3 of the book, it was pretty clear exactly where the overall arc of the story would lead. The one big "twist" didn't surprise me at all and felt a little contrived.
And now we get to, in my opinion, the book's biggest weakness. The best dystopias craft a world through with the author is able to levy their critiques on modern society. They take one aspect of society and drive it to the extreme, use it as a thought experiment to show what could happen if we aren't careful. Fahrenheit 451's world shows the deterioration of a society that's scared of knowledge. 1984 illustrates the quality (or lack thereof) of a life lived under surveillance. The Hunger Games' eponymous set piece exists primarily to condemn modern media's cavalier attitude towards violence and suffering. The best dystopias have something important to say, and everything in the book's world should exist to elevate those critiques, to make them clearer and harsher and more impactful.
Uglies doesn't have anything interesting to say. I believe the author thought he was saying something; the book's thesis seems to be something along the lines of "Being obsessed with appearance and status leads to a vapid, distracted, mindless society with little value." And that's a perfectly valid critique – if it were done well. But it's not.
In this world, the two sides of cause and effect (attractiveness -> vapidity) are not inextricably linked. The government decided to turn everyone stupid against their will, but they could just as easily just not do that and still make everyone pretty. There is no reason why things have to be this way, except because the government is evil. This is a huge weakness of the book. You can't change the Hunger Games to be less violent; you have to get rid of it entirely. The society in Handmaid's Tale can't just make the forced rape and enslavement of women less awful; you have to get rid of it. There's no way to make the surveillance in 1984 more palatable, less intrusive; you have to get rid of it. But there is a way to make the problem in Uglies go away easily; just stop doing that part of the surgery.
And so the book does nothing to reinforce the dangers of caring about appearance, because the primary evil in this world is not actually a result of prettiness at all! I was left wondering, why not just do the surgery without the evil part? I mean, it would be nice if everyone could just be equally pretty and no one felt bad about how they looked. If the only negative consequence of that is something that was invented and contrived and added in just because, then hell yeah let's do it!
And it's a damn shame, because there are a lot of real consequences to caring about appearances that actually matter and would've been actually impactful to highlight. In the hands of a better author, or maybe just a more passionate one who had a good personal reason to tell this story, this could've been a really interesting and eye-opening critique. I would love to read a thoughtful, thorough, insightful dystopia about how far society can fall when appearances matter above all else. Unfortunately, this book is not even close to that.
What is there, really, to say about this book? It's enjoyable while you're reading it and utterly forgettable the second you're finished. It's really quite unremarkable. There are a few problems I have with it and I will get into those, but even those don't really rile me up the way worse books sometimes do. I just...don't care that much.
The main strength of this book is the plot and the pacing; it always keeps moving forward. After reading the rest of the review, it may surprise you to know that I plan to read the rest of the series, as long as it continues to be this enjoyable. I never felt like I was just waiting for something to happen. It was interesting and fun and I didn't want to put it down; I read it all in one day! The book does a good job of moving from point to point without lingering pointlessly. And that doesn't always mean something really big is happening, which is also good because that personally always takes me out of the story. But I was never bored while reading, and that deserves mentioning.
However, everything else is pretty weak. The characters, including our protagonist, are pretty flat. They do each have a semblance of a personality but not enough to make any of them feel like a fully realized person. The narrative, though well-paced, is predictable. After the first 1/3 of the book, it was pretty clear exactly where the overall arc of the story would lead. The one big "twist"
Spoiler
when Tally throws the necklace into the fire to destroy and then the big government baddies show up anywaySpoiler
Did she really think they wouldn't have a contingency for if it was destroyed? Why not just tell David's parents, "I was given this necklace to betray you but I don't want to so hey, you're scientists who know way more about this government than I do, please figure out how to best dispose of it"??And now we get to, in my opinion, the book's biggest weakness. The best dystopias craft a world through with the author is able to levy their critiques on modern society. They take one aspect of society and drive it to the extreme, use it as a thought experiment to show what could happen if we aren't careful. Fahrenheit 451's world shows the deterioration of a society that's scared of knowledge. 1984 illustrates the quality (or lack thereof) of a life lived under surveillance. The Hunger Games' eponymous set piece exists primarily to condemn modern media's cavalier attitude towards violence and suffering. The best dystopias have something important to say, and everything in the book's world should exist to elevate those critiques, to make them clearer and harsher and more impactful.
Uglies doesn't have anything interesting to say. I believe the author thought he was saying something; the book's thesis seems to be something along the lines of "Being obsessed with appearance and status leads to a vapid, distracted, mindless society with little value." And that's a perfectly valid critique – if it were done well. But it's not.
In this world, the two sides of cause and effect (attractiveness -> vapidity) are not inextricably linked. The government decided to turn everyone stupid against their will, but they could just as easily just not do that and still make everyone pretty. There is no reason why things have to be this way, except because the government is evil. This is a huge weakness of the book. You can't change the Hunger Games to be less violent; you have to get rid of it entirely. The society in Handmaid's Tale can't just make the forced rape and enslavement of women less awful; you have to get rid of it. There's no way to make the surveillance in 1984 more palatable, less intrusive; you have to get rid of it. But there is a way to make the problem in Uglies go away easily; just stop doing that part of the surgery.
And so the book does nothing to reinforce the dangers of caring about appearance, because the primary evil in this world is not actually a result of prettiness at all! I was left wondering, why not just do the surgery without the evil part? I mean, it would be nice if everyone could just be equally pretty and no one felt bad about how they looked. If the only negative consequence of that is something that was invented and contrived and added in just because, then hell yeah let's do it!
And it's a damn shame, because there are a lot of real consequences to caring about appearances that actually matter and would've been actually impactful to highlight. In the hands of a better author, or maybe just a more passionate one who had a good personal reason to tell this story, this could've been a really interesting and eye-opening critique. I would love to read a thoughtful, thorough, insightful dystopia about how far society can fall when appearances matter above all else. Unfortunately, this book is not even close to that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Eating disorder, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, and Medical content
madmantha's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
It was really interesting rereading this in 2022; many things still feel relevant today, if not more so in some cases.
The love triangle still feels a bit forced; I’d love for them to take it in a queer or poly direction in the new series adaption.
I got heavy “gal pals” energy between Tally and Shay in this reading; which isn’t something I remember noticing or feeling when I read this years ago.
This is still one of my favorite books and I’m very much looking forward to continuing to share the series with my partner.
The love triangle still feels a bit forced; I’d love for them to take it in a queer or poly direction in the new series adaption.
I got heavy “gal pals” energy between Tally and Shay in this reading; which isn’t something I remember noticing or feeling when I read this years ago.
This is still one of my favorite books and I’m very much looking forward to continuing to share the series with my partner.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Police brutality, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Fatphobia, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Alcohol and Death of parent
Minor: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Hate crime, Acephobia/Arophobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Police brutality, and Toxic friendship
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