I really wanted to like Pretties. I did. Especially after enjoying Uglies so much. I did know, going into it, that in both Becky’s and Inkling’s opinions, that it wasn’t as good as Uglies. But I didn’t expect to have such an indifferent reaction to it.
We pick up the story after Tally has been turned into a Pretty (okay, that’s a bit of a spoiler, but you kind of know it going in, since the second book is titled “Pretties”, it’s how she gets there that’s interesting). She’s happy-ish, and trying to join a clique called the Crims. Then, on her initiation night, she receives a visit from Croy, a friend from New Smoke. And from there, with her new-found love, Zane, her life takes some very unexpected twists and turns as she tries to regain control.
I enjoyed Tally as a main character in Uglies, but here she just grated on me. Part of that is on purpose, I recognize; being a pretty now, she’s not as intelligent as she was when she was ugly. But the language drove me to distraction. “Bubbly”, “oxygen-missing”, “pretty-making” and an excessive use of like and totally just drove me nuts. I wanted to just let it go, but I couldn’t. Then there was Zane. I wanted to like his relationship with Tally, but it really didn’t work. I didn’t dislike him; it’s just that I didn’t really care about him. Maybe that’s the point of the book: once you’re a pretty, there’s hardly a point to anything. Love, anger, life… it’s all pretty hollow. If it was, then Scott Westerfield portrayed that beautifully.
I’m not sure I agree with Inkling’s assertion that Westerfield was just writing for the movie deal, though there are certainly shock-worthy, and movie-worthy elements. I just think this part of the story isn’t as good as the original premise. (We could digress and ask whether or not any second book in a trilogy is as good as the original… If there is one, I’d love to hear about it because I can’t think of one right now.)
And, yes, I will read Specials. Kind of have to… Westerfield is really good at writing cliff-hangers. And I want to know how the story ends.
The Book Nut 
I haven’t gotten my grubby little book-lovin’ paws on these yet, but I will. I first heard about them at an academic conference and I’ve had my eye on them ever since.I am sorry to hear that the 2nd book doesn’t really work as well, but I hope the third picks back up!
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I wish I had stopped at ‘Uglies’ rather than going on to the next two…but oh well. Specials is better than Pretties at any rate.
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Specials is better than Pretties. I really enjoyed Extras. The fourth. It is NOT narrated by Tally. It seemed to achieve the same *goodness* and *enjoyability* as Uglies. I enjoyed Extras better than Pretties and Specials. I would encourage you to go ahead with Specials. It has its moments where it might annoy you, but overall the pace and action are much better. I felt Pretties was just about nothing. Very little happened.
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Becky — you hit upon the main problem: nothing happened, really. Just Tally trying to escape, and figure things out. So what? And WHAT was the deal with the reservation-thingy? That was out of nowhere and went nowhere.Unless it comes back in Specials.I may have to give Extras a try, if I’m not burned out after the next one.
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I didn’t know there was a fourth. I am planning to kick off the school year with Uglies. But I’m not going to follow up with the others–Specials is, however, better.
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Well I read a trilogy by Lora Leigh once in which the second of the three books was, IMO, the best of the three. And Buckell’s ‘Ragamuffin’ is so close to as good as his debut ‘Crystal Rain’ that I don’t consider it to be a let-down at all.
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Okay, Heather… I’ll stick the trilogies on my TBR list. Thanks for the recommendation.
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I liked Murder on a Bad Hair Day even better than Murder on a Girl’s Night Out. Of course, that’s all I can remember because anything else was read prior to Aug. My memory doesn’t go that far back!My 18-yr-old felt the same way you did about Pretties and the 3rd one. She raved about Uglies in a good way and raved about the others in a bad way. I don’t think she knows there’s a 4th. Should I tell her? (I know I will)
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