Uglies by Scott Westerfeld takes place in a dystopian society that is 300 hundred years in the future, where Ugly people (Uglies) and pretty people (Pretties) live in separate towns. From ages 0-10, kids are called littles and live with their parents in a separate city for middle-aged people with kids. From 10 to 15, teens are called “Uglies” as this is the stage when they grow, and in their society's opinion, become ugly. Uglies live in Ugly Town, where the story starts. They go to school there and live in dorms until they’re 16. When Uglies turn 16, they’re taken to a hospital at the edge of pretty town and given cosmetic surgery that removes excess fat, “fixes” their face and bone structures, gives them extra strong eyesight and senses, and manipulates their brains into being pretty.
Tally Youngblood and her friend Peris used to sneak over to Pretty Town and spy on the Pretties. Unfortunately, Tally is left alone in Ugly Town because her friend turned 16 earlier than her. When she sneaks to pretty town to meet up with Peris, he talks to her not as a friend, but as if she’s another ugly person he doesn't want to meet. She’s disheartened because of this and makes a dangerous but successful way home. While going home, she almost get’s caught but is saved by a girl named Shayla. She discovers that she and Shayla have the same birthday, so they become best friends. However, Shayla is a bit of a rebel and it is this personality trait of her that leads to the adventure Tally experiences in this book as well as the two others in the trilogy.
I would recommend this book to people who like dystopian fiction such as Divergent and Legend. I liked this book because it was very descriptive and fed my imagination so that I could easily see the world of Tally Yougnboold in my mind. It’s very suitable for teenagers looking for a series to read or a good book in general. However, I think this book is a little outdated since it was written in 2005, and it mentioned that the old world ended because of gas cars, but now there are more electric cars and I feel that it’s less likely. It’s also a bit slow at times and I feel like the author could’ve avoided these instances. Overall, though, I would recommend others to read it.