Throwback Book Series Review: Uglies

I recently discovered that a series I read back when I was in middle school, has been revisited! By this I mean the author has started another series within the same world, taking place at a later time. So, I decided to re-read the book series before entering back into the world I knew and loved and give it a review! *I have included some affiliate links to help you out if you are interested in checking out these books! *

The book series is Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. It was my favorite book series for a long time, and I would still classify it in my top ten. Now that I have gone back and re-read the series, I wanted to do a throwback book series review of it and see if it has held up over time! *I will not be providing outright spoilers, but there will be some major plot points given away since I am reviewing the series as a whole. Proceed with caution.* If you want to read it first here is a link: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

Uglies

The first book in the series is Uglies. You are brought into a world that takes place after our current civilization has destroyed a large portion of the world, and have rebuilt. In the new world, people are classified into different categories depending on their age. If you are a teen, you are an ugly, until you are made pretty on your sixteenth birthday. This is when you undergo an operation that makes you exceptionally beautiful, so no one is ugly anymore.

The main character of the story is Tally Youngblood. You follow along with her as she is about to be made into a pretty, and then her life gets turned upside down. This first book held up for me. I still enjoyed it, even though I knew what was coming. I hadn’t read it in so long, a lot of things were as if I were reading it for the first time. Of course, when I read it for the first time I was only twelve, so the main character being sixteen seemed old, but now I realize how young she really was.

Pretties

This is the second book of the series, which also held up for me. Just as intriguing and fun as the first time reading it. Of course, as I mentioned before, they were still so young! Though, a few months older in this book. This time, you follow Tally as a pretty, with some new, and some old friends. My favorite new character was Zane. He helped Tally immensely when it came to propelling the plot forward. He was a major secondary character. (If you want to read more about developing secondary characters, check out this post.)

Specials

This is where the series started losing my interest. I was waiting for an inevitable event to happen (because I remembered from reading before, but couldn’t remember when it happened). In this book you are following Tally still, but as a special now. Specials are the ones who are called in when there are “special circumstances,” like threats to the town. I was not a fan of who the the characters became in this story, and how things left off at the end.

Without giving away too many spoilers, I will say, the ending didn’t seem justified. The way some character’s stories ended, left me feeling angry and sad. I understand that it means the author did a good job. I became attached to the characters. But, I have a lot of issues with the ending.

Extras

This is the final book of the original Uglies series. I started out not like it immediately. For one, it no longer follows Tally as the main character, though she does make an appearance. It takes place about three years after Tally’s story “finishes.” I wasn’t a fan of the main character, though I did enjoy most of the other characters. The second half of the book was much better than the first half, I will say.

This book actually made me feel like I was definitely too old to be reading these books, which made me sad. Maybe if I had read this one back when it first came out, I would have enjoyed it more. I specifically did not read it originally because it followed a new character, and I’m not a fan of that. I get attached to the characters, and I don’t want to be taken away from them, knowing they are still there somewhere. This book is not necessary to read with the rest of the series, and as far as I know, it doesn’t connect with the newer additions to the Uglies universe, other than the fact that it happened.

New Series

The new series that Scott Westerfeld has released that is within the Uglies universe begins with Impostors. I loved this book. It kept me on the edge the whole time, and it brought me back into the world I knew and loved. This book also follows along with a new main character. But, it felt so separate from the original series, it seemed like a whole new world. So, it didn’t bother me as much that Tally isn’t the main character.

I just started reading the second book of the series, Shatter City. So far, no Tally, but I did see in some previews that she does come in at some point. I can’t wait to see what she is up to even further into the future.

Overall

In review, I still love this book series. I love the world that Scott Westerfeld created. It is something that could definitely happen in the real world, which tends to be both scary and intriguing. A majority of the characters were very well developed and enjoyable. I would definitely recommend reading this series if you haven’t already. Just keep in mind that it is meant for a younger age range of, I would say, 11–17. Of course, I am 27 and still enjoyed it for the second time!

If you read the series, or have already read it, let me know how you would review the book series!

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