The Uglies Series by Scott Westerfield

Posted by Jen on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 @ 8:05 pm

My top ten favorite writers has changed. I’m not sure who I can knock out of there, but I know without a doubt Scott Westerfield deserves a place on there somewhere. And Joss Whedon deserves to go up a couple of pegs. But that’s for another post.

The Uglies Series started several years ago, but I just got around to reading them a couple of weeks ago. I read the trilogy in three days. That right there has to tell you something. These aren’t short books. What they are is compelling.

Loosely based on a Twilight Zone episode, the story is about a teenage girl living in a futuristic dystopian society where everyone must undergo a surgery to become pretty once turning 16. The surgery leaves the younger “Uglies” on the outside of the society while their friends party all night and forget all about them until they have the surgery themselves.

Not only is the story cool with its adventurous hoverboarding scenes and descriptions of sleek, environmentally-friendly technologies, it goes a lot deeper into issues such as individuality, mind control and what exactly is too far in regards to limiting the human race and how much is too much when trying to coexist in harmony with nature. And the main character is one of the strongest female protagonists I’ve seen in awhile. Not necessarily in regards to Buffy-like super fighting strength (although that does come in the third book, but I won’t spoil you too much) but more in regards to strength of character and the fact that even though she struggles with finding out exactly who she is through most of the series, she’s always true to herself and always tries to do the right thing no matter what the world is doing to her.

I recommend this series to pretty much anyone. Technically a YA series, I think adults can enjoy it just as much. I also think I need to take another trip to the bookstore to buy more of his novels. If they are as good as these are, I’m going to love them.

Comments

By Dan on August 19th, 2008 at 9:59 pm

I’ve seen this series here and there, but I had no idea it was based (however loosely) on an episode of The Twilight Zone. Cool. Maybe I’ll check it out as soon as I work my way through a moderate stack of books awaiting my attention.

I really want to read his Midnighters series, too.

Also, there’s a lot of really good YA stuff out there that apepals to adults, for whatever reason–Charles Higson’s Young James Bond books come to mind.