Uglies: Uglies Quartet, Book 1

This series is absolutely fabulous! Bright young minds need to learn about vanity, overuse of technology and not giving in to societal expectations in their formative years. I read this series religiously from when I was 11 and it taught me some very valuable lessons that I might not have learned otherwise. Kickass female lead who takes care of herself and takes on the issues of the world, not needing male counterparts to help her. She still craves male attention, like we all do from a very young age, but she doesn't require their help to get anything done. I found the romantic portions of the series to be appropriate, very different to the awful themes I read in the Twilight series at the same age. She fights the power and she makes personal sacrifice, all things that we have to learn to do eventually. Without this series, I would not be the happy, comfortable free-thinker that I am today. I learned to love myself and ignore the ideals of physical beauty that others tried to impose on me. This series was important in my formative years and I hope they can continue to inspire bright young minds for many years to come. I've read some reviews that suggest that underage drinking and, in the later books, "cutting" seemed like disturbing themes for young readers but as someone who has read through this series dozens of times as a teen, I found them portrayed as negatives. I could understand that it was sad that the only way they could control their brains was to cut themselves and at no point did I equate my situation to theirs and think that cutting myself would be beneficial. My brain had not been surgically damaged by the government to require that sort of action. I, like the main character in the books, had the power to think my way out of any bad situation in my life. Thank you Scott Westerfeld for contributing to the fabulous person I am today.

This book has a great backstory and gets even better in the middle and near the end i totally recommend reading this book!!!!

I read the quartet a few years ago (prior to Hunger games) to review for my students and I loved them. In particular, I thought Westerfeld did a wonderful job with the action scenes as well as the strong female main character. Last year my ten year old daughter fell for these books for the same reason, and she also loves the technology. She was completely pulled in to the Uglies universe and is disappointed that the water/magnet driven skateboard hasn't been invented yet...

In a future world where the world had been reborn beauty is the new standard. When teens reach the age of 16 they go under the knife to become beautiful. Tally Youngblood can't wait until its her time. In the book Tally is conflicted between losing a friendship or losing her chance at being pretty. A theme the books tries to show is loyalty because Tally became loyal to the rebels after she saw what they are really fighting for. I thought it was good because it interesting how she learned having friends is better than being a hollow headed pretty. I would recommend this book because it has good values teens need to know.

I really need to read the rest of the trilogy before making a final call on this series. I like the idea the author is trying to explore - what would you be willing to give up to attain perfect beauty? But I found the constant drawn out descriptions of what is basically a flying skate board boring and repetitious. There is a minor side story about a genetically modified plant that seems contrived to allow the author to moralize on environmental issues. As the main review states, you can see the plot twists coming a mile away so it feels like a sci fi novel dumbed down for kids instead of an intelligent sci fi novel written for kids. Not sure why people feel the main character is a strong female role model - she lies and stabs her friends in the back to get what she wants. It's unclear why her romantic interest falls for her before she does anything to deserve his trust or respect. Shay is far more interesting and I kept wishing she had been made the star of the show instead.

Loathed it with the entirety of my being. Lazy terrible writing. I finished reading it thinking "If the government was so desperate for equality, why not genetically engineer the populace to look the same? Then you wouldn't have to spend ridiculous amounts of time and money on every single person, and let their genes do the work." Note that if the lesions hadn't been part of the process, there really would be NO downside to getting radical plastic surgery. A dangerous book in the hands of impressionable youth.

I liked it a lot. I never would have picked it up if my son hadn't told me how good it was. It does start a little slow but it doesn't last long and once the plot thickens, I couldn't put it down. We have both read the 2nd book in the series and look forward to the third. The ending does leave you hanging for both books. Cliffhanger style. Great for all kids over 11 as younger may not understand.

THIS book is amazzing !

A very enjoyable book!! The main characters are brave and strong which is good for kids!

I absolutely love this book. It is very enthralling and set in an interesting setting. The characters are also very unique in their own way. The message it delivers helps make readers think about the future. But there are some things that are slightly mature, so this is mostly recommended for teenagers.