Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?
I took the risk and went back into the Dystopian genre for a book that since it's re-cover has really intrigued me.
The story revolves around Tally. We meet her when she is still an Ugly, she is yet to have the operation that will turn her Pretty. I must admit the concept is a handful. Society has deemed that to ease violence and aggression they will perform an operation on teenagers at 16 which will turn them Pretty. The operation itself is pretty hard-going and sounds pretty ridiculous and would probably be more likely to kill a person then make them beautiful but the operation is just a means to an end in the story. Tally desperately wants to be Pretty. She has been dreaming of what she will look like for so long that when her new friend Shay tells her she is running away because she doesn't want to be a Pretty she is gob-smacked. Her sadness for the loss of her friends is huge but she doesn't realise that this could spell the end of her chances of becoming Pretty as well. Manipulated by the sinister Specials she is sent to follow Shay and help locate the other resistors. If she doesn't then she will never get the chance to become a Pretty. What she discovers however, may change her mind about something she has desired for so long.
It's another oppressive society and it is far-fetch one and I was not a huge fan of Tally as a character. For me she was very fickle and just seemed to flit from one dream to another without a lot of thought. However, I was intrigued by the idea of society dictating what is Pretty and what they really did to people through the Pretty operation. A science-fiction dystopian story that made me need to read the next in the series even though I wasn't sure if I liked the characters I did still enjoy the book. One thing that grated on me and might bug other readers was the use of 'slang' so constantly that it got to a point of annoyance. Referring to something as 'Bubbly' drove me a bit mad and it does get worse in the second book.
I would recommend this for readers who have struggled to get into the Hunger Games but really want some easy to read Dystopian fiction. If you get passed the little niggles with the characters and language then it has actually got some really good concepts and science fiction material in there you just have to brush off the other elements.
A younger reader dystopian story that has a unique concept
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