Extras, by Scott Westerfeld

Spin off book to the Uglies, Pretties, Specials trilogy.

In the first 3 books we follow the adventures of a girl named Tally Youngblood. Tally ended the "mind-rain" and a new world awakened. The cure spread across the globe ending the perpetual state of bubbleheadedness. Without the roles and rules of the prettytime the world becomes a popularity contest.

Extras is set in the future 3 years after the end of the "mind-rain". You really need to have read the trilogy to understand a lot of this book. I don't think it will work as well as a stand alone book.

So, it's a race to become famous. It works on face rank. The more famous you are, the lower your face rank is. A lower rank means more special treatment. You can choose where you live and get whatever you want. There are many ways to achieve a good face rank. Some are "Tech-heads" obsessed with gadgets. Then there are "Surge monkeys" they can't get enough plastic surgery. Last there are "Kickers" these use the feeds (kind of like blogging) to spread gossip and news stories.

15 year old Aya Fuse is a kicker. She's had her own feed for a year now, but she's still a nobody, an extra. Too young for plastic surgery and her face rank is a 451,369. She lives in a Japanese city and is desperate to become famous. She meets a click of girls. "the sly girls", who turn tricks but stay off the radar. Aya just knows if she can kick their story she can improve her face rank. She follows them into a cave and they catch her and destroy moggle, her flying camera. It's at the bottom of a lake inside the cave.

Determined not to give up she gets accepted into the group and they stumble across a strange being inside a train tunnel. The alien opens a porthole in the tunnel wall and more beings come out of the train and start unloading these metal things. She only hopes that moggle got a good shot. She rescued him from the bottom of the lake and had him tag along in the shadows to try and get a story. Aya just found the story that will make her famous. Tally youngblood makes an appearance at the end. All in all, a great read!

READ CHAPTERS 1, 2 and 3 of EXTRAS CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Uglies
Book 2 Pretties
Book 3 Specials

Specials, by Scott Westerfeld

Sequel to Pretties

In the first two books, we learn that humans destroyed the world with their carelessness for preserving the earth. This story is set in the future where the few survivors left built a society that makes humans conform by giving them mind altering surgery. The story is about a 16 year old girl named "Tally Youngblood" who learns that free will and truth are more important than a false sense of security.

In this installment, Tally wakes up a "special" and finds she is part of an elite team called the Cutters. Her best friend Shay is the leader of the group, and all of them have been outfitted with special upgrades. Like embedded computer chips, unbreakable ceramic bones, razors that come out of their fingernails, and a special stomach that can digest almost anything. Each of them are a supreme fighting machine with super strength and senses, the ultimate weapon.

Tally can think more clearly than ever, and she hasn't forgotten about Zane. Zane took the cure to the mind alteration in the last book, and it caused brain damage. Tally thinks if Zane becomes a special that he will be fixed and they can be together. The problem is Zane was left behind in the New Smoke. Dr. Cable, the inventor of the specials, wants the cutters to find the New Smoke and eliminate it once and for all. So, Tally and the cutters begin their adventure.

This was a super interesting book, but you will have a hard time following it if you haven't read the first two books. It would be best if you start at the beginning.

READ AN EXCERPT FROM SPECIALS CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Uglies
Book 2 Pretties
Book 4 Extras (Spin off book)

Pretties, by Scott Westerfeld

The sequel to Uglies.

The sequel to Uglies is a great continuation of the original with the feel of a new story. I just loved it. Tally becomes pretty to try and find a cure for her best friend Shay. Shay has brain damage due to the operation that made her pretty. Tally will also get brain damage when she gets the operation, but she has already given permission to a scientist to give her experimental drugs that may cure the damage.

Tally has forgotten all about The Smoke and finding a cure. The operation that made her pretty has also fried a few brain cells. Now all Tally knows is partying with her new found hunk, Zane. But when an old friend crashes a pretty party and gives Tally 2 pills and a note from herself that she wrote while she was still ugly. Tally has to make a choice. Take the pills or not. Unable to decide before getting busted by special circumstances, Tally splits the pills with Zane. They each take one pill. They both seem to be waking up to their former selves when Zane starts to have a bad reaction to the pill. Tally is desperate to save Zane's life. The only way to help Zane is to find the Doctor who created the cure, but that would mean breaking out of Prettytown and trying to find the NEW smoke. Tally embarks on another adventure that will keep you turning the pages.

You won't be disappointed with this one, but if you haven't read the first book then this one may be hard to follow.

READ AN EXCERPT FROM PRETTIES CLICK HERE!

Book 1 Uglies
Book 3 Specials
Book 4 Extras (Spin off book)

Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld

This book was great! It's about a young girl who is 15, living in a future where when you turn 16 you are given plastic surgery that makes you supermodel gorgeous. Tally can't wait to be pretty. All her older friends are partying it up in prettytown while she's stuck in the Uglies dorms outside of the city. She misses her friends but makes a new one in uglyville, Shay.

All Shay's friends are either in Prettytown or have escaped into the wild where a mysterious guy named David lives. He has been rumored to have grown up in the wild. In a place called "The Smoke" Shay shows Tally she has other choices. She doesn't have to become pretty, she can stay ugly. Tally doesn't want to stay ugly, but when Shay escapes into the wild, Tally is recruited by Special circumstances to track down Shay and expose "The Smoke". Tally doesn't want to betray her friend but she must if she wants the operation to become pretty.

Something else happens during surgery that may change Tally's outlook on becoming pretty. And she didn't mean to fall in love with Shay's almost boyfriend, David, either. Now she's torn between becoming Pretty and staying Ugly when she finally decides what she wants to do Special Circumstances swoops in to ruin it all. Will Tally become a Pretty and reunite with all her old friends or stay ugly, stay with David? Hmm. I guess you should read it and find out! It's a great read.

READ AN EXCERPT FROM UGLIES CLICK HERE!

Book 2 Pretties
Book 3 Specials
Book 4 Extras (Spin off book)
Originally this was supposed to be a trilogy.
ENJOY.