Uglies, Pretties, Specials - a whole new world

Tally Youngblood is almost 16, the age at which teens in The City have the surgery to make them Pretty. In this world, young kids are known as littlies, and pre-16-year-old teens are called Uglies. Their noses are too big, their skin might be flawed, they may be under- or over-weight, their eyes too squinty -- or some other imperfection may mar their "perfect" appearance. All of that is corrected in the surgery. Pretties live in Prettytown having nothing but fun -- drinking, partying, having sex, and doing outlandish stunts. During the summer before her 16th birthday, after hef best friend Peris has left for Prettytown, Tally meets a new friend, Shay, who introduces her to the idea that she needn't have the operation - she could remain Ugly but free. She tells her about the Smoke, a group of people living in the wild. Shay runs away to live with the Smoke, but Tally really wants to be Pretty. Just as she is in the hospital awaiting the surgery, she is taken instead to the headquarters of Special Circumstances, the police force for The City. They are convinced that she knows where Shay has gone, and force her to follow Shay into the wild in order to betray the Smoke. Thus begins the big conflict for Uglies, which is followed by at least two sequels (Pretties and Specials) as the free-thinking Smokies continue to recruit new rebels from the City, and Special Circumstances continue to try to trap and capture all the rebels and control their minds and bodies through the surgeries they can order to be done. And somehow, through all these books, Tally Youngblood is in the middle of the action.
I just read these books over Spring Break, and couldn't put them down. The way that so many of the characters idolized good looks and popularity was way too similar to our society. I loved the inventions that the characters use -- like when they dash through the forests on their hoverboards (mostly solar-powered!), leap off tall buildings wearing bungee jackets, choose their clothes from a revolving closet that brings them whatever they ask for, and stuff like that. There was romance, suspense, intrigue, and friendships. The series has spun off into websites, online forums, and the first movie in the trilogy will be released in 2011. How would you like to be cast as one of the Uglies?!

• 4 out of 4 stars

Chilling yet Possible?

After reading a couple of "have-to" books, I was hungry (get it?) for a just-for-fun good book. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, fit the bill perfectly. It encompassed a cautionary tale along with a romance, adventure, a suspenseful conflict, and plenty to think about along the way.
The story takes place in a country that used to be the United States, which is now divided into twelve "districts" ruled by the Capitol. In punishment for the attempted rebellion of the twelve districts, the Capitol enforces an annual "Survivor"-like competition in which a boy and girl representative from each distrist must meet and fight to the death. 17-year-old Katniss is a hunter, responsible for putting food on her family's table since her father's death in the coal mines six years ago. Two names are drawn from a large ball to determine the district's representatives, and when Katniss' 12-year-old sister's name is drawn, Katniss rushes forward to volunteer in her place. Peeta, the son of a baker whom Katniss knew from school -- and also from an incident when he saved her from starving -- is the designated boy. They are whisked off to the Capitol to prepare for the Games. Soon the 24 competitors are locked into the "arena," which this year includes a forest with a stream, a lake, a grassland, and a large open meadow. All her life Katniss has been forced to watch the Games, and she knows some of the strategies that have helped former competitors survive. But she, and all the competitors, are at the mercy of the all-seeing Capitol, which has cameras stashed everywhere, and which can manipulate the weather inside the arena, can introduce natural disasters, predatory creatures, and other things to force the competitors to come together for battle -- for the sheer entertainment of the "viewers at home." I really got into this story, and saw many parallels with today's reality TV "entertainment." The environmental situation which brought the country to the conditions described in Hunger Games are reflected in almost every disastrous prediction you read in today's paper. So -- this COULD happen. And what would you or I do to survive, if this all came to pass?

I highly recommend this book, and give it 4 out of 4 stars!