I was not impressed by this book, as there are just too many things that don't add up and are conveniently missed in order to prolong the story. How this happens when they've got so many gizmos and gadgets is a mystery. I only made myself read it to find out what happens after I made it through the first two books and because I was silly and bought the whole series, which wouldn't have mattered, since the first book showed such promise. And since the second book wasn't half-bad, I would've ended up with this one anyway. It was really disappointing, though, to see the series pull a "Twilight" and go downhill with each consecutive book. If I read the 4th, it'll be because I got it via a credit.
First off, I just have to say that this series has been full of cliches. It's managed to have 1) a controlled society, 2) a jealous best friend, 3) the overly done love triangle where someone has to die so Tally's choice of which boy to pick is made for her, 4) betrayal and backstabbing, and my favorite 5) the disapproving future mother-in-law 6) Dr. Evil... ah hem, I mean Dr. Cable. I was almost anticipating aliens to come out of the woodwork and be behind everything.
This book manages to add to the annoying vocabulary with the new term "Icy" which is used by the Cutters to describe various things. You'll know what I mean if you made it through Bubbly & Bogus.
Since the previous books were named after groups Tally belonged to, this book really should've been named "Cutters" since they're the new, elite force of Specials Tally belongs to and think they're better than the rest of the Specials. Of course, that would've been politically incorrect and parents would've been less incline to buy the book for their children. Especially if they knew that this group was into self-mutilation in order to help them "think better". Granted, it eventually was mentioned as a bad thing, but that took awhile.
I don't understand how Tally manages to be the heroine, as most of what she does or what happens to her is the result of it being someone else's idea or by accident. It's very seldom that anything is originally her idea and not a ride-along for someone else. Plus, she seems pretty good at jinxing things and/or taking the blame. Can we say TSTL? Of course that doesn't matter when someone's usually saving her butt, even though they may have hated her.
It's also amazing at how easily she succumbs to this peer pressure. She readily adapts to whatever situation she is living in and accepts that society's view as "right". When she's in Smoke, she supports the Smokies, when she's in her city, she thinks like them, when she made it to Diego, she suddenly saw their lifestyle as the one for her. I don't recall ever reading a character so wishy-washy.
I however, did like how it ended. (Not just because the thing was over.) I liked the letter of warning that Tally & David gave about the cities needing to be careful and not making the same mistakes with the environment like they did before. It backs up the underlying message in the books of how some parts of progress can be devastating to the world around us.
First off, I just have to say that this series has been full of cliches. It's managed to have 1) a controlled society, 2) a jealous best friend, 3) the overly done love triangle where someone has to die so Tally's choice of which boy to pick is made for her, 4) betrayal and backstabbing, and my favorite 5) the disapproving future mother-in-law 6) Dr. Evil... ah hem, I mean Dr. Cable. I was almost anticipating aliens to come out of the woodwork and be behind everything.
This book manages to add to the annoying vocabulary with the new term "Icy" which is used by the Cutters to describe various things. You'll know what I mean if you made it through Bubbly & Bogus.
Since the previous books were named after groups Tally belonged to, this book really should've been named "Cutters" since they're the new, elite force of Specials Tally belongs to and think they're better than the rest of the Specials. Of course, that would've been politically incorrect and parents would've been less incline to buy the book for their children. Especially if they knew that this group was into self-mutilation in order to help them "think better". Granted, it eventually was mentioned as a bad thing, but that took awhile.
I don't understand how Tally manages to be the heroine, as most of what she does or what happens to her is the result of it being someone else's idea or by accident. It's very seldom that anything is originally her idea and not a ride-along for someone else. Plus, she seems pretty good at jinxing things and/or taking the blame. Can we say TSTL? Of course that doesn't matter when someone's usually saving her butt, even though they may have hated her.
It's also amazing at how easily she succumbs to this peer pressure. She readily adapts to whatever situation she is living in and accepts that society's view as "right". When she's in Smoke, she supports the Smokies, when she's in her city, she thinks like them, when she made it to Diego, she suddenly saw their lifestyle as the one for her. I don't recall ever reading a character so wishy-washy.
I however, did like how it ended. (Not just because the thing was over.) I liked the letter of warning that Tally & David gave about the cities needing to be careful and not making the same mistakes with the environment like they did before. It backs up the underlying message in the books of how some parts of progress can be devastating to the world around us.
I was very impressed with the way Scott Westerfeld wrapped up this trilogy. While all the books are fun and readable, the strength of this series is that it tackles a lot of complex questions about the benefits vs. the ills of society without giving a pat, preachy answer. Tally has a lot of complex questions about her own society, and an easy answer is never presented. A lot of futuristic Sci-fi series end up holding the American culture as the ideal model for society. Uglies acknowledges that there are both good and bad aspects to current society. The moral of the story, if any, is that the battle to create peaceful societies, while still maintaining freedom, remains an ongoing process.
Great series, very fun and readable, lots of action!
Great series, very fun and readable, lots of action!
