I have read two of the four books thus far in the trilogy written by Scott Westerfeld. I really enjoyed reading the first book, The Uglies, and zipped right through it because it was such a good read! So I thought I was going to absolutely love the next book in the series, but it turns out to be the complete opposite. The Pretties just wasn’t what I expected. To be honest, I had a hard time getting myself to actually read it. I figured Westerfeld would continue the strong morals he set for Tally and a couple of the other characters and develop them more to be people we look to as a role models. But that is not the case for his second novel, The Pretties.
Each book in the series it titled differently, duh, but with that new title comes a new Tally. Mainly it is her appearance that is altered, but we can also see her morals fade and her true personality come out. For example, in The Uglies, Tally is ugly! She is a fifteen year old girl with a poor complexion, a big nose and frizzy, brown hair causing her to not be confident in whom she is. She is discouraged by the way she looks and only dreams of becoming pretty one day. This makes her character very humble throughout the story. Tally tries to do the right thing by putting others before her and at several points it gets her into trouble. In the end, she regrets betraying her best friend and leaving the Smokes. We can see that Tally is a typical teenager who is just trying to figure life out. But she has set strong morals for herself when it comes having the best interest for others, not herself.
In the second book, we are introduced to a new Tally. One who cares so much about her appearance with the opening scene of her trying on a million different outfits until she finally find one that she believes is going to wow society. Tally takes on an average pretty appearance, a big upgrade from being an ugly and she has this urge to become ‘popular’. As a side effect of becoming a pretty, she gets all of these lesions on her brain. These lesions cause a lot of her morals to slide downhill. Tally becomes a very shallow character who is now obsessed with her appearance and social status. Out goes her morals of being a loyal friend, putting others before her and in comes the Tally who only cares about what’s in it for her. Now that she has become a pretty, she wants to be the top of the top. So she ditches her boyfriend/bestfriend David because he is no longer good enough for her. She does everything she can possibly do to become a part of the Crims Clique. Tally goes as far as forming this intimate relationship with the leader of the Crims, Zane, to ensure she would be admitted into it.
With Zane and Tally now together, they go through a lot of hardships which really proves they have ‘true love’ and it is not just programmed into their brains. Eventually they are lead out into the wild and Tally says, “And the worst thing was, there were no mirrors out there in the wild, so the princess was left wondering whether she in fact was still beautiful... or if the fall had changed the story completely.” As the book comes to an end, we can see that Tally’s good heart is creeping back into her life. This gives me hope that The Specials will bring the old Tally back!
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