Pretties - Scott Westerfeld

Gorgeous. Popular.Perfect. Perfectly wrong.

Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are awesome, her boyfriend is totally hot, and she's completely popular. It's everything she's ever wanted.

But beneath all the fun -- the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom -- is a nagging sense that something's wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what's wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold.

Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life -- because the authorities don't intend to let anyone with this information survive.

4/5 - Enticing

I love this book almost as much as the first one, Uglies, which says a lot.

It was very fresh and set itself aside from the first book, , with a new and interesting plot and loveable new characters, all the while keeping the integrity of the original characters despite the fact they'd undergone dramatic changes from the first book. Fresh characters, fresh setting, and diving even deeper into the concepts of beauty in this futuristic world that is driven by appearances. It kept the same page-turning-intensity that I loved in the first book and progressed the storyline of Tally and Shay very effectively. 

The hope represented by the Smoke and the suspense created by the conflicts presented simply makes it a masterpiece. It ended with a total cliffhanger that left me scrambling to get my hands on the next book. I really love this book. Westerfeld keeps me falling in love with these complex characters and keeps me intrigued with the world that he has created. These books have everything - adventure, romance, suspense, philosophy, and that simple fact that you just can't put it down. Pretties is a book that I think young readers everywhere can, and should, enjoy.

See Also: Uglies, Specials

Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. 


Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins's groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

3/5 A Decent Finish.

I was a tiny bit disappointed by this book. The first two books were amazing, but this one didn't wrap them up quite as well as I think they should have. Throughout the book distance is built between the reader and one of my favorite characters, Peeta, only to have him return in the end as though things never changed. There was a pattern of a lot of buildup for some intense scene, only to have Katniss knocked unconscious and wake up in a hospital. That was very frustrating.

The book had a pretty good sense of closure, though it wasn't as deep and awe-inspiring of one as I thought it would be. It was a good book over all with a lot of unexpected twists and turns and new characters that I kept falling in love with. Collins truly has a gift with creating individual characters that seem to leap off the page, and this book was as good of an example as any of that strength. Nonetheless, the overall plot was lacking. It was totally worth reading to finish out the series, but it could have been better.

If you've read the first two, go ahead and read this one, but remember that the first one is the best it's going to get. It was a decent finish to one of my favorite trilogies of all time.

See Also: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty.
 But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Suzanne Collins continues the amazing story of Katniss Everdeen in Catching Fire, the second novel of the phenomenal Hunger Games trilogy.



4/5 Genius.

I wans't sure at first how I felt about a sequel to The Hunger Games . The Hunger Games was brilliant and I wasn't sure how it could be topped or carried on without feeling too much like a sequel. Collins pleasantly surprised me with this book. Although the plot felt repetitive in a way, it wasn't pointless. It was very logical and introduced new characters to keep me interested. Collins outdid herself once again on action and suspense that carried a deep, emotional, passionate content that kept me hanging on through the drier portions of the book (which were few and far between). The characters kept their integrity very well throughout the whole book, making me fall farther and farther in love with Peeta and Katniss.

Catching Fire was not quite as good as the first book, but it's hard, if not impossible, to top such an amazing original novel with a sequel. Catching Fire is a well rounded book that added to the story of Panem and kept it moving in a heart wrenching way. Fans of the Hunger Games are likely to love this book, because I sure did.

See Also: The Hunger Games, Mockingjay

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Twenty-four are forced to enter. Only the winner survives.

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death – televised for all of Panem to see.

Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

5/5 Brilliant.

This book took my breath away. It was original, fresh, and clever, despite the fact that it was using a time frame and idea that's been done a thousand times over - a future, post apocalyptic world. The story was driven by politics and selfish desires of a cruel government in a future America where one can never know if it'll be their child that is given as a tribute to fight in the fatal Hunger Games against their own people. I was totally captivated by the world that Collins created, seeing very few, if any, flaws or seams in the structure of this setting. I felt it was real, that it could truly happen, and the characters brought it to life in a way that I'd never seen before. The characters were very, very real to me, very deep and passionate human beings that I could understand and relate to.

The action and the unexpected twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire book. This book has soul to it, but also so much suspense that it's enough to drive one crazy while reading it as they can't turn the pages fast enough. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for an amazing, original, unique, and totally thrilling read. In my opinion, this is one of, if not the, best book written in 2010.

See Also: Catching Fire, Mockingjay

Uglies - Scott Westerfeld

Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?
Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.
But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.


4/5 - Enthralling.

I absolutely love this book. I applaud Westerfeld for his wonderful uses of character development and creating a totally unique post apocalyptic environment that deals with the concepts of beauty and perfection on a psychological and emotional level. Something that sets this book apart from others in the category of characters is the way that Westerfeld does not shy away from showing all the selfish desires of teenagers and how they would respond to the possibility of being beautiful, playing on their vanity. This might make the characters seem undesirable, but I believe that part of what makes them so repulsive is the fact that they display the same selfishness that we might feel ourselves, even if we don't admit it.

Tally is a love/hate character that you might not know how to feel about it, but her role in the book is brilliant and strongly complimented by the roles of Shay, David, and the evil Dr. Cable. This book always gets me thinking and is exciting and futuristic without being cheesy or cliche at all. It's filled with adventure, action, and even romance, all underlined by this complex ideal of beauty that many teens wrestle with. It's a truly great, captivating book that draws you into a fictional future that seems almost a little bit too realistic.

See Also: Pretties, Specials