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AprilleLegacy

Aprille Legacy

I'm a self-published author from South Australia. My first book, Soul Fire, is a YA fantasy romance.

Uglies

Uglies - Scott Westerfeld It's been a long time since I enjoyed a book this much.

The day after I borrowed it on a whim, my throat decided to swell up, so I couldn't study (to my relief) or talk (to my boyfriend's relief). As a result, I curled up on the couch, armed with eight hours and a packet of Buttermenthols, and read.

And I was so glad that I picked it up.

In today's conservative publishing environment, fuelled by paranormal trash, I find myself hunting down books printed a few years ago before the publishing industry found its gravy train of Stephenie Meyer copycats inspired writers.

I long and look for books driven by storyline and characters, which are becoming few and far between, and Uglies definitely fit my criteria.

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and will undergo the operation to make her 'Pretty'. This book really raises the question of what true beauty is; is it in the eye of the beholder, as we have so often been told? Or is there a key combination in the back of our mind that will make us stare and think 'god damn. Why arn't I that beautiful?'

As a main character, I thoroughly enjoyed Tally. The book is written in third person, so we get a more insightful overview of what is going on with the other characters as well (I find reading in first person can be quite restrictive if not done correctly). She reacted to situations much as I would, and I found myself connecting with her pretty early on in the book. She and Shay interacted much like a friend and I do, so I recommended the book to her too.

While it may be a dystopian (which is now the 'next big thing' *rolls eyes*), it's a dystopian done properly. I love the technology in the book, and Westerfeld doesn't skip over details; we are actually given a fairly reasonable explanation of how things are done and how they work. To my very uneducated-in-the-field-of-electronics mind, it all made sense to me.

I can't wait to read the next one in the series. One packet of Buttermenthols, one book and a box of tissues down, two more books and lots of chocolate to go (chocolate fixes everything).