Once she gets to the Smoke the pace picks up a bit, but I still felt like I was waiting for something to happen. (Actually, if you skip Tally’s entire journey to the Smoke you won’t miss anything, because they talk about it all afterwards.) The beginning of the book is interesting, but after Tally goes in search of the Smoke, things slow down and it feels like we are only waiting for Tally to get there. (Because of the metal fragments in the running water.) They’re magnetic and only over metal or rivers. I liked the idea of the hover boards and how they worked. The author’s explanation of how the world wound up like this was unique and so is the society he’s created. The characters in Uglies are fine, but it’s mostly the world that I’m reading for. On the day of her surgery Special Circumstances, the advanced police force (who are pretty, but pretty scary) tell Tally that she can’t be pretty unless she goes after her friend and activates a tracker for them to arrest all the Uglies in the Smoke. Tally decides she wants to be pretty and stays behind. Shay plans to run away to a place called the Smoke where apparently people live in the wild and don’t turn pretty. When it’s finally time for the two to turn pretty, (they have the same birthday) Shay confesses that she doesn’t want to be pretty. Shay teaches Tally how to hover board and takes her into the Rusties, the ruins of our civilization. Over the course of the summer Shay and Tally become good friends and plan all sorts of fun tricks together. During one of her tricks, Tally meets Shay, a fellow Ugly whose friends have also all turned before her. Uglies, those who haven’t had the surgery yet, enjoy playing tricks like sneaking into New Pretty Town. Tally’s best friend turned before her and now she’s all alone. Tally is almost sixteen and can’t wait until it’s finally her turn to be pretty.

These new pretties are shallow and party all the time in New Pretty Town. When everyone turns sixteen they change from ugly to pretty by means of advanced surgery.

Specials uglies