Pretties

Yesterday I finished the second book by Scott Westerfeld, called Pretties.  It is the second in his series, with the previous one being Uglies. 

This book follows the same young girl Tally through the adventures of being a pretty.  In this case pretty means a modified human, who underwent surgery to make everyone the same and to think alike.  She is a strong willed girl who fights with all her might to not be trapped by the ideas that others have put into her brain. 
     This second book is not as good as the first, the author has to create a whole new world for the reader to become a part of, so it takes some setup chapters, which are not as exciting.  The book follows the same premise as the previous book, finding new characters and events that impact this particular group of friends. 
     Tally is trying to escape the ideas that society is putting in her head, which can be tied to our lives right now.  We have this idea of pretty, but its so small and encompasses only 1% of the population.  All people are beautiful in their own way, and it makes life great that their is this diversity that can be seen and appreciated.  This author goes above and beyond what others do. 
     He uses ideas from the present, creates a future world, then combines them to tell a futuristic story that is incredibly relate-able to today's culture.

I have already started book three called Specials.  I have only read part one, but it is already more exciting, and incorporates characters from the first and second book which is really what I really want to read about.