Tag: Scott Westerfeld

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Specials by Scott Westerfield

The third book in the series, a sequel to Uglies and Pretties.

It’s a solid book, but the flashes of brilliance are harder to find this go. It’s probably because Tally’s “natural” persona is so subjugated at the beginning of the book– and partially because the Specials are annoying twits with a huge chip on their shoulder. While that makes it easy to root against them (when they’re being idiots), you do have to put up with them… and they wear on you much more quickly than the characters of the first two books.

As far as plot goes it’s a good book, and ends the trilogy with a world dramatically changed by the effects of Tally (and friends) over the trilogy. The world gets more complex in this world, and the depth makes it feel realistic, but the dramatic changes fight that complexity.

In the end, I’m probably being overly critical– it was a good book, a solid end to the trilogy– and I’ll read it after the first two when I reread the series. It might gain surprising depth on the reread.

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Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

The second book of the series, a sequel to Uglies. Tally struggles with being a bubble headed pretty– it starts off with the terrible struggles in picking which outfit to wear, but soon Tally is engaged in far more dangerous events.

I like the continuation– Tally’s changes are meaningful, as is her struggle against the newly created limitations on her thoughts. Not everything is easy, but she manages through in the end. The book was great and was consumed in one lazy, beautiful day.

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Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

This is a great book; the two main characters are very sympathetic, with many similarities and differences. Having each character get two chapters then switching to the other keeps things moving. The chapters are short and filled with interesting illustrations, lots of action… it’s good fun.

The two heroes are teens, and the book proves very teen friendly throughout. Young romance doesn’t enter the picture until near the very end, and is only alluded to. I suspect romance may blossom in the sequel, but for now it’s pure adventure.

Deryn Sharp is an adventurous, highly skilled girl, who conceals her gender to get into the royal air service. There is a lot of complexity to the character; she is tomboyish, fascinated by flight, and quite competitive. She comes from a relatively well off family, but it’s clear that the family fortunes are in decline.

Aleksander is the grandson of the Austria-Hungarian Emperor. His story begins in tragedy, and is filled with interesting twists. While he comes across as a bit coddled in the beginning, and his upbringing proves influential throughout the book, he is more than his title.

The other characters are well developed too. The crew of the Leviathan is sketched pretty well, with occasional deeper glimpses, and the compact crew of Aleksander’s walker are all detailed (though the Count and fencing teacher are much more on stage). Dr. Nora Barlow is the most impressive and insightful character in the book.

The technology is very cool; both sides are impressively advanced, but still have foibles. It’s a fast, fun read– one that I strongly recommend to book lovers of any age.

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Uglies by Scott Westerfield

A very fast read, the author does a great job of building a plausible world with interesting issues. The idea of Pretties, a vapid beautiful people as a class or role you pass through in life was fascinating. There are a lot of good ideas buried in here about attraction, physical attribute manipulation, freedom and individuality, and more. For a long time I thought he was going to skip over the Rusties altogether after teasing, but I like the end he cooked up for them.

It looks like it’s at least a 4 books series; I look forward to tackling the next in line soon.