Uglies
Scott Westerfeld
 Uglies is set in an unnamed futuristic city in Northern California “three hundred years in the future, ” in which the government provides for everything, including an operation. On their sixteenth birthday all citizens of the fictional society receive this “pretty” operation which, as its name implies, turns people into the biological standard of beautiful. After the operation, the new pretties cross the river that divides the city’s inhabitants and begin the section of their lives in which they have no responsibilities or obligations. In total, there are three operations; the first transforms people from “uglies” (unchanged teenagers), to “pretties” (young adults over the age of sixteen free to do what ever they want). Another one transforms “pretties” to “middle-pretties” (adults who hold a job), and a third transforms “middle-pretties" to "crumblies. " The term "Rusties" refers to the people of old who used to live before the supposed apocalypse that had ended the old society that existed before the one in which the story takes place, since their cities had rusted away after a bacteria that infected the very oil society had been so dependent on, making it unstable, had swept the world. Everyone's cars exploded, as did the oil fields they'd all been fighting over. Food and goods could no longer be transported, and society in general fell apart. The Rusties were basically us. Tally, the protagonist, is about three months from her sixteenth birthday at the opening of the story. Much like every other ugly in the city, she awaits the operation with great anticipation. “Tally’s best friend, Peris, has already made the transition and motivated by her desire to see him, ” she sneaks across the river to New Pretty Town, the home of all new pretties. There she meets the character Shay, another ugly who was also sneaking around in New Pretty Town. They quickly become friends and Shay teaches Tally how to ride a hoverboard. Shay also mentions thoughts of rebellion against the operation. At first, Tally ignores all these ideas, but is forced to deal with the concept as Shay runs away from the city a few days before their shared sixteenth birthday, leaving her friend with cryptic directions to her destination, a “renegade settlement” called the Smoke, where all the city runaways go to escape the operation. On the day of Tally’s operation, she is taken to Special Circumstances, a branch of her city’s government that is described to be “like gremlins, ” and “[blamed] when anything weird happens. ” However, the public actually knows little about them, and some even question its existence. The character Dr. Cable is a woman described as “a cruel pretty” with a “razor voice, ” “sharp” teeth, She is the head of Special Circumstances and gives Tally an ultimatum to either help them locate Shay, and more importantly the Smoke, or to never become pretty. After some thought, Tally sides with Special Circumstances. Dr. Cable gives her a hoverboard and all the necessary supplies to survive in the wild, along with a heart shaped locket that is actually a tracking device. Once activated, it will inform Dr. Cable of her location, and thus the location of the Smoke. She then sets off to find her friend. After a little less than a week of travel, Tally arrives at the Smoke, where she finds Shay, her friend David, and an entire community of runaway uglies. She finds herself reluctant to activate the pendant, and in her time spent stalling it becomes clear that David has a crush on her. One night, David takes her to meet his parents, Maddy and Az, who are the original runaways from the city, and they explain how the operation does more than “cosmetic nipping and tucking. ” It actually places lesions in people's brain to make them placid, or “pretty-minded. ” Expressing great horror at what her own city has done, Tally cancels any thoughts of giving away the Smoke, and, in a display of loyalty, throws the locket into a fire without telling anyone that it was a tracker. It is damaged in the flames, which causes it to activate, giving away the Smoke’s location. The following morning, Special Circumstances arrives and Tally narrowly escapes the camp. She flees to an old cave where they cannot track her heat signature. In the cave she finds David, who is also hiding there. Together, they begin to plan a rescue. Since all of their friends have been taken by Special Circumstances, and are currently being prepped to become pretties, Tally and David decide to go and free them. During the week-long journey Tally and David fall in love. Once they arrive at the Special Circumstances complex in Tally’s city, they discover that the Shay has been “turned, ” and is now a pretty. After a brief introduction, David knocks out Dr. Cable and takes her work tablet, which has all the information Maddy needs to make a cure for the pretty brain lesions. Then Tally and David free all the Smokies located in the complex. As they are escaping the Special Circumstances headquarters, Maddy tells David that his father is dead. Once everyone reaches safety, Maddy starts to work on the cure using Dr. Cable’s tablet and materials “brought by city uglies”. Once Maddy finishes the cure, she offers it to Shay who refuses, not wanting to risk becoming a “vegetable. ” Since Tally feels responsible for her initial betrayal, she decides to become a pretty and take the cure as a “willing subject”. In order to convince David to let her go she tells him about her interaction with Special Circumstances and turning in the Smoke. While David was busy taking in what Tally had just said to him, Maddy tells her to go back to the city with Shay before she changes her mind. Once there, Tally allows a middle pretty to find her. “I’m Tally Youngblood. Make me pretty, ” is the final phrase of the novel.