School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Teenage troublemaker Tally Youngblood and her friends are back in this fast-paced sequel (Simon Pulse, 2005) to Scott Westerfeld's Uglies (Simon Pulse, 2005). Now herself a Pretty, Tally finds that life as a vapid partygoer in a barely functional dystopian society doesn't hold the attraction she thought it would. When one of the Uglies delivers a message along with two mysterious pills that promise to "cure" the lesions that were implanted along with her cosmetic enhancements, Tally splits the pills with her new boyfriend and they both begin to come out from the mind-numbing fog that has surrounded them for so long. Her best friend's jealousy along with a risky plan to save the other Pretties soon have Tally and her friends hoverboarding for their lives. Carine Montbertrand's disaffected, adenoidal, and flat voice is a perfect match for Tally's post-Valley girl mentality and actions at the beginning of the story. Then, as Tally changes, so does the vocal tone and quality of the narrator. Will Tally succeed in regaining her individuality and maintaining her independence? Just as with the first book in the trilogy, the ending will have listeners hurrying to their libraries and bookstores for Specials (Simon Pulse, 2006), the final volume of this futuristic trilogy.-Cindy Lombardo, Tuscarawas County Public Library, New Philadelphia, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Tally, the star of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (which PW said, "raises thought- provoking issues") is now one of the Pretties, thanks to an operation that everyone from Uglyville gets when they turn 16, and which makes them gorgeous. In this sequel, a letter Tally discovers from her "former" self raises disturbing questions about what else may have occurred during the procedure. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(High School) The second in a projected trilogy, this futuristic novel looks at what happens to a society when it structures itself to be beautiful, safe, and focused exclusively on entertainment. At the end of the first book, Uglies, rebellious teen Tally Youngblood agreed to be the guinea pig for a subversive procedure meant to undo the brain lesions intentionally inflicted on every teen as they become ""pretty"" at age sixteen. But now Tally, with her breathtaking face and super athleticism, is consumed with the life of a ""New Pretty"" -- all parties and trying to be ""bubbly."" When given a letter she wrote herself pre-Pretty, she realizes how shallow her life has become, so she takes the experimental pills, splitting them with her friend Zane. This second installment suffers from some typical middle-book problems and doesn't really stand alone. Still, the world Westerfeld creates is both appealing and appalling; the pace moves quickly with twists; and Tally is a memorable, believable character -- admirably self-sufficient and plucky without being insufferably so. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Gr. 8-11. In this highly anticipated sequel to the hit Uglies 2005), Tally Youngblood struggles to retain her mental acuity after undergoing the operation that transformed her into a Pretty. While in the renegade Ugly community, Tally learned that along with cosmetic enhancements, new Pretties are given brain lesions that leave them in a perpetual state of lazy vanity. Tally volunteered to take a drug developed to cure the lesions, but now that she is a Pretty, she has forgotten her promise. A coded message leads her to some pills and a letter that she wrote to herself before her transformation, and after swallowing the cure, she is catapulted into a dangerous new adventure, in which she discovers that the peace and happiness of Pretty society come with a terrible price. Riveting and compulsively readable, this action-packed sequel does not disappoint. Just as good as its predecessor, it will leave fans breathlessly waiting for the trilogy's final volume. --Jennifer Hubert Copyright 2005 Booklist