Find your next favorite audiobook

Become a member today and listen free for 30 daysStart your free 30 days

Book Information

Uglies

Written by Scott Westerfeld

Narrated by Emily Tremaine

Book Actions

Start Listening

Ratings:

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5 (528 ratings)

Length: 10 hours

Publisher:: Simon & Schuster Audio
Released:: Jul 14, 2015
ISBN:: 9781442393929
Format:: Audiobook

Description

Tally lives in a world where your 16th birthday brings aesthetic perfection: an operation that erases all your flaws, transforming you from an "Ugly" into a "Pretty". She is on the eve of this important event and cannot wait for her life to change.

As well as guaranteeing supermodel looks, life as a Pretty seems to revolve around having a good time. But then she meets Shay, who is also 15 — but with a very different outlook on life. Shay isn't sure she wants to be Pretty and plans to escape to a community in the forest — the Rusty Ruins — where Uglies go to escape "turning". Tally won't be persuaded to join her, as this would involve sacrificing everything she's ever wanted for a lot of uncertainty.

When she is taken in for questioning on her birthday, however, Tally gets sent to the Ruins anyway — against her will. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she could ever imagine: Find her friend, Shay, and turn her in or never turn Pretty at all. What she discovers in the Ruins reveals that there is nothing "pretty" about the transformations...and the choice Tally makes will change her world forever.

A Simon & Schuster audio production.

Book Actions

Start Listening

Book Information

Uglies

Written by Scott Westerfeld

Narrated by Emily Tremaine

Ratings:

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5 (528 ratings)

Length: 10 hours

Description

Tally lives in a world where your 16th birthday brings aesthetic perfection: an operation that erases all your flaws, transforming you from an "Ugly" into a "Pretty". She is on the eve of this important event and cannot wait for her life to change.

As well as guaranteeing supermodel looks, life as a Pretty seems to revolve around having a good time. But then she meets Shay, who is also 15 — but with a very different outlook on life. Shay isn't sure she wants to be Pretty and plans to escape to a community in the forest — the Rusty Ruins — where Uglies go to escape "turning". Tally won't be persuaded to join her, as this would involve sacrificing everything she's ever wanted for a lot of uncertainty.

When she is taken in for questioning on her birthday, however, Tally gets sent to the Ruins anyway — against her will. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she could ever imagine: Find her friend, Shay, and turn her in or never turn Pretty at all. What she discovers in the Ruins reveals that there is nothing "pretty" about the transformations...and the choice Tally makes will change her world forever.

A Simon & Schuster audio production.

Publisher:: Simon & Schuster Audio
Released:: Jul 14, 2015
ISBN:: 9781442393929
Format:: Audiobook

About the author

Scott Westerfeld

Scott Westerfeld is the author of the Leviathan series, the first book of which was the winner of the 2010 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Fiction. His other novels include the New York Times bestseller Afterworlds, the worldwide bestselling Uglies series, The Last Days, Peeps, So Yesterday, and the Midnighters trilogy. Visit him at ScottWesterfeld.com or follow him on Twitter at @ScottWesterfeld.

Related authors

carousel previous carousel next

Related to Uglies

Reviews

Reviews

What people think about Uglies

4.0

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

528 ratings / 360 reviews

What did you think?

Rating: out of 5 stars

Write a review (optional)

Reader reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars(4/5)

Was this review helpful for you?

In Uglyville, at the age of 16, you gleefully and thankfully receive an operation to become pretty, then you can live in Pretty Town. With her operation only weeks away, Tally befriends Shay (whose operation is also around the corner), and she sheds a new light on the much awaited change.I love suspense. Especially when I don't want to put the book down. This one was like that for me. It is another science fiction novel that has realistic elements that holds it together, which helps me accept it. As for the plot - it never stopped and even surprised me a time or two. And, interestingly enough, I even joined in on a few rides - too fun!I teetered between a 4 and 4.25/5 because while I thought it was very good, I thought the YA showed through with its simplistic language. Unfortunately (for me), I don't like to feel like I'm reading a YA book when in fact it is. Despite that, keeping up the suspense and intrigue warranted the higher rating. (4.25/5)Originally posted on: Thoughts of Joy

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars(4/5)

In Uglyville, at the age of 16, you gleefully and thankfully receive an operation to become pretty, then you can live in Pretty Town. With her operation only weeks away, Tally befriends Shay (whose operation is also around the corner), and she sheds a new light on the much awaited change.I love suspense. Especially when I don't want to put the book down. This one was like that for me. It is another science fiction novel that has realistic elements that holds it together, which helps me accept it. As for the plot - it never stopped and even surprised me a time or two. And, interestingly enough, I even joined in on a few rides - too fun!I teetered between a 4 and 4.25/5 because while I thought it was very good, I thought the YA showed through with its simplistic language. Unfortunately (for me), I don't like to feel like I'm reading a YA book when in fact it is. Despite that, keeping up the suspense and intrigue warranted the higher rating. (4.25/5)Originally posted on: Thoughts of Joy

Was this review helpful for you?

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars(3/5)

Was this review helpful for you?

In this seriously bizarre world that Westerfeld has envisioned, wars, civil unrest, jealousy and alienation are all things of the past - because when a person turns 16 they undergo plastic surgery and are given the qualities of a desirable mate - huge eyes, full lips, even skin-tone, the list goes on. Bones are changed so everyone is the same height, fat is sucked out, plastic cheekbones are inserted under the skin. This is a world that promotes equality and achieves it by eliminating the differences between individuals. And it creeped me out from the blurb onwards. It's frightening because on a basic level it makes sense, but it violates everything I know and believe about being proud of individuality.My favourite aspect of the book have to be the mysterious Special Circumstances people - they sound like a truly scary bunch! With all their special augmentation they behave more like robots than human beings, and I think they creeped me out more than anything else about this world. Dr. Cable is a great villain as the classic evil doctor. I can totally imagine her with her lab coat and maniacal laughing as she operates on Uglies. Another aspect of the world I enjoyed was the society in The Smoke. They are so normal to me and yet at the same time so alien to Tally, and I enjoyed reading how they survive outside of the influence of the cities. One of my favourite scenes is when Tally realises that children used to resemble their parents before the operations. I think it was really well done and showcased exactly how much humanity had lost.Tally is a hard character for me to like - she's in many ways the anti-thesis to other female YA heroines. She hungers for the operation and counts down the days until her birthday. She firmly believes in her society and doesn't understand why Shay, her new friend, wouldn't want the operation.When Tally is blackmailed into journeying to The Smoke, a hidden community of people like Shay who ran away before they could have the operation, she is happy to do it, thinking she will be rescuing Shay from a horrible fate. It is only when Tally reaches The Smoke and learns the awful secret behind the operations that she changes her mind about it all. However, her strong belief in the system is shattered in only a few days - she goes from being disgusted at the uglies to being friends with them, sharing their meals and even kissing one of them. It's all too quick and doesn't make sense given how conditioned she was to her society before.A clever and enjoyable story, Uglies has certainly made an impression on me and now I completely understand what the hype is about. I have the rest of the series sitting on my shelves, so I will be reading it as soon as I can. If you love a good dystopian novel and haven't tried this book yet, then I strongly recommend it to you!You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars(3/5)

In this seriously bizarre world that Westerfeld has envisioned, wars, civil unrest, jealousy and alienation are all things of the past - because when a person turns 16 they undergo plastic surgery and are given the qualities of a desirable mate - huge eyes, full lips, even skin-tone, the list goes on. Bones are changed so everyone is the same height, fat is sucked out, plastic cheekbones are inserted under the skin. This is a world that promotes equality and achieves it by eliminating the differences between individuals. And it creeped me out from the blurb onwards. It's frightening because on a basic level it makes sense, but it violates everything I know and believe about being proud of individuality.My favourite aspect of the book have to be the mysterious Special Circumstances people - they sound like a truly scary bunch! With all their special augmentation they behave more like robots than human beings, and I think they creeped me out more than anything else about this world. Dr. Cable is a great villain as the classic evil doctor. I can totally imagine her with her lab coat and maniacal laughing as she operates on Uglies. Another aspect of the world I enjoyed was the society in The Smoke. They are so normal to me and yet at the same time so alien to Tally, and I enjoyed reading how they survive outside of the influence of the cities. One of my favourite scenes is when Tally realises that children used to resemble their parents before the operations. I think it was really well done and showcased exactly how much humanity had lost.Tally is a hard character for me to like - she's in many ways the anti-thesis to other female YA heroines. She hungers for the operation and counts down the days until her birthday. She firmly believes in her society and doesn't understand why Shay, her new friend, wouldn't want the operation.When Tally is blackmailed into journeying to The Smoke, a hidden community of people like Shay who ran away before they could have the operation, she is happy to do it, thinking she will be rescuing Shay from a horrible fate. It is only when Tally reaches The Smoke and learns the awful secret behind the operations that she changes her mind about it all. However, her strong belief in the system is shattered in only a few days - she goes from being disgusted at the uglies to being friends with them, sharing their meals and even kissing one of them. It's all too quick and doesn't make sense given how conditioned she was to her society before.A clever and enjoyable story, Uglies has certainly made an impression on me and now I completely understand what the hype is about. I have the rest of the series sitting on my shelves, so I will be reading it as soon as I can. If you love a good dystopian novel and haven't tried this book yet, then I strongly recommend it to you!You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic.

Was this review helpful for you?

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars(4/5)

Was this review helpful for you?

The world of Uglies is our own, but after we damaged our planet and ourselves almost to the point of no return, society gets restarted in a place where everything is self-sufficient and no one is discriminated based on their physical appearance because, ta-dahh, everyone is pretty. Well, not everyone, everyone over the age of 16, because before that they are not old enough to go under the knife. So, these young teenagers who have yet to discover the wonders of cosmetic surgery are called Uglies. Because it's what they are – Ugly.Tally is one of those, months away from getting her operation, and she can't hardly wait to join the rest of her friends in the parties and being simply amazing. She is the last of her mates to turn 16, so she feels really alone in Uglyville, so much that she decides to go sneak up to New Pretty Town, to check on her BFF, Peris, who has been there for so long and hasn't bothered to write. Or call.Things do not go exactly as planned, Tally is trespassing after all, but she satisfies her need to see her friend, who makes her promise not to get into more trouble before she gets the operation, and she meets someone else doing the same as her, Shay, who becomes her new best friend. They do stuff together all the time, enjoying their time left in Uglyville to play all the pranks they want, Shay even teaches Tally to hoverboard (yes, hooerboard, think Marty McFly and Back to the Future). But when the big day looms close (and it's the big day for both of them, they share a birthday), Shay tells Tally she doesn't want to pretty (*gasp* The Horror!), instead she is going to runaway and join a group of rebels who also don't want to be pretty, known as Smokies (they live in The Smoke). Shay would have liked to have Tally runaway with her, but Tally is not having that. She wants to be pretty. But since she is in such good terms with Shay, she promises to think about it, and Shay leaves her a coded message on how to get to The Smoke.Tally would never use that, of course, if The Powers That Be hadn't noticed Shay's leaving and Shay's new best friend. As it was, they made her an Ultimatum, she either had to help them catch the Smokies (breaking a promise to Shay of not telling her secret) or she would be ugly forever. Poor Tally thinks, and thinks, and decides to help TPTB somewhat – she'll go to Smoke, see what it's all about, and then she'll decide whether to betray her friend's trust or not.And so, with hoverboard in hand, a pack full of concentrated Spaghetti Bolognese, Tally hovers away to get to The Smoke, not without perils, since this girl almost got roasted alive (this section remind me of The Hunger Games). And let me stop here before I summarize the entire book. (There aren't many spoilers, though, most of this is on the back cover, only much more concentrated summarized)Anyway... It took sometime to have the courage to pick this book up. Why? Well, to me beauty is, of course, in the eye of the beholder, and my eyes are sometimes different from other eyes. So, this world where everyone was pretty, it wasn't gathering points with me. But I started the book, and I understood the concept of beauty used here – mainstream beauty, evening out differences, going for the big eyes, pouting mouth look of innocence, that ensured that there was a biological/psychological need to protect and love that person. I would be utterly miserable in that world, of course, but I can understand the reasons why it worked. As I continued reading I could also see how this world could be seen as school metaphor – the younger Uglies earning to enter that cool place that is New Pretty Town (*ahem, cof, High School, cof*). Tally, with her eagerness to also be pretty, never really impressed me. She was fun, but had the book been about someone else, it would have been the same for me – I was reading for the world and the society, not the characters. In fact, I will continue reading the series for those reasons, even if there was some growth, at least where Tally is concerned. There was also a bit of romance in there, which, unsurprisingly, didn't impress me either. This book's strengths are both the worldbuilding, and the action. There is plenty of action going on, from Tally and Shay's pranks, to the lone trip of Tally through the wasteland that our world has become, to the events on Smoke, rescue missions, hiding and going undercover. Lots of stuff that kept the pages flying by.It did end on a cliffhanger (one has to ensure that readers will pick up the next book, right?), and as such I want to know what happens next. I also want to learn more about the world.Also at Spoilers and Nuts

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars(4/5)

The world of Uglies is our own, but after we damaged our planet and ourselves almost to the point of no return, society gets restarted in a place where everything is self-sufficient and no one is discriminated based on their physical appearance because, ta-dahh, everyone is pretty. Well, not everyone, everyone over the age of 16, because before that they are not old enough to go under the knife. So, these young teenagers who have yet to discover the wonders of cosmetic surgery are called Uglies. Because it's what they are – Ugly.Tally is one of those, months away from getting her operation, and she can't hardly wait to join the rest of her friends in the parties and being simply amazing. She is the last of her mates to turn 16, so she feels really alone in Uglyville, so much that she decides to go sneak up to New Pretty Town, to check on her BFF, Peris, who has been there for so long and hasn't bothered to write. Or call.Things do not go exactly as planned, Tally is trespassing after all, but she satisfies her need to see her friend, who makes her promise not to get into more trouble before she gets the operation, and she meets someone else doing the same as her, Shay, who becomes her new best friend. They do stuff together all the time, enjoying their time left in Uglyville to play all the pranks they want, Shay even teaches Tally to hoverboard (yes, hooerboard, think Marty McFly and Back to the Future). But when the big day looms close (and it's the big day for both of them, they share a birthday), Shay tells Tally she doesn't want to pretty (*gasp* The Horror!), instead she is going to runaway and join a group of rebels who also don't want to be pretty, known as Smokies (they live in The Smoke). Shay would have liked to have Tally runaway with her, but Tally is not having that. She wants to be pretty. But since she is in such good terms with Shay, she promises to think about it, and Shay leaves her a coded message on how to get to The Smoke.Tally would never use that, of course, if The Powers That Be hadn't noticed Shay's leaving and Shay's new best friend. As it was, they made her an Ultimatum, she either had to help them catch the Smokies (breaking a promise to Shay of not telling her secret) or she would be ugly forever. Poor Tally thinks, and thinks, and decides to help TPTB somewhat – she'll go to Smoke, see what it's all about, and then she'll decide whether to betray her friend's trust or not.And so, with hoverboard in hand, a pack full of concentrated Spaghetti Bolognese, Tally hovers away to get to The Smoke, not without perils, since this girl almost got roasted alive (this section remind me of The Hunger Games). And let me stop here before I summarize the entire book. (There aren't many spoilers, though, most of this is on the back cover, only much more concentrated summarized)Anyway... It took sometime to have the courage to pick this book up. Why? Well, to me beauty is, of course, in the eye of the beholder, and my eyes are sometimes different from other eyes. So, this world where everyone was pretty, it wasn't gathering points with me. But I started the book, and I understood the concept of beauty used here – mainstream beauty, evening out differences, going for the big eyes, pouting mouth look of innocence, that ensured that there was a biological/psychological need to protect and love that person. I would be utterly miserable in that world, of course, but I can understand the reasons why it worked. As I continued reading I could also see how this world could be seen as school metaphor – the younger Uglies earning to enter that cool place that is New Pretty Town (*ahem, cof, High School, cof*). Tally, with her eagerness to also be pretty, never really impressed me. She was fun, but had the book been about someone else, it would have been the same for me – I was reading for the world and the society, not the characters. In fact, I will continue reading the series for those reasons, even if there was some growth, at least where Tally is concerned. There was also a bit of romance in there, which, unsurprisingly, didn't impress me either. This book's strengths are both the worldbuilding, and the action. There is plenty of action going on, from Tally and Shay's pranks, to the lone trip of Tally through the wasteland that our world has become, to the events on Smoke, rescue missions, hiding and going undercover. Lots of stuff that kept the pages flying by.It did end on a cliffhanger (one has to ensure that readers will pick up the next book, right?), and as such I want to know what happens next. I also want to learn more about the world.Also at Spoilers and Nuts

Was this review helpful for you?

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars(5/5)

Was this review helpful for you?

The premise: in Tally's world, turning sixteen isn't about getting the license to drive, it's about turning pretty. This is a world where everyone goes through a major operation at the age of sixteen to become impossibly beautiful, and she can't wait. Until her best friend decides she doesn't want to turn pretty at all, that people shouldn't be ashamed of their faces, and runs away. This shouldn't affect Tally, but some higher-ups have decided to use Tally to track down rebels like her best friend and break up the resistance to the pretty society. Suddenly Tally is learning some very ugly truths about her pretty society, and if she doesn't do what she's asked, she'll never be pretty. But if she does, it means betraying her best friend.My RatingMust Have: it's a fast, enticing read that does an amazing job at illustrating the heart of teen issues and fears. And the fact it does it in such a well-drawn SF dystopia makes it something more than a must-YA-read, but a must-SF read as well. I've yet to see an adult SF writer (meaning, writers for adults) take a science fictional spin on the ideas of beauty and letting those ideas drive the story rather than be window-dressing. At least, I haven't seen this in a novel. Short stories, I wouldn't be surprised. Anyway, I look forward to reading the rest of these books, and as of right now, I'm more than willing to check out other Westerfeld titles as well.The full review, which does contain spoilers, may be found at my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. REVIEW: Scott Westerfeld's UGLIESHappy Reading! :)

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars(5/5)

The premise: in Tally's world, turning sixteen isn't about getting the license to drive, it's about turning pretty. This is a world where everyone goes through a major operation at the age of sixteen to become impossibly beautiful, and she can't wait. Until her best friend decides she doesn't want to turn pretty at all, that people shouldn't be ashamed of their faces, and runs away. This shouldn't affect Tally, but some higher-ups have decided to use Tally to track down rebels like her best friend and break up the resistance to the pretty society. Suddenly Tally is learning some very ugly truths about her pretty society, and if she doesn't do what she's asked, she'll never be pretty. But if she does, it means betraying her best friend.My RatingMust Have: it's a fast, enticing read that does an amazing job at illustrating the heart of teen issues and fears. And the fact it does it in such a well-drawn SF dystopia makes it something more than a must-YA-read, but a must-SF read as well. I've yet to see an adult SF writer (meaning, writers for adults) take a science fictional spin on the ideas of beauty and letting those ideas drive the story rather than be window-dressing. At least, I haven't seen this in a novel. Short stories, I wouldn't be surprised. Anyway, I look forward to reading the rest of these books, and as of right now, I'm more than willing to check out other Westerfeld titles as well.The full review, which does contain spoilers, may be found at my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. REVIEW: Scott Westerfeld's UGLIESHappy Reading! :)

Was this review helpful for you?

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars(4/5)

Was this review helpful for you?

Tally can't wait until her sixteenth birthday--that's when she turns pretty and will be able to join all her pretty friends across the river. But until then, she and the rest of the uglies must remain in their place, leading sheltered lives and never venturing far from the school and dormitories. At least, their not supposed to. A few tend to bend and even break the rules; Tally herself has snuck across the river many a time. Her best friend Peris is lucky; he's already turned sixteen and had the operations needed to make him pretty. Poor Tally is left mostly alone, until she meets and befriends a fellow mischievous ugly, Shay. But Shay isn't so happy about turning pretty. In fact, she would rather stay just as she is. Shay runs away to a hidden, outsider community to ensure that this will never change. Tally once again is left alone. But everything will be better once she is pretty. Except the authorities refuse to turn her pretty until she helps find her friend, and bring her back. The decisions she faces, and the decisions she makes, will change her life forever. The first book in a trilogy, Uglies is wonderful dystopian fiction for young adults. I did want to throttle a character now and then, but for the most part this book was quite enjoyable and I look forward to reading the next two books, Pretties and Specials. Experiments in Reading

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars(4/5)

Tally can't wait until her sixteenth birthday--that's when she turns pretty and will be able to join all her pretty friends across the river. But until then, she and the rest of the uglies must remain in their place, leading sheltered lives and never venturing far from the school and dormitories. At least, their not supposed to. A few tend to bend and even break the rules; Tally herself has snuck across the river many a time. Her best friend Peris is lucky; he's already turned sixteen and had the operations needed to make him pretty. Poor Tally is left mostly alone, until she meets and befriends a fellow mischievous ugly, Shay. But Shay isn't so happy about turning pretty. In fact, she would rather stay just as she is. Shay runs away to a hidden, outsider community to ensure that this will never change. Tally once again is left alone. But everything will be better once she is pretty. Except the authorities refuse to turn her pretty until she helps find her friend, and bring her back. The decisions she faces, and the decisions she makes, will change her life forever. The first book in a trilogy, Uglies is wonderful dystopian fiction for young adults. I did want to throttle a character now and then, but for the most part this book was quite enjoyable and I look forward to reading the next two books, Pretties and Specials. Experiments in Reading

Was this review helpful for you?

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars(4/5)

Was this review helpful for you?

I enjoyed this a lot. It was easy to see how their world could come about, and so, so easy to understand the desire to want to become Pretty. Life is easy when you're a New-Pretty, everyone loves you and life is one big party. There's no pressure, no competition, none of the pain we live with.

I felt for Tally, I really did. All she wanted was to feel good and safe and that was threatened. She had to betray her friend in order to have the life she wanted. No, not the life she wanted, but the life she and everyone else gained as a matter of course.

One of my favorite scenes was Tally looking at the "ancient" magazines and remarking upon the photo of a model. Our society does horrible things to our girls, including anorexia, and having Tally think about that from her place in her society really struck me.

This book had been recommended by readers I trust and I can see why they liked it so much.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars(4/5)

I enjoyed this a lot. It was easy to see how their world could come about, and so, so easy to understand the desire to want to become Pretty. Life is easy when you're a New-Pretty, everyone loves you and life is one big party. There's no pressure, no competition, none of the pain we live with.

I felt for Tally, I really did. All she wanted was to feel good and safe and that was threatened. She had to betray her friend in order to have the life she wanted. No, not the life she wanted, but the life she and everyone else gained as a matter of course.

One of my favorite scenes was Tally looking at the "ancient" magazines and remarking upon the photo of a model. Our society does horrible things to our girls, including anorexia, and having Tally think about that from her place in her society really struck me.

This book had been recommended by readers I trust and I can see why they liked it so much.

Was this review helpful for you?

Trending