Uglies: Shay's Story

Author: Scott Westerfeld
Goodreads Review: 4.06
My Review: 4 Stars
Pages: 208


I have always been a big fan of Scott Westerfeld, starting with the Midnighters Series and then going on to the Uglies. When I saw that he was releasing a graphic novel version of Shay's Story, I was super excited and once I saw it in the store, I had to pick it up.


Goodreads Synopses:


Uglies told Tally Youngblood’s version of life in Uglyville and the budding rebellion against the Specials. Now comes an exciting graphic novel revealing new adventures in the Uglies world—as seen through the eyes of Shay, Tally’s rebellious best friend who’s not afraid to break the rules, no matter the cost.
 
A few months shy of her sixteenth birthday, Shay eagerly awaits her turn to become a Pretty—a rite-of-passage operation called “the Surge” that transforms ordinary Uglies into paragons of beauty. Yet after befriending the Crims, a group of fellow teens who refuse to take anything in society at face value, Shay starts to question the whole concept. And as the Crims explore beyond the monitored borders of Uglyville into the forbidden, ungoverned wild, Shay must choose between the perks of being Pretty and the rewards of being real.


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I have to admit, I don't remember much of what happened in Uglies, but I remembered enough to not be lost. Maybe this gave some information away as to what happened in the book, but I don't recall. I really like the idea of authors giving a little bit more away about their stories by using the adventures of another main character. 


The idea behind the Uglies series is that you are "ugly" until you turn 16 and then you have a surgery to make you a "pretty" of course none of these people realize that there is something seriously wrong with this, instead they can't wait to be totally "bubbly". This book has its own slang which is a great touch to add to the atmosphere of a new world. 


It was one thing to read about the "ruins" of the world world where Shay and Tally would sneak out to, but getting to see them was really awesome. You get to see how the "rusties" as were called, lived, and its erie because these are our cities that they're playing in. The ruins of our life are their playground. 


 The other great part about having this be a graphic novel is that you get to see how beautiful these young girls are and yet theyre being told that they're ugly. They have selfdepricating nicknames like skinny, squinty, and mouse. Hearing the conversations that Shay and Tally have about what Tally wants to change about herself is so sad because that is what is wrong with society now. Westerfeld's statement about that society is what our society is, essentially we tell young girls that their nose is too big, their forehead is too high and their lips are too small, except in New Pretty Town that all changes because at 16 they change you and make you this mold of who they want you to be and not who you are. We are slowly turning our society into this world of vapid people who are untinteresting and get surgery whenever and why ever they want.


Westerfeld had a lot to say on the matter of how we make young people feel and I was really glad for it. The entire series took up 4 books (I'm sad to say I never finished them, but I think I will revisit the series) and now they are revisiting this wonderful world in the form of graphic novels. I wish that other authors would do that (Just because I'm greedy and never want the story to end) but I just can't wait to see what the next one will be like.