Extras by Scott Westerfeld

book: Extras
written by: Scott Westerfeld
genres: Dystiopian, young adult
pages: 417
own / library / borrowed
release date: January 1st 2007
series?  Uglies #4
publisher, version I read: Simon Pulse


note: I already read and reviewed the other books in the series, Uglies, Pretties and Specials. Click on the titles and the links will take you to the reviews :)


the book: 

Aya Fuse is just an extra, someone who's not important and has a very low rank of popularity. She has to work for her 'merits' (money) and has to find a way to boost her popularity rank, which is 451369. One of the ways you can boost your rank is by kicking  a story. You kick a story when you spread gossip and/or trends via the city feeds. There are no more bubbleheads, and Tally Youngblood has become a legend. She is the most famous person in the city, but nobody has ever seen her in person. Then Aya meets the Sly Girls, and she sees a great story that will make her famous. But then she finds out something far more important and dangerous than the Sly Girls. But will kicking that story put her in danger?

my review:
The series is getting more of the same. But at least this was a new main character and a new city. Also you were introduced to one more type of people with strange brain surge, the other Extras. I did not like this city, because now it was not about who's pretty and who's ugly, but about who's popular and who isn't. When you have an average face rank, and meet someone who's pretty famous you should bow for them and use all this names to show them that they are better than you are, and to me that's horrible. It's like the whole world is one big episode of gossip girl.
Luckily, Tally Youngblood did return. She was still a very interesting character, with her own problems and own way of thinking. And she was saving the world, again *her saving the world did become kinda boring, but still* Girls rule the world :)
The cover of this book is the best cover of the whole series, I love the eyes :D She is an ugly, but looks pretty to me. Only a big nose, which makes everyone call her Nosey :)
We are also introduced to Frizz in this book. He seems awesome, because he has this awesome type of brain surge, Radical Honesty. That means he cannot lie. I think it would suck if you could not lie, but also I think it is a very good way to stop lying. I would call this a great invention which can cause a lot of trouble...
But this book was not as good as Specials, some parts bored me and wanted me to give up reading this book, while other parts of this book were great, which made me feel very confused.


so total:
2.5 stars for Extras!

Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Yo peeps, it's review time :D *puts on awesome face*




book: Specials
written by: Scott Westerfeld
genre: young adult, dystopian
pages:  my version - 372
own / library / borrowed
release date: may 9th 2006
series?:  Uglies #3
publisher:  Simon and Shuster


note: 
I did review the other parts of the series: Uglies and Pretties
click here for my review of Uglies , #1
click here for my review of Pretties, #2


the book:
the story continues. Tally is a Special now. She belongs to a special clique, the Cutters. They are special Specials, a special unique unit of people that were Crims. Tally, Shay and Fausto all belong to this groop of Specials. Tally is still in love with Zane, and he has survived his brain damage. Only, after seeing him again she cannot love him anymore, he is too different. Is her brain messed up again? She has her new Special powers, but she has to watch out and gain control over them, or she will destroy the world. While she and Shay trick Special Circumstances, they start a world-changing series of events, which should have never happened. While everyone Tally loves is in danger, she has to find herself again, but will she be able to do so...?


my opinion on:

• the story in general: to me the story had gotten all of the same old. The same storyline kept on returning. First book she was ugly, then she met Shay and became Pretty. Then she was Pretty, but somehow Shay turned Special and Tally was forced by Shay (again) to become Special. Now Tally is Special, and the story is somehow the same, only she acts a little bit different because she is a different kind of 'thing'
• the characters: Damn, The last 2 pages made me want to meet Tally, hug her. Made me want to be her best friend. She seemed so strong, all the way through the book. In the beginning of the book I kind of liked Shay (well, not like but not dislike, you know..) but later I started to hate her. Like, real hate. Then there are Zane and David and I cannot say much about them without spoiling, but the author really surprised me...!
• the way it was written:  Very OK! easy to read, a quick read, almost perfect. Not this annoying american speaking language (no offense) all the time...  c:
• the developing of the main character: Tally has gained even more of my respect during this book. She's had to make terrible sacrifices, had to suffer lots of pain and had to heal a broken heart, but she conquered the pain and survived, and came out stronger. She is a true warrior of her own battle! 
• the end: This made me speechless. I still am speechless after reading this. I hate cliffhangers, and this was a cliffhanger, but also an ending of a trilogy. You can imagine this as the end of a series, and it kind of is because Extras (#4) has another main character...

some other things I wanted to say:

Dear Scott Westerfield, this series you've written rocked my socks. I do not want to leave it behind. I want to be best friends with Tally. I want to live in the world you created, as horrible as it may be. I want to have my own hoverboard instead of a bicycle and I want to have a bungeejacket. I want to thank you for writing this awesome series, and there are many other people who want to do that, I'm sure!

total:

this book gets 4.8 stars, not 5 because it was a little bit repeating, but the rest of it was just perfect to me 

xo Mar who-is-still-crying-over-... *character*

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

            Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

Book: Pretties

Written by:  Scott Westerfeld

Genre:  young-adult, dystopian

Pages:  my version – 370

Release date:  November 1^st 2005

Own / library / borrowed

Series?:  Uglies #2

            Publisher:  Simon and Shuster

             Note:  

            I did enjoy part 1 – click here toread my review of Uglies! I did most certainly not regret reading #2

            The book:

           Tally has finally become pretty. She and Shay are the #1 Crims in town! Then Tally meets Zane, and he makes her feel bubbly. He makes her remember things she had forgotten with her new pretty brain. Then someone from the Smoke shows up on a party, and he gives Tally a clue to a cure for the brain lesion. Both she and Zane take the cure, aware of the risks. They decide to go to the Smoke again, this time hopefully forever…

My opinion:

·         on the book: the story is worse than the story of Uglies. I still liked it, but it just was not a book I loved.

·         on the characters: I still like Tally, even the pretty version of her, tough I think the other version of Tally is a way better. I also love Zane. I am not the team-choosing type of girl, but if I had to decide which team I was on I would choose team Zane, even though I did like David in Uglies.

·         on the way the book was written:  this is what I call a perfect improvement. The comment of me disliking the way book #1 was written does most certainly not count for book #2!

·         On the ending:  pretty surprising, but not a total cliffhanger. It still made me want to read the next book, but…

·         Total: While the quality of the content heightens, the  quality of the story and the characters lowers. I did still like the story, but not as much as I liked part one of the series. Still, I will read the next part, which is already lying next to me, so I can start reading instantly after finishing reviewing if I want to. But I guess I will not…

Rating:

3/5 stars – not good, but not very bad either