Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is ugly.
In Tally's world, everyone gets the operation that makes them pretty when they're sixteen, when they leave the dorms at Uglyville and move to New Pretty Town with the other new pretties. They get wider eyes, healthier skin, fuller lips. It's all according to the formula of aesthetic attraction written in our genes by biology, all the things we instinctively look for in another.
What could possibly be wrong with that?
But not everybody wants to have the operation. Sometimes, they run away, out into the ruins of the Rusties--the civilization that existed before, the one that chopped trees and burned oil and laid down steel and concrete, and tinkered with the natural order of things until finally it outsmarted itself and became the civilization that exists now: Uglies and Pretties.
Tally's new friend Shay is an ugly who doesn't want to have the operation. She sneaks Tally out at night and shows her the ruins of an old amusement park, and tells her of a friend she has met out there that takes runaway uglies to a hidden place, a place away from being pretty--a place known only as "The Smoke." Back in Uglyville dorms, Tally can't even get Shay to experiment with the computer screens that give potential glimpses into what her new pretty form would look like:
On the night Shay runs away, she visits Tally one more time to convince her to come with her. Tally refuses, but Shay leaves a cryptic note in case she ever changes her mind.
Tally won't change her mind. Tally turns sixteen in days. She wants to be pretty.
But when she's picked up and taken to her operation, there's a sudden problem. And Tally learns the world is more than Uglies and Pretties. There is a third set, a population of beauty that is advanced and cruel: Specials. The ones who police the entire thing through a barely-believed organization known as Special Circumstances. They've been monitoring the runaways, and have decided they want them back. They want "The Smoke" to disappear.
And until Tally makes the journey to find Shay, and there activate a special tracking device to alert Special Circumstances, she will never be made pretty. Ever.
"I'm sorry, Tally," Maddy said. "But this secret is very important. And very dangerous."
Tally nodded her head, looking down at the floor. "Everything out here is dangerous."
They were all silent for a moment. All Tally heard was the tinkle of Az stirring his tea.
"See?" David said finally. "She understands. You can trust her. She deserves to know the truth."
"Everyone does," Maddy said quietly. "Eventually."
"Well," Az said, then paused to sip his tea. "I suppose we'll have to tell you, Tally."
"Tell me what?"
David took a deep breath. "The truth about being pretty."
Make Sure to read the other books in the Triology as well
Other books Suggested by fans of Uglies:
The Lottery by Beth Goobie
The Matrix
The Wave by Todd Strasser
A Scanner darkly by Philip K. Dick
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