Science+Fiction

Science Fiction Book Reviews 

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld Age Level: 12+ Genre: Science Fiction Awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults, SLJ Best Book of the Year, VOYA-Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers. //Uglies// takes place in the future, long after our generation of humans, or Rusties as we are referred to in the future, have died out. Tally is an Ugly, but in just two months, on her sixteenth birthday, she will receive the operation that will make her pretty, as all sixteen-year-old Uglies do. Her best friend, Peris, has just “turned,” which means that he has gotten his Pretty operation, which leaves Tally friendless in Uglyville. Once she’s turned Pretty, she can join Peris and all of the other former Uglies in their fabulous, party-filled life in New Pretty Town. To fill her lonely nights, Tally goes out pranking, and one evening when she’s snuck into New Pretty Town to say hello to Peris, she meets a fellow Ugly by the name of Shay, and they become friends. Shay and Tally realize that they have the same birthday, which means that they will turn together, neither one having to go a day alone in Uglyville. With the time of their surgery drawing closer, Shay begins to speak more and more freely about some of her ideas regarding beauty. She feels that you don’t have to fit a particular mold to be pretty, and there are much more important things than beauty, like intelligence. Shay also takes Tally to the Rusty Ruins; all that is left of what we now think of as a modern city. While they’re out in the Ruins, Shay tells Tally of a boy a little older than them named David, who lives out in the wild. Shay lights a signal, and she and Tally wait a while to see if he will come meet them in the Ruins. Two weeks before their sixteenth birthdays, Shay and Tally get into a fight. Then, one week before they are supposed to turn Pretty, Shay comes to make amends with Tally. She also has something to tell her. Shay tells Tally of a group of people, Uglies, which chose to run away to the wild, to a place called the Smoke. A few of Shay’s old friends are among the Smokies, and Shay was supposed to run away with them a few months before, but she chickened out. Shay has decided that now is the time, and she will run away to the Smoke that very night. She has gathered enough supplies that Tally can come with her, too, if she chooses. Tally refuses. With only one week until she will finally be made Pretty, who can blame her? Shay understands, and embarks on the journey into the wilderness alone; leaving Tally coded directions to the Smoke in case she changes her mind. When Tally’s sixteenth birthday finally arrives, she is filled with excitement and nervous energy. A car picks her up and takes her to the hospital, but after waiting what feels like forever, Tally is informed that something is wrong, and she is taken by hovercar to Special Circumstances, the Pretty special police. She is informed by a Dr. Cable that they are well aware of her friend Shay’s exodus to the Smoke, and they want answers. They demand that Tally follow the directions that Shay gave her to the Smoke, where she will then act as a spy and infiltrate the group of bandits, giving away their hiding spot by activating an alarm that she will wear on her neck in the form of a locket. Tally sets off on the perilous journey to the Smoke, but she manages to arrive in one piece. Once there, she finds it harder to betray the Smokies than she had anticipated. The longer she stays with them, the more she begins to embrace their way of life. She begins to get used to the hard work that comes with living in the wild, and she feels a special bond with David. One night, David takes her to meet his parents, the founders of the Smoke, and they reveal to her that the Pretty operation does more than just alter your physical appearance. It changes your mind, too, making you happy and agreeable. Tally decides to stay in the Smoke forever, and throws her locket into the fire, which accidentally sends off the signal. The next morning Special Circumstances are there, and they destroy the Smoke. Only Tally and David escape. They devise a plan to break into Special Circumstances and rescue the others, and they succeed in getting David’s mother, Shay, and a handful of others. Shay has already received her Pretty surgery, though. The crew heads out to the Rusty Ruins, where they now live. David’s mother is able to find a cure for the brain lesions that are incurred during the Pretty surgery by using some information that she learned in her captivity. They only need a willing subject to try the pills on. Shay refuses to take them, however, because she the surgery made her content with her new life. David’s mother won’t force her to take the pills, so Tally decides to turn herself in to Special Circumstances with the knowledge that David will rescue her afterwards and his mother will administer the brain-altering pills. This book has a theme of social commentary on the way we as a society are destroying the earth and the way we put way too much emphasis on physical beauty. It was a very exciting read, and I’d definitely recommend it to teenage fans of science fiction and even those who don’t usually enjoy science fiction.

Specials by Scott Westerfield Genre: Science Fiction Age Group: 12 and up

//Specials// is the third book in the //Uglies// series by Scott Westerfield. When the book starts off, Tally Youngblood has been a Special for a few months. She and her best friend, Shay, along with a few of their old friends have been made part of an elite, special group within Special Circumstances. They call themselves the Cutters, because they cut themselves to give them an icy clarity in moments when they need to be able to think at their best. All is going well for Tally, and she loves being a Cutter, but she becomes unsettled when she is reunited with Zane, who is a Pretty back in New Pretty town and is fine-except that he has a constant tremble left over from Mady’s cure. Tally decides that she won’t be happy until Zane becomes Special like her, so she and Shay devise a plan to help him escape new pretty town to the New Smoke. Tally and Shay hope that Zane’s escape will be enough to prove to Dr. Cable that he’s icy enough to be made special, and they also hope that once he escapes, they’ll be able to track Zane to the New Smoke, destroying it once and for all. Things don’t go exactly as planned, however, and Tally finds herself facing challenges that she didn’t see coming. This third book in the //Uglies// series will keep readers on the edge of their seats as they wait to see what will happen to Tally Youngblood next!

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead Awards: 2010 Newbury Medal, Parents’ Choice Award 2009, NY Times Notable Book 2009, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year 2009. ALA Best Books for Young Adults Top 10 2010. Genre: Realistic Fiction and Science Fiction Age Group: 12 and up //When You Reach Me// is a suspenseful, intriguing, and entertaining story about a twelve year-old girl named Miranda who lives with her mother in New York City in the late 1970’s. When we first meet Miranda, her best friend is no longer hanging out with her, she’s trying to make new friends, and there is a homeless man on her street corner who is both distracting and a little frightening. On top of that, Miranda has begun to get creepy notes from someone who will not identify himself or herself but who certainly knows things that they shouldn’t about the future. It’s up to Miranda to solve the mystery behind the notes, and when she does, she’s in for a quite a surprise.

A Wrinkle in Time by Ma'deleine L'engle

A Wrinkle in Time is a very good book, I would recommend it. It’s science fiction. I like it because it pulls you in close and there is lots of detail. The book is very suspenseful although it has a boring beginning.

Meg and Charles Wallace (a young genius) along with Calvin wrinkle (travel) in time to find Meg’s and Charles’s Dad. 3 old ladies help them along the way. The witch’s names are Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, And Mrs. What sit. They go to a planet in space to find their dad. Charles falls under "IT's" clutches. Meg freezes and a strange creature saved her. She has to go back and fight “IT” to save Charles. She must find his weakness to save the day, you must read it to find out the end.

Home