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Book Review of Extras (Uglies, Bk 4)

Extras (Uglies, Bk 4)
cathyskye avatar reviewed on + 2262 more book reviews


First Line: "Moggle," Aya whispered. "You awake?"

It is now several years after the massive shift of Specials, the third in Westerfeld's Uglies series. 15-year-old Aya Fuse will do anything to boost her public name recognition, which is essential in the current "recognition economy". Yes...a celebrity-based system has now replaced the boring, brainless cult of Pretties. You have to have a high name rank in order to get any real perks in life. What Asa doesn't know is that the story that she follows is a dangerous one that will have many repercussions.

I have really enjoyed this series. Westerfeld is extremely talented in mining rich themes from today's culture and spinning them into engrossing stories. That said, I think this book is the weakest in the series. There are too many secondary characters, and some of the action is a bit difficult to follow. I do love how Westerfeld's mind works though. Tally Youngblood risked life and limb to change the world, only to have the world shift to this "recognition economy" which is just as shallow as the Pretties cult was. The world Westerfeld envisions is all too close to the world we have today, and that gives me plenty to ponder.

As a reader, I was reading Young Adult books well before the age of twelve, and I jumped straight into adult fiction. One of the things that book blogging has done for me is to make me aware of how much excellent writing is being done in the Young Adult category, and I'm enjoying the time I spend reading it. Westerfeld is now one of my favorite authors, and I'll keep a look-out for any of his future books.