That Which Luke Is Reading
So, I find it hard to resist the various ebook bundles Humble Bundle (here) does every so often. Lots of books, money going directly to author and a good cause (as long as you set the sliders right, a bit much goes to Humble on the default settings, you ask me). But, they tend to a be a bit of a mixed bag of books, some that I am interested in, some not so much and usually one that I am very happy to have picked up. And they now automate the sending of the books to you kindle, which makes it just that much easier.
Out of the last one I got Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. He is appearing at the Gencon Writers Symposium, which I am going to with my brother, and as such seemed like a happy coincidence that I previously picked up his book in a bundle.
The book is YA, which depending on who you talk to, is very important, or is just another way to help booksellers sort and sell books. Anyway, for me it means the book is targeted at a slightly younger audience than I might be a part of. But, like any well crafted book it does not talk down to or insult the reader and can be enjoyed by most anyone.
The book takes place in a post-something maybe Utopia, something has killed off a lot of people and the survivors all go through a drastic set of surgical operations at age sixteen to remove any defects. This has the effect of making everyone “pretty” and perfect.
We follow one girl, the youngest of her friends as she waits to go through the process to become pretty as well. But, as you might expect, there is something else going on and something is not right with the world.
The only complaint I have is that the world is not sketched out enough at first, the emptiness of the world is not really something that comes out until a bit into the book, and it changes, at least for me, my perception of the setting. Otherwise, it is a pretty good YA book, not quite the type of book I might have picked up not in a bundle, but I am enjoying it so far.
(note: Bloginatrix wants you all to know that Luke actually finished this blog entry a whole DAY ahead of schedule. Slow clap. Slow clap, damn your eyes! — Shiri)
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