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Title: Extras (Uglies)
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Manufacturer: Simon Pulse
List Price: $16.99
Our Price: $6.00
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| Customer Reviews: |
| Extras (Uglies) by Simon Pulse Some spoilers -- and so-so read. Promising, doesn't live up. | Set in the same "Uglies" universe as the previous three books, but set three years after Tally caused the "mind-rain" (when bubbleheads were given the choice to have their lesions repaired so they weren't empty-mindedly happy), this book takes place in Japan.
Aya Fuse's city decides to award resources to people based on their reputation/fame. This is done by everybody being given their own feed (Internet) once of age and their own hovercam. The more often someone's feed is watched, or name is mentioned, the higher their rank, and the more luxuries they are allowed. For example, the higher rank you have, the more luxurious your house can be, or clothes given to you. This is called "face." People can also gain "merits" by doing good deeds, like finish homework on time, working hard, volunteering to babysit, etc.
Aya is pretty desperate to raise her rank so when she finds a secret clique of girls who do tricks with their hoverboards (such as riding the mag-lev train), she decides to join them and secretly spy on them so she can "kick" their story. This leads to a discovery of hidden steel cylinders in a mountain which starts this avalanche of events that inevitably brings in Tally Youngblood and her group of Cutters.
I admire the premise, but I do wish Westerfeld had gone more in depth about the type of fame-obsessed, notice-me society Aya lives in and the negative impact of it. While he does a good job of how relationships can be screwed due to the difference of ranks (called "difference of ambition" in her world, which is a reason people can break up their relationships, much like our "irreconcilable differences") or make things awkward, it doesn't go much further than that.
Also, I found it a little eye-rolling that the heroine does attain a very very high rank in the end, after all, which kind of deflates the purpose of the book, or a purpose. This purpose being a look at the impact of such a society. I mean, seriously, it's like Aya rolls out through perfectly, despite the lies and hardships on the way. And she does "truth-slant" a lot. It doesn't seem like there's enough of a difference shown in her personality by the end of the book, so while she does understand truth-slanting to get ahead for something as shallow and frivolous as fame, she doesn't seem to fully get it.
Tally's inclusion in the book as a peripheral character is an interesting difference from the past three books (two I've read). She seemed harsher and more violent seen from a third-person's viewpoint than when we're inside her head and see her struggles to rewire herself. Kind of brings into mind how we view ourselves is sometimes completely different from how others view us.
Overall a good book, but not really one I would recommend buying, but only checking out. | | Extras (Uglies) by Simon Pulse Intriguing and Exciting! | Extras is an intriguing and exciting read about a young girl who throws herself into a world very different from her own and soon has to deal with more than she could possibly have imagined. Extras is the fourth book in the Uglies series, written by Scott Westerfeld, and is not a book you want to miss out on. It is one of those books that will have you flipping pages in anticipation. I was on the edge of my seat for most of the book. I guarantee that you will enjoy this book.
Extras is set in the future, a few centuries after the destruction of the Rusties (that's us). The story takes place in a high-tech city in Asia, most likely Japan. It is a time of hovercars and hoverboards, extreme plastic surgery, fame, and futuristic ideas. It is a time completely different from our own, where no one eats pigs or uses up natural resources. This is part of what makes this book so interesting; you can dive into a whole new world.
The main character, Aya Fuse, wants nothing more in life than fame. Her older brother, Hiro, is in the top one thousand most popular people in the city, and out of a million people, that's really famous. To get famous, you have to be talked about. Every time someone says your name, it's like another vote. To get votes, you have to spread interesting stories make yourself known. A lot is expected from Aya. In her thirst for fame, she soon finds and successfully joins a secret group of girls who do dangerous and crazy stunts for the fun of it, the Sly Girls. But Aya discovers something bigger while with the Sly Girls. Something that could change the world. Something that could finish her life of being a loser, an extra, and make her famous. But she soon finds out that being famous might not be all it's supposed to be. Soon Aya finds herself in a world she never imagined. A world of parties, fame, and danger.
This book is one of my favorites, because of the excitement, anticipation, and thrill involved. I could barely put the book down until it was finished. This book will have you turning pages until the last one is turned, and by then you will be wanting more. It is full of surprises, too. This book is not something you want to miss!
| | Extras (Uglies) by Simon Pulse Extras | | Read the dedication.. It made me laugh. This is a great ending to an amazing series. | | Extras (Uglies) by Simon Pulse Another patented Westerfeld Ending.... | I first read Uglies for my YA lit class, and I loved it. I loved it so much that I went on to read Pretties, and then Specials. And it was after I finished reading Specials that I began to notice a trend, a trend that Extras continues: Westfeld cannot write a decent ending.
Extras begins in an exciting fashion. The world has become completely individualized since Tally brought down the Pretty system. Aya is a teenage Japanese girl who is completely unfamous in a city that runs on fame. Desperate to become famous, she follows what she thinks will be a story about a group of adventerous girls and discovers instead a potentially deadly secret. And the book just goes down hill from there.
Like Pretties and Specials, Extras begins in a fast-paced, mysterious fashion that completely hooks you in with all of the tantalizing possibilities it offers. And then it slips into a luke-warm middle and concludes in an ending that is not only uninteresting, but completely anti-climatic. I was left with a "Is that all there is?" feeling, a feeling that I have come to realize is typical of a patented Westfeld ending. | | Extras (Uglies) by Simon Pulse The Best Review Ever | a very good addition to the trilogy that is amazinnnggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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*<:0)DX | | Extras (Uglies) by Simon Pulse Product Description | Fame It's a few years after rebel Tally Youngblood took down the uglies/pretties/specials regime. Without those strict roles and rules, the world is in a complete cultural renaissance. "Tech-heads" flaunt their latest gadgets, "kickers" spread gossip and trends, and "surge monkeys" are hooked on extreme plastic surgery. And it's all monitored on a bazillion different cameras. The world is like a gigantic game of American Idol. Whoever is getting the most buzz gets the most votes. Popularity rules. As if being fifteen doesn't suck enough, Aya Fuse's rank of 451,369 is so low, she's a total nobody. An extra. But Aya doesn't care; she just wants to lie low with her drone, Moggle. And maybe kick a good story for herself. Then Aya meets a clique of girls who pull crazy tricks, yet are deeply secretive of it. Aya wants desperately to kick their story, to show everyone how intensely cool the Sly Girls are. But doing so would propel her out of extra-land and into the world of fame, celebrity...and extreme danger. A world she's not prepared for. |
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