Kay's Bookshelf

From the very beginning it is obvious that in this book, like in some previous others, Mr. King has tried to explore the idea of a small group of people (good and bad), ending up outside the reach of the law. From this point of view the book reminds me of The Stand, where this separation from any law being applied came from the fact that there were simply no people left to apply it (the flu has killed 99% of the US population). In Under the Dome though this separation is quite literal, since we have the huge dome of glass that lets no armed force in. Add to that the fact that most of the police force inside the dome ends up consisting of bad guys and that’s a recipe for disaster right there.

The first (predictable) effect of such a rupture from the outside world would be (and is, particularly in this book) that the bad guys would let their lack of scruples (and their temporary invulnerability) go to their heads. And Mr. King is not one to shy from describing such deeds. We have multiple murders, a gang rape, arson, beatings, thievings, take your pick. What is the most awful is that most of these things happen almost within sight of the Army, stationed on the other side of the dome, and there’s nothing anyone out there can do because there’s no way to get in. As one of the characters put it, the armed forces were “Like kids looking into an aquarium where the biggest fish takes all the food, then starts eating the little ones.”

One of the fortes of the book is the fact that, albeit there are a lot of characters, Mr. King has managed to infuse them all with their own personalities and motivations. Sure, the good guys are good, and the bad guys are bad, but they are all believable and their choices make sense. Rennie for example, the all-around bad guy, sincerely believes that “This was the high point of his life, his chance to achieve the greatness of which he knew he’d always been capable.“. Adding to that his unwavering belief in God (and the fact that God is on his side no matter what he’ll do) we begin to get the idea of a dangerous man, a man who will single-handedly turn the quiet life of the small town into anarchy in no more than a few days.

Another thing I have enjoyed while reading was the imagery surrounding the Dome. When I first read summaries of the book I thought of the Dome as a sheet of glass, hardly visible for anyone looking at it, but nevertheless visible. But the actual Dome looks like… nothing. It does act like a sheet of glass, from the sound it makes when people knock on it, to the way it gets dirtied by pollution and things crashing into it, but it cannot be seen. Making the people who bump into it all the more surprised, and the related imagery (people trying to touch their hands but unable to, although there is no visible obstruction) all the more powerful. Speaking of imagery, the description of natural phenomena as seen through the Dome are quite cool too (my favorite was the part with the pink stars falling, of course, when the stars “come down in brilliant pink lines. Some of the lines crisscrossed each other, and when this happened, pink runes seemed to stand out in the sky before fading.“).

I think that, even if I hadn’t known who the author of this book was, I would probably have guessed it while reading. Not only do people die right and left (regardless on whose side they’re on), but there are also small clues now and then, clues that are to be found in almost every book of Mr. King’s. For one, we have the children sharing prophetic visions (that most of them don’t remember afterwards). Also, my favorite, the statement that repeats itself throughout the book, at various intervals (as far as I can remember every single book by Mr. King that I have read had a phrase like that, usually part of a song or something out of the main character’s childhood, that someone keeps thinking about). In this case the said statement is shared between many people (almost every important character thinks it at one time or another), is part of an old hit-song and goes like this “it’s a small town and we all support the team“.

The book would probably make a great movie, as it is very fast paced (something breath-taking is always happening), plus I can just imagine the special effects that could be created on this purpose. Not to mention the fact that the very presence of Barbie (a very good ex-Army guy, who just happens to be in the right place at the wrong time) made me think of a blockbuster movie from the very moment Barbie’s past was revealed :)

Something I didn’t think of while I was reading is the political side of the book — here’s what Mr. King had to say about it:

Sometimes the sublimely wrong people can be in power at a time when you really need the right people. I put a lot of that into the book. But when I started I said, “I want to use the Bush-Cheney dynamic for the people who are the leaders of this town.” As a result, you have Big Jim Rennie, the villain of the piece. I got to like the other guy, Andy Sanders. He wasn’t actively evil, he was just incompetent—which is how I always felt about George W. Bush. I enjoyed taking the Bush-Cheney dynamic and shrinking it to the small-town level.

While I (who live so far away from the States) barely know who Cheney was, and very little of what he did or did not do, I find the very fact that the book is sort of inspired from real life quite cool. Let’s call that an extra layer of the thing I liked most in the book, which is…

What I liked most: Unsettling as it may sound, I think the book was a great study of human nature. It other words, it explores people and feelings that are very believable for me; most people act the very way I would expect them to. For example, I can just imagine how, if something that bad would happen, the vast majority of people would look up to their leaders to tell them what to do and how to behave. I can also very well imagine how those people who abstain from doing bad simply because they’re afraid of the law would unleash their worst once it’s clear that no punishment can be inflicted on them (Nazi Germany anyone?). Not to mention the fact that many people would have trouble adjusting to the new world, clinging “to the notion that the world was as it had been before the Dome came down”, thus falling prey to the people who have a lot less scruples than that. And many, many more.

What I liked least: Silly but I kept being bothered about the Internet (how did they have Internet if the landlines were cut off? A city this small couldn’t have had Wi-Fi all over) and the cellphones still working (I know that air permeated the dome but would it have been enough for the cellphones? Somehow I doubt it.)

Thoughts on the ending: First of all, I noticed that many people said they loved the book until the ending, which they didn’t quite like. For me it was quite the opposite, meaning I thought it to be about the only ending that could actually make sense.

show spoiler

Recommend it to? First of all, I have read a lot of S. King’s books. Not all of them, but a lot. Second, this is quite possibly my favorite of them all. So yup, I recommend it to anyone around :) (however reader beware, there’s usually a lot of brutality in Mr. King’s books and this one is no exception).

See also
Chester’s Mill map (via Amazon)
The official site of the book
The “official” site of Chester’s Mill (a bit freaky, especially as it includes links to the site of Big Jim’s used cars dealership, the site of Chester’s Mill newspaper and the site of Sweetbriar Rose).

Written by the same author:
The Black House (with Peter Straub)

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Popularity: 17% [?]

(if you don’t know what the book’s about you might not want to read further as a major spoiler could follow)

Hailsham seems, at first, like a normal school. Sure, the personnel there does not consist of “teachers” but of “guardians”. Sure, the pupils there have very little contact with the outside world. And there is certainly a good deal of importance placed on developing the pupils creativity. Despite it all, the daily life is just as normal as one would think. Children are being taught, they interact with one another in ways more or less mature, they grow up and, once they reach sixteen, they leave. All seems natural enough… but there are also mentions of things that make the reader wonder just how ordinary the school is.

For example, all the students know that they can never have babies of their own. All students know that they must keep as healthy as possible, and smoking is so taboo that even the pages in the books mentioning it are being ripped out. Every now and then there are talks of having to make donations later on. All clues are pointing to one simple truth (unveiled one rainy day by one of the teachers): the students are not ordinary children. They are just clones that have been created in order to “donate” their organs later on.

But this surprise is not, in my eyes, the central point of the story. For me, everything focuses around the fact (easily forgettable by the people of that time, and understandable too under the circumstances) that these clones are people too. Although they have been brought to life with a specific purpose, and their path in life has already been traced for them, they’re just like everyone else: they argue, they fall in love, they enjoy reading books, etc. A truth that’s obvious to the reader, especially given that the story is narrated by “one of them”, but way less so to the society Kathy, Ruth and Tommy live in.

Here is a quote explaining precisely that (and also a quote that makes everything seem very possible, like it could actually happen the very moment the logistics and technology would be available):

Suddenly there were all these new possibilities laid before us, all these ways to cure so many previously incurable conditions. This was what the world noticed the most, wanted the most. And for a long time, people preferred to believe these organs appeared from nowhere, or at most that they grew in a kind of vacuum. Yes, there were arguments. But by the time people became concerned about… about students, by the time they came to consider just how you were reared, whether you should have been brought into existence at all, well by then it was too late. There was no way to reverse the process. How can you ask a world that has come to regard cancer as curable, how can you ask such a world to put away that cure, to go back to the dark days? There was no going back. However uncomfortable people were about your existence, their overwhelming concern was that their own children, their spouses, their parents, their friends, did not die from cancer, motor neurone disease, heart disease. So for a long time you were kept in the shadows, and people did their best not to think about you. And if they did, they tried to convince themselves you weren’t really like us. That you were less than human, so it didn’t matter.

(I know that cloning people is theoretically possible even today, but right now the moral part is prevalent and the process is forbidden in most countries. And yet I can only too easily imagine how the morals would have to take a step back once it may be discovered that this would be the way to cure cancer, for example. Luckily for everyone involved, as far as I know efforts are being made to grow organs in labs, out of stem cells, so theoretically the need for creating a “whole human” would not exist, ever. Only the future will tell, though, if that is the case or not).

Another issue that got me thinking (and as I write this I have yet to decide what my feelings are on the matter) is whether these children-clones should be told or not about what is in store for them. Should things be kept hidden from them, should they think themselves normal and should they be allowed to have plans for the future? Or should all their little ambitions be nipped in the bud, and the harsh reality fully exposed to them? Hailsham’s head guardian has one way of looking at things, Kathy and Tommy have another. And I… I have no idea who to agree with. Or better yet, who not to agree with as I currently tend to think both sides are as correct as possible, given the circumstances.

As a final consideration, the world the author has created is, towards our characters and their peers, harsh and cruel. A world where twenty-something year olds have to die in order for other people to enjoy longer life. Frightening. But also a world where people no longer die from, say, heart disease (one of the leading causes of death these days). Two sides of the same coin, and there cannot be one without the other. I do hope that there won’t ever be such cases in real life, that we will never “create” people like that, and yet I am lured by the benefits too. It all boils down to the person whose shoes I’m putting myself in whenever I try to decide which option is best. Yay for lab-created organs is all I’ll say.

What I liked most: The way the Hailsham students were told about who they are. show spoiler

I found the last few phrases particularly moving too:
show spoiler

What I liked least: Nothing. It was great.

Recommend it to? Anyone. It saddened me while reading (and a bit after), but that is a sign of how good a book it is.


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Popularity: 36% [?]

The book is an example of what I call “light SciFi”: everything happens in the future and the technology is very advanced — there are many things that are taken for granted by people living in that time (and our narrator, Douglas Hall, among them), and yet it isn’t hard for the reader to “get” what the new things are and what do they do. Usually the names are very descriptive (such as “simulectronics”, a combination of simulation and electronics, “staticstrip”, a strip of normal, non-moving sidewalk, as opposed to the “pedistrips” that moved along, carrying people at various speeds), and sometimes there are explanations in a few words (such as when the way laser intensity affects people is explained). Because of this I could easily get into the book and the world it depicted, despite its differences from my own world — and, predictably enough, I loved that.

The characters are very few and quite underdeveloped (and none of them except the narrator gets enough “screen time” for the reader to get to know them and/or get to care for them) — and yet this doesn’t make the book less interesting. Once, because of the plot and the mystery surrounding Hall, but also because of the questions it makes arise in the mind of the reader. For example, the professor was very attached to what he called “his little people”, and we also get some insight into the mind of one of the simulated characters (a special one, cursed with the knowledge that he was nothing but bits of information and electric impulses). It makes the reader wonder — what actually makes a person real? Can a simulated person be called a person? Does a simulated person have a soul? Are their feelings any less important because they don’t actually exist? And more such questions, because all the people in the simulated environment do not realize (with very few exceptions) that they are not real people, that their reality is not a reality. It is perhaps a perfect example to illustrate the relativity of everything and its dependence on the observer: a simulated person is real in the eyes of another resident of the same reality; and it’s just a simulation, no more serious than a plaything in Hall’s and his colleagues’ eyes.

A simile that I liked:

[...] she seemed like a fragile Dresden that might crumble beneath the feathery assault of moonlight.

As a last thought — the book was written in 1964; I wonder what would the author (dead in ‘76) think about The Sims (every bit the immaterial beings in the immaterial world that he has envisioned all these years ago; sure, they don’t have consciousness as of yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that time would also come).

What I liked most: A large part of the book consists of Hall’s ruminations as he tries to make sense of what is happening around him. I very much liked the fact that he was open to all possibilities, including the somewhat lesser plausible one, that is was his mind playing games with him and that he had just imagined Lynch and and all the rest. I am trying to decide whether I would have done the same in his stead — would I be certain I had seen something or would I trust the rest — but so far I have reached no conclusion. Nevertheless this detail added depth to the character (and interestingness to the book, because, after all, one couldn’t not ask himself now and then, what if it’s all in his head?)

What I liked least: I have yet to decide whether that’s a touch of genius on the part of the author or just sort of a slip (lately I tend towards the former): at one point Hall sees the daughter of the dead professor almost crying for her loss, and he wonders why, since in this day and age the technology has made it very easy for one to be certain that one person has really died so there’s no need for wakes and funerals. First of all, I don’t very much understand what is the connection (why should there be a connection) between mourning a loss and an actual funeral. I tried hard to understand what the author wanted to say by this paragraph and ended up with two possibilities: either he wanted to make crying for a lost father seem suspicious, and this was the best way he knew how (in which case, booo!!), or it was a very subtle hint at things to come show spoiler

Recommend it to? Anyone (but, of course, SciFi fans most of all). I am not particularly fond of SciFi but I have seen The Thirteenth Floor a while ago, and, as it’s inspired by this book, it made me curious about it too and I haven’t regretted it :)


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Popularity: 14% [?]

In a time where there are very few animals left, their value increases tremendously. They become a symbol of social status and morality (“You know how people are about not taking care of an animal; they consider it immoral and anti-empathic.“). Every person is proud to have and care for at least one animal, however small. People who cannot afford one (such as Rick and his wife since their sheep died) try to make do with electrical replacements, looking realistic enough to fool one’s neighbors (Rick is the not so very happy owner of an electric sheep). In this context the title suddenly becomes a lot more clear (I’ve been wondering about it since I first read there’s a book with this title, ages ago): in a world where caring for an animal means the ability to have good feelings, to care for the others — do androids dream to have an animal? Do they have empathy? Do they care about living things around them? After reading the book, the answer is an obvious no. Rick Deckard seems to think otherwise though (and the same goes for the other main character, J.R. Isidore, a man who befriends some androids out of sheer loneliness).

Another predominant concept featured in the book is that of Mercerism, a religious movement based on the life story of Wilbur Mercer. In short, he was a guy who had the power to revive animals; however that was deemed illegal so when he was caught his brain was treated with a chemical that was supposed to annihilate the part of Wilbur’s brain controlling his special ability. As a result, he felt he ended up in a world filled with dead animals and decay, a world that he tries to escape by climbing a mountain hill. It’s mostly this difficult ascent that his followers are trying to participate in via an empathy box — an electrical contraption with a screen and two handles that when touched put the person touching them in “mental fusion” with Mercer and the rest of the people grabbing the handles of their empathy boxes at the same time. This way, people can share their experiences, feeling others’ joys and pains while making their own felt by others too. I didn’t exactly get what happened when Mercer reached the actual top of the hill he was climbing (did he die?), but whatever it was made the cycle start all over again, forever (I imagine it much like Sisyphus and his stone). Although I found the story to be somewhat vague and hazy, I did like very much its effect on people — they became better, more ready to share, more caring with the helpless (see Mr. Isidore and his spider), so in a way I think that if that empathy box were actually invented the world would actually become a better place.

Since I am mentioning new and interesting concepts, this review would not be complete without the item that fascinated me the most, the “mood organ” (a device that could induce a person various moods, such as the desire to watch TV no matter what’s on or (my “favorite”) “pleased acknowledgement of husband’s superior wisdom in all matters”. While it had many positive emotions to offer, it also had negative ones available (such as a deep, dark depression), making me wonder why that was. Sure, Rick’s wife has found an occasion for using the depressive setting, but nevertheless I would have expected such device to be positive only (you know, like pills in our world, there aren’t any pills to make one miserable while there are plenty of happy alternatives).

In the end, perhaps I should talk a bit about the characters too. I liked Mr. Isidore, the “special” person (he had an IQ too low for him to be allowed to reproduce or leave the planet), because he was, simply put, a nice guy. Not very bright, of course, and quite shy, but he was essentially nice and I liked reading about him. Rick Deckard, having a higher IQ, is a lot more complicated. He is mostly seen struggling with the way he sees the world as opposed to the way he thinks the world should be seen. His empathy levels are good enough for me to like him though (although I do disapprove of him in one particular instance) and I rooted for him throughout the book (although rooted is perhaps a term badly matched to the level of dark moods this book has). I also found interesting the other bounty hunter (Phil Resch) because of his behaviour when confronted to the fact that he might be an android too (the very symbol of what he despised) and for the fact that it seemed to me that his purpose in the book was to represent normality itself as a reference for comparison for Rick (as in Peter was the way every bounty hunter should be; Rick was looking at him and sometimes longed to be the same, because it felt right).

What I liked most: The way the people in the new world related to animals, hands down. The fact that in that world animal cruelty has been eradicated because everyone empathized with all living creatures. Did I mention that I’d really like for the empathy box to be actually invented?

World War Terminus was quite a cool term too. Oh, and the idea of kipple (debris left behind by people moving out, quietly multiplying until taking over whole buildings) was also interesting. I wonder where does the name come from.

What I liked least: Possible spoiler: at one time Mercer appears in front of Rick and tells him something he couldn’t possibly have known. To me it seemed an impossible feat (as I saw Mercer, a religious leader in a story of long ago, as existing only in his followers’ minds not outside them) that sort of detracted from my reading pleasure (although interestingly enough I had no issues whatsoever with rocks flying out of empathy boxes when their users shared Mercer’s ascent as his enemies chased him with rocks).

Recommend it to? SciFi fans, of course. All the rest of the world too since it’s one of the classics.

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Popularity: 21% [?]

Ever since the first few lines Tally reminded me of Bella in Breaking Dawn: too strong and too close to supernatural for me to identify with/relate to her anymore (just think about it, spectacularly enhanced senses, improved speed, ceramic unbreakable bones and… internal software? really??). Add to that the fact that her mind has been messed with again and you’ll probably guess that I didn’t “click” with Tally, nor cared too much about her for most of the book. Actually, the only main character I did like and whose future I was quite interested in was Zane — I found him to be quite the hero, fighting to overcome his disabilities (and truly despised Tally seeing her reaction towards him). As such, I was very sorry that he got so little “screen time” (since the storyline is following Tally around not him; but I would have loved to know a lot more).

Speaking of Tally and Zane, I think that one of the book’s greatest faults is the lack of a plausible struggle. Tally is way too strong now for any of her difficulties to be truly believable (she does have some moral dilemmas but either the author didn’t insist on them or I did not care, but they never touched me the way the first book did). Zane on the other hand, is at a difficult time in his life, trying hard to escape the city despite his vulnerability, dreaming of “repairing” Tally and not giving her up despite the awful way she treats him.

There are still some common plot lines between the three books, but less with this one than in the previous two. For example, the intrigue: in the first two books, Tally starts out passionately wanting to belong to a superior group, and everything she does later is based on it; in this one Tally is already part of a powerful clique, but she starts out by wanting Zane to be a part of it too (and mostly everything she does later is based on it). As in the first book, Tally goes out to find Smoke, ready to betray everyone so that she’ll get the operation she so much wants (in Uglies, her becoming pretty, in this one, Zane’s becoming a Special). But, as in all three books, Tally is changed by the very fact of her being alone in the wild; and yet she ends up to blame for the bad things that happen to the new Smoke yet again.

Which is probably why I liked the books less and less — the first one surprised me in a good way, because mostly everything there was unexpected, and Tally was at her most “relatable” point back then (prior to having any operations). The second book was a lot less surprising since many of the events were “recycled” from the first book — but I could still relate with some of what Tally was going through. While admittedly this book was less predictable than the rest, the fact that I didn’t care about Tally didn’t help at all. At this point I am fairly certain I will probably never read the fourth book, Extras, especially as it seems that the old characters and issues have been replaced with new ones (a fact that, to be honest, can be both a blessing and a curse — and yet I am so not curious about it these days).

What I liked most: The fact that the author has taken into account putting in place some sort of coercive measure so that people won’t end up like the Rusties, destroying everything else around them. I would have worried about it (or rather laughed at him for not thinking of it) if he hadn’t, and so I was happy to find out that he did (though I do doubt the efficacy of the measure).

What I liked least: Icy !!! What’s wrong with these people and repeating words?? If the second book left me with a dread for hearing the words “bubbly” and “bogus” ever again, almost the very same thing happens here with the words “icy” and “random” (mostly “keeping focused” is “staying icy”, just like “staying bubbly” before; and “that’s so random” whenever something unpleasant happens, just like something being “so bogus” in the previous book). Ugh. Oh, and I wasn’t particularly happy with all the talk about people cutting themselves either :|

Recommend it to? Anyone who read the first two books and is curious about what happens next :)

This book is a sequel to:
Uglies
Pretties

Written by the same author:
The Secret Hour
Touching Darkness
Blue Noon

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Popularity: 14% [?]

For some reason I liked Tally a bit less in this book, perhaps because she spent a part of it being a vain shallow-minded creature, or at least pretending to be one. Her adventures seemed to me a bit toned down too (or maybe I was under the wrong impression since I simply cared less about what happened to her and what troubles she got into). Zane on the other hand seemed to me quite a promising character, and I was sorry to see him missing from quite a good chunk of the book (he is sent to the background about the very time the real adventures started). David puts up a very short appearance here, but I liked the maturity that he shows on that occasion (Zane too for that matter). As for Shay, I am not very happy with the direction the author has chosen to make her develop, as she has become a spiteful thing, a far cry from the person I took her for previously.

The social issues that have been fleetingly touched in the first book return to haunt Tally (and the reader too). Dr. Cable explains to her that what is done to the people when they turn sixteen is done for their own good, and for the good of the society, because this way everyone can be held under control so they cannot affect the environment as much as the Rusties did. Sure, Dr. Cable may have been painting all in a more beautiful light than it actually was, but it sort of convinced me that the whole Special Circumstances thing was actually an organization that fought for the greater good. Even Tally, a firm advocate of one’s right to choose for oneself, ends up having some doubts after seeing a village of “pre-Rusties” and the thirst for blood and revenge they seemed to have ingrained in their very being. Might that happen to the pretties (and uglies) that have decided to live outside the cities? Tally doesn’t know (and neither will I until I’ll read the rest of the books :) ).

I couldn’t help noticing that in some respects this book’s plot was quite similar with the first. Tally starts out wanting to be in a group she’s not; she then finds out there is another world, another way of living, out there; next, she falls in love with a guy who’s fascinated by her courage and adventures; she has an argument with Shay; her actions negatively affect (more indirectly this time) people in the free city, and she feels very guilty about it; last but not least, she ends up scheduled for surgery, a surgery that’s supposed to change her life completely. Hum. I would be mightily amused if the plot of the third book will turn out to have one or more of these elements too :)

As a less than relevant tidbit, I am a bit turned off by the book cover. Not only because the people there lack the huge eyes that pretties are supposed to have, but most of all because the guy is nothing like Zane is supposed to look like (beautiful, gaunt, with dark hair and noticeable cheekbones). Oh well.

What I liked most: I was amused by the details like the physical changes some of the pretties did to themselves (although I have my doubts that a moving swirling tatoo, or having a third eye tattooed, would actually look good). My favorite change was the one Shay got, tiny clocks around her pupils, and going backwards too (not that I can imagine it look anything but creepy but I still find it a cool idea). Also, Zane’s very own scale for measuring prettiness: in mili-Helens (one Helen being enough beauty to launch precisely one ship :) ). Oh, and all the dragon stories/dreams that Tally kept inventing/having — I found them to be very fit metaphors for everything Tally was going through at the time :)

What I liked least: All the “pretty talk” at the beginning. Many many pages of dialogue spoken by people who seemed to have a very limited vocabulary. There’s only so many times one can read a particular word on a given page, and these kids used “bubbly” (their word for anything good) or “bogus” (their word for anything bad) every few words. It became very tiring after a while (and alternately quite boring). Not to mention the fact that the author seemed to have wanted to invent his own version of newspeak, all the pretties using, instead of some words, expressions like “brain-missing” (stupid), “fashion-missing” (out of fashion), “sad-making” (saddening) and so on.

Recommend it to? Anyone who read and enjoyed the first book :)

This book is a sequel to:
Uglies

This book is followed by:
Specials

Written by the same author:
The Secret Hour
Touching Darkness
Blue Noon

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Popularity: 21% [?]

I did like all of the main characters. Tally, the one who has never known there was another world outside her own, but easily adapts when the need arises (perhaps a bit too easy? I cannot even begin to imagine how it must be to come from a life of having everything you might want at the tips of your fingers and end up living very much like people did centuries ago). Shay, the determined one, the fighter (and even the smarter one in my book given her ruminations on what does becoming beautiful entail; it can be argued, of course, that she’s had a lot more time than Tally did to get used to the idea). And David too, the legend, the exotic character that has never known what modern life, life inside a city, looks like.

I have found the author’s take on society quite interesting because of its let’s call it duality. On the outside, the pretties: beautiful people made so in the name of equality, in the name of mutual benefit. Parties, endless food, unlimited clothing, anyone has everything one might want. However, dig a bit deeper and dark secrets begin to appear: a Big Brother type of leadership, wanting to keep anyone under control. Making it all a lot more believable than it was while I was seeing only the outside layer :) (I may be cynical but I don’t quite believe in egalitarian societies simply because some people are always going to want to be “more equal” than the rest).

Were I to rate this book I have no idea how I would do it. I liked it and some of the ideas in it, of course, but I wasn’t smitten. Among other things it seemed to me a bit forced at times. For me Tally has adapted a bit too fast to the life “out there” — sure, she was a brave kid to begin with, but everything was very new to her (in an unpleasant way) and, given that she had a choice, I was surprised to see her choose the path she did (well, not exactly surprised since to be honest it all was quite predictable, but her motivations seemed to me to be a bit lacking). Not to mention the romance: as most heroines, Tally also finds love — but it too seemed a bit forced and a bit too fast coming for it to be truly believable (although I liked the fact that the author has taken the trouble to explain in detail the reasons why the guy fell for Tally). Nevertheless, were I to draw a line at the end, I would state, again, that I did like the book despite its shortcomings. It held me on the edge of my chair at some times and my heart filled with Tally’s distress at others — what more can anyone want from a book? :)

An (almost random) quote:

In the city, she’d owned lots of things — practically anything she wanted came out of the wall. But city things were disposable and replaceable, as interchangeable as the t-shirt, jacket, and skirt combination of dorm uniforms. Here, in the Smoke, objects grew old, carrying their histories with them in dings and scratches and tatters.

What I liked most: The whole idea of making everyone looking approximately the same so there’ll be no more discrimination on physical reasons. Extra points for taking into account all the “pre-programmed” stuff, such as having good skin makes people unconsciously think the owner is healthy, or having a certain set of eyes makes the owner seem vulnerable yet trustworthy and so on. Not to mention the whole idea of normal people seeing themselves as ugly because they kept comparing themselves with the beautiful ones and, of course, came up short (interesting because, among other things, it goes to show how relative the idea of beauty actually is; as stated in the book, in a world of only beautiful people no one is truly beautiful since everyone’s the same).

What I liked least: The ending!! I hate it when the authors do that — just stop whenever the action was getting even more interesting! I know the book was supposed to be a part of a trilogy but I would really have liked it a lot better if it made sense as a standalone book too (like Outlander for example, or Harry Potter) rather than this. It leaves me as a reader feeling very… unfulfilled.

Recommend it to? Anyone. It’s a fast read and quite interesting too.

See also
The Wikipedia article about a Twilight Zone episode that may have inspired the book

This book is followed by:
Pretties
Specials

Written by the same author:
The Secret Hour
Touching Darkness
Blue Noon

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