Extras (Uglies) | Scott Westerfeld | Intriguing and Exciting!

Extras (Uglies) | Scott Westerfeld | Perfect addition

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Extras (Uglies)

	Extras (Uglies) Scott Westerfeld Simon Pulse, 2007 - 432 pages average customer review:based on 51 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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!

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Perfect addition

After the brain-missing book that was Specials I was hesitant to pick this book up. I'm really glad I did! I think Westerfeld made himself icy again. I'm kicking this book for sure. Special Tally was bogus, I liked this new cast.

Best part from the book that had me rolling: Frizz in the hovercar with the Cutters and Aya when they don't know he has the Radical Honesty surge. Hilarious stuff.

Not Extra at All

Scott Westerfeld has written yet another book; called Extras, in the Uglies trilogy (technically a series). A fantastic read for witty teenagers, Extras relates to present society's desire for fame.

This fiction book in the future is about a fifteen year old girl named Aya Fuse. The world has settled since Prettytime and is now run by the fame system. The more you're known, the better you live. Aya has an embarrassing face rank until she finds a story about a mysterious clique that attempts dangerous stunts. It's a story that could change everything. If able to kick it, Aya could go from nobody to the biggest somebody. However, nothing is really that easy. Aya must face obstacles and might discover that there's more to the story than what meets the eye. Danger... You'll have to read to see how Aya solves her problems. The story moves along and hits intriguing life lessons.

I would recommend this book to people who like adventure, suspense, heroic women, friendship, and a little tender romance. Westerfeld did a great job relating some of the events to today's society. He throws in events that you wouldn't expect to happen then leaves you hanging on wanting more. Before long, you can't put the book down. The friends stick together creating an inspiration to be a better person. I will assure you, Extras is not extra at all.

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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.

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