The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit. 
 WHAT!?! Let's read that again. 
 The early summer sky was the color of CAT VOMIT. 
 Despite of what you might think, this opening line to Scott Westerfeld's book Uglies works on so many levels. Authors are told time and again to write opening lines in their books that grabs and hooks the readers. The opening hook needs to also be about the story and address what the story is about. 
 (Psst, I just want to clarify things, this book is not about cat vomit). 
 So what does this line do? Let's take a look: 
 1. It is original. 
 Not many people can have this line, and for any other book I don't think it would even work. 
 2. Because it is original it hooks me. 
 I mean who has something like this as a first-line? No I don't usually read books with weird openings on purpose. But it is when they do have something out of the ordinary that makes me want to continue. 
 (A sky the color of cat vomit? Gross! I want to see where this is taking us.) 
 3. It tells you what the story is about. 
 Now as I said before this book is NOT about cat vomit. But this line does tell us what the book is about. It is about uglies. Cat vomit? Not pretty. (Trust me I know). Now Scott Westerfeld can't make the summer sky something pretty now, could he? ;) 
 Okay this topic is getting a little weird. Umm, time to write the review. 
 My Review: 
 So with a opening line such as that, I had very high expectations for this book. You know cool technology, interesting government, action pack adventure, characters so ugly but so compelling that they were pretty.... 
 Despite the great opening line, the grand opening scene, the great technology.... The book falls flat. Unfortunately it failed to meet my expectations. 
 I don't really know how to describe it. 
 Whenever the characters talked, for me it sounded like they are speaking in monotones. With no emotion. Actually it would have made a great dystopian where no one had emotions.... Except this is supposed to be a little different. 
 The relationships didn't have enough depth for me. And there was another instant love. Literally "I love you at first sight" kind of thing. 
 And the stakes just didn't feel high enough. So what if Tally wasn't going to be pretty. 
 I don't know.... Maybe I didn't feel like reading or something. Another thing is that I have never really been into my self-image, so I had a hard time relating to the characters. 
 But here is another favorite line from the book: "What you do, the way you think, makes you beautiful." 
 I believe that with my whole heart. 
 Plot: 
 Tally is ugly. 
 Tally is going to turn sixteen and become pretty. (Hooray!) 
 Tally makes a new friend name Shay. (yawn. Oops, sorry I like Shay, Shay is actually my favorite character.) 
 Shay runs away. 
 Tally can't become pretty unless she turns Shay in. (Oh no, really?) 
 The book was told in third person in Tally's point of view. 
 (P.S. Why does Tally call her parents by their first names?) 
 Content in Book: 
 Thankfully this book was really clean. Here are the only two things that I can remember: 
 1. Tally is naked once because she is taking a bath in the river. No one is with her and nothing is in detail. 
 2. The operation to become pretty is somewhat detailed. However everything is in context, nothing was ever shown just talked about. 
 Who I Would Recommend the Book to: 
 Dystopian lovers. People who likes books about self-worth and self-image. 
 Will I continue with the other books? 
 I don't know. Maybe if I get in a mood. But I don't know.