"Pretties", book 2 in the "Uglies" trilogy, is good but not great. Perhaps it suffers from being the middle book -- not as new and exciting as the first, and lacking a satisfying wrap-up. "Pretties" continues the story of rebel Tally, now officially a "pretty", but determined to fight being "pretty-minded" and follows her struggle to take back her life. The book is well-written, but certain key points are omitted or glossed over. For example, we never actually get a description of what Tally looks like as a "pretty", although we certainly knew what she looked like as an "ugly". The romance in "Pretties" seems a bit forced and sudden as well. I do like how we start getting more and more insight into the darkness underlying this society, and it's interesting to see how, in this future world, our own society's destructiveness is held up as a cautionary tale. All in all, "Pretties" is a good follow-up novel, and I'm eager to see how the author brings it all to a conclusion.