Extras (Uglies #4) by Scott Westerfeld : Book Review

Title: Extras
Series: Uglies #4
Author:  Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published Date: October 2nd 2007
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Dystopian, Science Fiction
Page Count:417
Format: Hardcover

My Rating: ★ ★ ★.5

Goodreads Summary: 
FameIt'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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 My Review:

 “You see, freedom has a way of destroying things.”

Originally my rating for this book was 4 stars. I have since change it to 3.5 stars because; this book isn’t as good as the other three books. I still enjoyed it, but it just didn’t hold my attention as much as the others did.

Having said that though, I did find the concept of how society was based on a social rating and how much people talked about you, meant you got more in life, this is fairly close to how things seem to be when you look at certain celebrities and what they are famous for.   

I did like Aya as a character. I found her to be really interesting, and she was adventurous for doing what she did. She does make questionable choices, but they did end up working out and made things better for the most part. I did get annoyed with her occasionally though, especially when she starting being manipulative with the Sly Girls in order to get a story. The Sly girls did get her back though, and showed her some things that ended up being useful later on.

I didn’t really care for the love interest though, and did end up finding him annoying, especially when it got time to resave the world and he just started causing more problems.

The main reason I didn’t care for this story as much, was because of how little Tally and her crew were in it. They didn’t get involved into way into the book. Personally I would have preferred for the story to be told from both Aya’s and Tally’s perspectives. So that we could have seen what that portion of the world had switched to, and still have gotten to see what Tally and David were up to and how they were keeping everything regulated.

I didn’t really find this book necessary though, and if you do plan to read the series, I would say you can skip this last one, and just leave things how they were at the end of the last book.

“I know what it’s like to be manipulated, Aya-la. And I know what it’s like to be in danger. While your city was building you mansions to live in, my friends and I have been protecting this planet. We’ve spilled more blood than you have flowing in your veins. So don’t try to make me feel guilty!" 

I am interested to see what Westerfelds other books are like, and I hope to read one this summer if possible.