Recommendation Sunday finally makes another appearance.

Yes! Recommendation Sunday is finally making another appearance after, I think, two weeks. I know, your lives were not complete without it those weeks. But fear not! Because this week I am beginning a three part series recommending the works of the ubergenius Scott Westerfeld. This week I will discuss the Uglies trilogy, made up of Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras. (Yes, there is four and it's a trilogy. Don't question it.)

[description from B&N]

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

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This is actually my least favorite Westerfeld series, yet I still love this series. It's really smart and well-planned; there's a lot of thought put into the technology and slang and world-building. The planet is still Earth, but the world is post apocalyptic and now has hoverboards, wacky operations, and nasty SpagBol. (Read the books and you'll understand.) The characters are all delightfully flawed and although there isn't much of their past included, it's still easy to really "know" them. And the plot is exciting- evil Specials? Underground take-down-the-Specials operation? How could you not like that?

But one of the best parts: you can obsess over this series. There's plenty of discussion to be had regarding the operation and it's stupidosity. And everyone can debate over who is better: Zane or David. (DavidDavidDavid! Zane's fine, but David's better. He just is.) And hoverboards can be made, flash tatoos drawn, and cuts drawn as well. (Again, read the books and you will understand.) So much to obsess over, and this series is really good so it's deserves to be obsessed over.

So, um, yeah. Read them. And to anyone who has read them: David or Zane?