Uglies–by Scott Westerfield

Westerfield, Scott.  Uglies.  New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005.

When I was a teenager, I felt ugly; most of us do around that age, and you probably have too.  Rotten though it is, it’s normal.  We pretty much grow out of it or get over it eventually.  But it’s painful while it’s happening, right?  Wouldn’t it be perfect if we could just find a way to fix it?

Fast forward to the future: you can now get a surgery to become stunningly beautiful.  Everyone does it.  As soon as you turn 16, you get the surgery, become gorgeous, move to a new city where all your perfectly gorgeous friends live, and all you have to do is party and have fun all day.  Seriously, that’s all there is to it, no hidden tricks.  And everybody’s happy all the time, because there’s no uglyness or stupid stuff like that to stress them out.

But then your best friend decides she wants to run away and not have the surgery.  What the heck?  Who wants to stay ugly forever, on purpose?  She’s obviously an idiot, and it’s not your problem…until you get dragged to Special Circumstances and find out you won’t be allowed to turn Pretty until you find her and bring her back.  You can die ugly for all they care.

That is NOT acceptable, so you go off to find her.  Pretty simple job, really.  But what’s out there in the wilderness, anyway?  Guess you’re about to find out…

The Golden Compass–by Philip Pullman

Pullman, Philip.  The Golden Compass.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.

Picture this.  Like everyone else, you have a creature, called a daemon, that follows you around all the time, as your constant companion.  While you’re young, it can change into any kind of animal, and as you become an adult, it settles on a permanent form.  It is, as nearly as we have words for in this universe, your soul.  When someone comes between you and your soul…well, you get the picture.  It isn’t pretty.

Children are disappearing.  Your uncle is being held captive for some mysterious, and no doubt dangerous, cause.  Just when you’ve found a job in your dream home, you receive a rare magical object and instructions to keep it a secret.

Are you brave enough to jump into the void?