Pretties

“Getting dressed was always the hardest part of the afternoon.”

The opening line of the novel contrasts sharply with Tally’s previous life and establishes her as a new pretty. Her life has been stripped of all struggles, leaving her biggest concern her outfit for the evening. Tally has settled firmly into pretty life, the brain surgery having taken away her anxieties and memories.

“They all had to wear bungee jackets in case anyone broke through. No one ever did, of course, but the thought that at any moment the world could fall away with a sudden crack kept Tally drinking plenty of champagne. Zane, who was pretty much the leader of the Crims, got bored and tipped a whole bottle onto the ice. He said that alcohol had a lower freezing point than water, so it might send someone tumbling down into the fireworks.”

This description of a party foreshadows the trick that Tally and Zane pull after they have been cured. It discusses both the floating ice rink and the fact that alcohol freezes at a lower temperature than water, which the two later exploit to cause the rink to collapse and turn the Crims bubbly.

“Of course, the Smoke didn’t exist anymore, thanks to Tally and Special Circumstances.”

Pretty surgery has made Tally’s memories of what happened in Smoke during Uglies vague, but this thought alludes to her accidental betrayal. While the reader will not get a full description of what happened until after Tally’s thoughts have become clear, this moment highlights that Tally still carries guilt with her even after the suppression of her memories.