When we last left Tally she valiantly volunteered to surrender herself to the Specials and undergo the process of becoming Pretty. See the big secret of the first book is that becoming Pretty is not just a physical thing, they also burn away bits of your brain that encourage free thought and independence.
So Tally being Pretty is Tally not being Tally anymore. A lot of Pretties is watching superficial Tally struggle against the feeling that something is wrong, that her world is off balance. It actually gets a lot darker than Uglies (yes, darker than people manipulating your brain to control the population and keep them subservient).
After the surgery Tally falls in with Shay and The Crims, a clique of Pretties who were pretty famous trouble-makers in their days. But leader Zane is a little ahead of the curve, maintaining the life style of pranking and daring dos in an effort to push beyond his own sense of wrongness.
Can Tally and Zane help each other cure their brain-damage? And if so, what will David, who still waits for her while rebuilding New Smoke, think of it?
Wrapped up in a surface of vapidness and silliness Pretties has some truly terrifying moments. Imagine your own brain working against you to keep you from being unique in anyway. Your body is perfect. Your friends are perfect. You can’t really mess up your job or life, because you’re totally indulged. You know something is very wrong with the world around you but you just can’t remember to care.
Pretties is a sneaky little dystopian book about all levels of betrayal and a handful of teens trying to survive it all.