Aya is 15-years-old and lives in a society run on a ‘Reputation Economy’—where ‘tech-heads’ flaunt their latest gadgets, ‘surge(y)-monkeys’ show off their latest body-mod(ification)s, and ‘kickers’ broadcast stories of all and sundry via their ‘feeds’.

Aya’s elder brother Hiro is something of a celebrity, a ‘kicker’ whose stories propel him up the face-ranks till he has a chance of hitting the top thousand. But with a face-rank hovering around 450,000, Aya’s a nobody living in total obscurity, a pathetic Extra whom no-one has heard of. In order to improve her ranking and thereby get more than just plain fare from the ‘hole-in-the-wall’, Aya must find a great story to ‘kick’ and start getting noticed.

With her hovercam Moggle, she sets out to investigate a mysterious clique known as the Sly Girls, a very elusive group who gets into awesome escapades, like riding the speeding ‘mag-lev’ trains, a daring, dangerous and highly illegal prank. But while going undercover (the Sly Girls inexplicably have no desire for fame), Aya discovers a story even bigger and more mind-blowing. Will this story be the one to propel Aya from obscurity and provide her with her greatest desire—Fame?

But then things take a dangerous turn, and with alien-like beings pursuing her, her brother and her friends, Fame looks to Aya very much like a two-edged knife, not something she might enjoy even if she manages to stay alive.

In the trilogy Uglies, Pretties and Specials, Scott Westerfeld has created a world many generations into the future, where people are considered ‘uglies’ until they have one big operation to make them ‘pretties’ at the age of 16. Things other than physical appearance get changed, too, and when some decide not to undergo the operation, the regime is fundamentally threatened.

In Extras, set a few years after rebel Tally Youngblood took down the previous regime of Uglies, Pretties and Specials, Westerfeld gives us a world in flux, where rules have changed, roles are fluid, and not all is as it appears to be.

Like the books in the preceding trilogy, Extras features a strong female protagonist and is action-packed, with scenes that will make you wish you had a high-speed hoverboard of your own, not to mention a full hoverball rig and a Moggle-like hovercam as your constant companion. Aimed at the teenage crowd, Extras will certainly appeal to this age-group, but grown-ups too will enjoy the exciting, high-octane action, the futuristic gadgetry and perhaps even the eternal and inevitable teenage angst.

Highly recommended for teenage girls and boys.



Recommended: Yes