The Luck Uglies
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15
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The first in a series with the makings of a modern classic, The Luck Uglies is an irresistible cross between Chris Colfer's Land of Stories series and Kelly Barnhill's The Girl Who Drank the Moon, overflowing with adventure, secrets, friendship, and magic. Rye O'Chanter has seen a lot of strange things happen in Village Drowning: Children are chased through the streets. Families are fined for breaking laws that don't even exist. Girls aren't allowed to read anymore, and certain books—books that hold secrets about Drowning's past—have been outlawed altogether. Now a terrifying encounter has eleven-year-old Rye convinced that the monstrous, supposedly extinct Bog Noblins have returned. Before the monsters disappeared, there was only one way to defeat them—the Luck Uglies. But the Luck Uglies have long since been exiled, and there's nobody left who can protect the village. As Rye dives into Drowning's maze of secrets, rules, and lies, she begins to question everything she's been told about the village's legend of outlaws and beasts . . . and what she'll discover is that it may take a villain to save them from the monsters. This critically acclaimed debut middle grade novel was named an ALA Notable Book and a New York Public Library Title for Reading and Sharing and won the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Speculative Fiction and a Sunshine State Young Readers Award.
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The Luck Uglies is the first book of a planned trilogy. Good thing too, because about 60% through the book, I realized that the world Riley (Rye) lived in was too big and interesting to have only one book. As a result, I had to look up whether the book was part of a series.
I also grew fond of Truitt, a boy around Rye's age who helps her with some of her more dire situations. I felt that he could be fleshed out a lot more and am looking forward to seeing more of him in the upcoming books. They could potentially form a very wonderful friendship.
Rye has two close friends already-Quinn and Folly. I have a small thing against main characters that already have close friends at the start of the story, but I can live with it. They weren't unlikeable. And they had strengths that Rye was lacking which made them useful to the plot.
There were one or two mysteries that Rye could have figured out earlier, but it didn't take away from how likeable her character was. She figured things out in time, which made the story move quickly. And the book did move quickly. I breezed through it compared to the last book I read which I couldn't wait to finish.
Around the climax, some scenes, or maybe it was the writing, felt a little awkward. I can't remember any specific examples so maybe they weren't that big of a deal.
This book also has several funny moments that made me chuckle.
The man nicknamed Harmless is so charismatic. His character design just adds to that charm.
And that cover art is my favorite style of art-soft colors, not too loud. There's more art inside the book at the beginning of each chapter.
