Graphic Novel Review – Cutters (Uglies Graphic Novels, Book 2) by Scott Westerfeld, Devin Grayson, Steven Cummings (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Graphic Novel/Science Fiction
Size: 176 pages
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: December 4, 2012
ISBN: 978-0345527233
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Uglies graphic novel series
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

I read the original Uglies series by Westerfeld a long, long time ago. A couple years ago I picked up the first Uglies graphic novel and really enjoyed hearing Shay’s side of the story. I have had Cutters on my wishlist for a while and finally got my hands on it. It was a well done book and I enjoyed it. I think I would have enjoyed it even more if the series was a bit fresher in my head. I think you will probably need to read the original book series in order to grasp what is going on here.

This book starts right after Shay has been turned Pretty. She is puzzled by the loss of some memories and ends up struggling with the feeling that something isn’t right. She joins the Crims and they play harmless pranks on other Pretties…that is until Tally shows up Pretty as well. Tally has remembered something important and Shay needs to figure out how to remember her past as well.

Well done retelling of this story from Shay’s perspective. It’s honestly been a long time since I have read these books, so I had some trouble remembering who everyone was in the story and that really isn’t clarified very well in this book. It would have been nice to have a quick synopsis or a cast of who is who at the beginning of the book.

Additionally there is a lot of that bubbly slang, that sounds a bit like baby talk…this bugged me in the original book series too.

The illustration is done in a very manga sort of style and is all black and white. A lot of the characters look the same throughout, so it was a bit confusing sometimes trying to figure out who was doing what. Not my favorite for illustration, but okay. The costumes are well done and it was interesting to see how the characters looking different, but the same, as their Pretty versions of themselves.

I enjoyed seeing the story from Shay’s perspective and also enjoyed visiting this world again. The story lends itself well to this format. The story takes up from the time when Tally is first made pretty to when Tally leaves the city.

The format of the book is in general very manga-like but the book is read front to back like a traditional American book. The story wraps up at a good point.

Overall an okay graphic novel adaptation of the Pretties story from Shay’s POV. I would have liked a reminder as to who everyone is. Better illustration would have helped with this since many of the characters look similar. These graphic novels have been like companion novels to the original book series than stand alone stories. I would tentatively recommend this graphic novel series if you are a fan of Westerfeld’s Uglies series. Otherwise, I would skip this….these graphic novel books don’t stand on their own very well. I probably won’t be reading any more of them.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge