In Uglies, Scott Westerfeld imagines a nightmarish society where beauty is the only thing that matters. Tally Youngblood lives in a post-apocalyptic future world where teens, upon turning 16, receive a surgical procedure that makes them a "Pretty." Tally learns that the government nefariously uses these surgeries to brainwash its citizens to make them easier to control. Westerfeld's series also tells a coming-of-age story about a young female protagonist, much like The Hunger Games.