Re-reading Extras, the fourth book in the Uglies series. I was disappointed when BookTubers who covered the original trilogy for the release of the movie skipped this book (some also glossed over Specials which is a travesty), because I think despite being literally an “extra” book it adds a lot to the world Westerfeld created.
One of the main reasons I wanted to re-read it however is how I remembered the futuristic glamour of this book when I read it as a kid and I realized now that several aspects of the “reputation economy” as it’s called here are an interesting prediction of YouTube and the influencer sphere. Some of the phrases he discussed like “wisdom of the crowd” have stuck with me for life!
(Also now that I’m more familiar with anime/manga tropes I wanted to look at it from that angle too)
The fact that Aya wants to be essentially a YouTuber, her brother’s moderately famous in the same way the Green brothers rose to prominence, and they discuss rage-bait without using any of those words is fascinating! YouTube would have just started in 2007, when this book was published, with several aspects regarding fame and monetization having not yet manifested in our world.
I think it’s also interesting some of the leads I spotted leading into Impostors.
I was somewhat disappointed when Impostors wrapped up that Aya and her friends never had a cameo of any kind as I think she would have been fairly easy to write in.
But Extras was critical in setting up Impostors. There’s a mention of “true AI” being illegal in reference to Moggle, Aya’s camera-bot. The sentient AIs are a huge part of Impostors especially in the series’ back half.
Not to ignore too how Extras was the first exploration of more serious aspects of the Mind-Rain and exploring the economy, return of religion, and other similar social phenomena.
I’m curious what else I’ll find as I keep reading. . .
