What is the Use of a Book Without Pictures of Conversations?

The fab Scott Westerfeld invites conversation on pictures at the Reader Girlz blog.

Like some people who commented, I found the pictures for his latest, Leviathan, helpful as I don't have the right sort of imagination for war machines. The illustrations made vivid scenes that might have been blurry to me without the help. On the other hand, his Uglies series was full of things I could picture -- though I wouldn't be surprised if I have hoverboards "wrong" -- and I could have even done without the cover pictures forcing faces on me.