Specials

This is a review on the audio book version of "Specials" performed brilliantly by Carine Montbertrand. I will assume that anyone reading this book has read the previous books in this series. If not than stop reading this review and go read them. The last we saw of Tally Youngblood, she had escaped pretty town and on her own made it to the New Smoke ready to reunite with her boyfriend Zane. Poor afflicted Zane, who took the cure with her and started to experience terrible headaches. At the Smoke, Tally is told by her old beau Ugly David that the cure pills were meant to be taken together (although in their directions they never said so!) and Zane got the Nanobytes that apparently lurved to snack on brain matter nonstop, while Tally got the pill that stopped those Nanos from that third trip to the buffet. Tally realizes that she has cured herself of pretty-mindedness. She is sort of like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix but without the leather outfit or Laurence Fishburne. Tally is soon revisited by her old friend Shay, who is now a Special by her own choice. Shay wants Tally to be Special too, and whisks her back to Pretty town for yet another operation. Specials are like the Men in Black from our society, you hear of them but never see them, yet you fear them anyway. They don't have the brain lesions, so they aren't airheads like the Pretties. Specials have all sorts of add-ons, for sight and stealth and strength. They have "skintennas" built in so they can talk to each other on a network, they can see in the dark, and have tattoos covering their bodies. They also have wolf like features and sharpened teeth, the better to eat you with my dear! Tally, as a special, is deadly beautiful. Along with Shay and the other Crims they are still cutting themselves to get the most excellent clarity, or to be "Icy" in special-speak. The Cutters are Dr. Cable's elite force. Tally wants to know why Zane isn't a Special also, and her and Shay go visit him in Pretty town, where she realizes that Zane's brain damage couldn't be fixed and he is a shaky mess. She still loves him, but her Special mind is turned off by his flaws. The only way he can become a Special is to pull off a serious trick and lead her and shay to the New Smoke. So they arrange for him to be freed, and follow him. The rest of the book is built around Tally and Shay causing havoc in a Military building, freeing Zane from his beacon, following him to the New Smoke and discovering a whole new town called Diego where surgeries to enhance oneself have gone awry and Tally has to choose between curing herself, and saving her town from War. These books, especially this third one, have dealt with so many issues albeit in a different way, that we all have to face. We all have found ourselves looking in the mirror and seeing how much we have changed, either by time or by circumstances. We all must either face those changes, accept them and grow or try to gain back what we have lost ignoring the futility

Tally has been forced into yet another cruel surgery. And now she is a Cutter (a new kind of Special with flash tattoos, super-fast reflexes, and wolf-like eyes). Tally can think more clearly than ever, but her memory has once again been altered. She now thinks of David and the rest of the Smokies as enemies, and she wants nothing more than to end the Smoke forever. Well there is one thing she wants more......Zane, now severely effected by the brain lesion nanos, is entirely weak. Tally can't even look at him and won't rest until he's a Cutter, too. Shay comes up with a plan to make Zane a Cutter, so that Tally will be happy, and the same plan will end the Smoke forever. What could be more perfect, right? Wrong. Their innocent plan evolves into something much bigger. Someone will die, many will question who they are, and the world will change, forever. Specials is a brilliant end to the Uglies trilogy. It had many of the same themes seen in the last books, along with a few new themes. The story of the Rusties, billions of people that died from a human-made virus, is told in both Pretties and Uglies. Few of the Rusties survived, all because they went too far environmentally. Specials increases the importance of this small theme from the last two books. It reminds us what happens when we take the environment for granted, and this is the base for the fabulous, unexpected ending to Specials and to the Uglies trilogy. I encourage everyone to read these books. They are wonderful and do not let you down.

I picked up Uglies on a whim one day and was immediately sucked into this original and thought-provoking series. Specials is the thrilling ending to my favorite sci-fi read since Ender's Game. Tally and Shay are fascinating characters who have grown and evolved in each book. You love them and you hate them in equal turns. In this story, we see them at their finest. They have to differentiate between what is really right and true and what they have been programmed to believe is right and true. The whole series explores cultural beliefs on beauty, self esteem, and control of the masses. This book brings Tally's world crashing into the world Outside, with amazing consequences. I was so annoyed with the whole Tally-David-Zane love triangle at the end of Pretties, and I'm so satisfied with the complex resolution to that in Specials. I love that this story is never predictable. Just when you're sure you know what will come next, something totally unexpected happens. And you get to see just a little bit more of Tally's futuristic world. Excellent conclusion to an excellent story. Here's to hoping for more after the trilogy.

This clever futuristic novel has brought my teenage mind into a new perspective of our world. I have always cared for the environment, but never quite will think the same way again. Not only this book but Uglies and Pretties have made me a reader, (which i never relly had done before Uglies). I love these books and encourage any reader to read them. These books are my all time favorites and I recommend them to everyone. All my friends are reading them now. As you follow Tally through adolescence the reader begins to notice the twists and turns of this ultimately imprisoned life. The third book (Specials) is an interesting way to keep thoughts and ideas flowing about the future, even if there isn't a fourth sequel. When you start reading you learn of the past life of Tally Youngblood, start to see her future, and you watch her struggles and recoveries as being special alters not only her once plain pretty body but her relationship with Zane and her once special enemies. The transformation in these books is incredible and again, I definitely recommend them. The reason I am writing a review is to say that Scott Westerfield is brilliant and that everyone should stop to think about the world's future not only in the novels but here on Earth... how much longer until all of us our considered stupid for destroying ourselves by the only people left?

'Tally- your special' Tally can still remember the haunting words of Shay's that have destroyed her life a pretty forever. Even the days when she was and Uglie- specials seemed like legendary figures, myths, something people talked about but never saw- Tally would never have guessed in her wildest-dreams that she would become one. And now she was. Being a special, bring a new and beautiful aspect to the life of Tally. She feels abnormal, everything she sees has a simple and somewhat- crystallic beauty to it. Everything shimmers with loveliness and grace and beauty- life is unreal now, that Tallys a special. Then Tally is given an offer- to stamp out the rebels of the New Smoke- once and for all- whether she does or whether she doesn't, darkness has crept into Tally's life- like a dangerous fume, like pure hatred from a bleeding heart. Whatever she chooses, Tally's life will never be the same now that she is a special. The third and final book to this amazing trilogy had a beautiful shade of darkness to it. The characters were well-developed, personality changes occured, and the readers grow close to Tally like a weed entwining a fern that had gone from pretty and bonny- to breathtakingly beautiful with a hardness to it. I have enjoyed reading Scott Westerfield's other books to the series: Uglies and then Pretties. The originality to both of them is wonderful and creative, and over-all adds up to a great teen read, that depicts an amazingly modern world- perhaps the future, for us humans.