Specials

Reader reviewed by Springhair

This is the third and final book in the Uglies series. Tally Youngblood has now become Special, and works with her friend Shay for special circumstances. When one of her other friends is stolen by the new smoke, Tally seeks out her old boyfriend, who has had parts of his brain eaten away but is a bit better now. Shay and Tally break into the Armory, the place where weapons are stored in case of another war, to help the crims escape. Shay wants to follow a tracker they found to the new smoke, but Tally wants to stay with the crims. When Tally gets to the city, she is scheduled for despecialization, but she escapes with the help of Shay. Shay and Tally then fight off an attack form their own city and Tally realizes she has to go the city to make everything right again. As I mentioned above, this is the last book in the series, and it really made me absolutely want another book. While I thought things were tied up pretty good, I still like the series enough to want another. If this was the first one you picked up, definitely pick up the rest of the series because it was really good. I recommend this to everyone.

Reader reviewed by Beth

The Specials is the third and final book in the Uglies Trilogy. In it, Tally is once again saving the city, but this time as a Special Circumstances agent. She has a new face and new beliefs about the Smokies-mainly that they are very dangerous and should be destroyed. Her friendship with Shay continues to be love/hate throughout most of the book, but by the end, Tally realizes who is really important in her life and what is important.

Good story, but I am still trying to decide if Scott Westerdfield (the author) had any sort of moral agenda or not. The book discussions issues such as cutting, believing that others should be treated badly because they are ugly, and acceptance of all people. Is it just a story, or should I be reading more into it? Over all, it was a great trilogy-the premise was just so different that anything else I have read and I am looking forward to reading other books by this author.

Reader reviewed by Natalie

Tally is now a cutter,a special group of special circumstances. they are feared because of their fast reflexes adn special senses. she has joined the people she has been fighting against. Her task is to find and destroy the new smokies, the people she has been trying to protect thoughout the trilogy. now she needst to get her brain damaged boyfriend to help her find new smokies, destroy it and finally be with him.
in trying to help her boyfriend out of new pretty town, she accidentaly starts a war against her town adn a new city, diego. now she has to stop the war and find a way to end what special circumstances has been doing, brainwashing people.
although i knew that book was going to end up that way, i felt disapointed because she does not endup with the person i wanted her to end up with.

Reader reviewed by Stephanie

At long last the final installment in Scott Westerfeld's immensely popular UGLIES trilogy is out. Tally Youngblood, the independent and strong-willed protagonist, has undergone more mental and physical changes than she can count. Now, for one last time, she will change again.

Tally has been a Cutter, a special division of Special Circumstances, for several months now. Cruelly beautiful with enhanced reflexes and easily triggered tempers, everyone fears the legendary Specials. Tally and her friend Shay want to subdue the New Smokies, who are spreading a cure to the bubbleheadedness. However, when one of their own is taken by the Smokies, Tally and Shay decide to go another avenue: they will help Zane, Tally's mentally damaged boyfriend, escape from New Pretty Town. Hopefully he will help the Cutters find the location of the New Smoke.

But Tally's feelings towards Zane conflict with her Special mental programming. And being in the wild is causing her overly sharp senses to calm down a little. What's more, it turns out that she and Shay have started a war between New Pretty Town and the New Smoke, a city called Diego. Tally must battle her Specials programming and learn to "think" for herself again before she can put a stop to this unnecessary war and the brain lesions.

The UGLIES trilogy will appeal to both boys and girls, and this fantastic conclusion really wraps up why Scott Westerfeld is such a brilliant writer. SPECIALS has action, emotion, love, and forgiveness, and the ending gives you hope. They are still out there.

Reader reviewed by linda

I loved this book! It was action-packed, exciting, and had a surprise ending that I loved. Tally is now a Cutter, with icy vision, super-fast reflexes and not much of a conscience. Her only plan is to get Zane made into a Cutter, but her plan backfires as she finds the New Smoke and realizes it's unstoppable. She turns out to be a bit wrong since Dr. Cable announces that they will wage war against the New Smoke. You would think that Tally would be happy now but seeing a real war like the ones that ended the period of the Rusties scares her into realizing what she is and what she must do.

Reader reviewed by Val

This book is the last booko sadly in a trilogy by Mr.Westerfield. In Specials Tally becomes a.. special. Readers of the ugly trilogy will be in shock as the story line progresses. People die, enemies become friends and most importantly readers will grow to understand that even if we tried to ever have a "perfect" "pretty" society it woudl never truly work because our minds are what make us unique and we will always have them.

Reader reviewed by Lauren

"Face it Tally-wa, your special."

Tally has been tunrned into a special. A fighting machine that keeps the world in order. She's offered the chance to close the New Smoke forever, but one problem. The new Smoke has joined with another city, making it stronger than ever.
Tally sees Zane, and is scared by him. The brain damaged has made him crippled. Tally was making an effort to save Zane, to make him special like her. To save Zane sparks a war between cities. As Zane and his friends runaway to the New Smoke in order for Tally to track him, he falls sick. Tally arrives in time to see him taken off life support and die.
Tally no longer wants to be special and worry abou this. She goes to the ruins where uglies would go and wait for David to take them to the smoke. There she found David, an ugly, but her first love, and found her beautiful even before she had the operation. She and Davd ran off together, and lived in the wild, away from the city, until things calmed down.