Customer Reviews
Specials 
2008-05-21
There's got to be a great end to the highly commended Ugly trilogy - and it is Specials. In the finale, Tally becomes a special, of course. She finally gets flopped over to the government's side, and she's assigned to go and foil the New Smoke's plan. But yet again, she has to battle between her old, ugly, patriotic, self or the new re-wired Special brain that has taken her over. And without our hero, Zane, she would've been a bland Special all throughout the story. Zane, with brain-eating nanos inside of him, spices up the story by encouraging Tally to change; to turn herself back into the rebel that we love (or hate).
"--his whole body shivering like a littlie in the cold. And suddenly Tally could see inside him: his damaged nervous system, the corrupted connections between body and brain. She tried to blot the image from her mind, but it only grew clearer. She was designed to spot weaknesses, after all, to take advantage of the frailties and the flaws of randoms." -Excerpt from Specials.
As we sympathize with Zane throughout the story, we're urged to show Tally the real way of seeing the world. That's something that this novel can make us do. It causes us to really think about the characters, and really try to get them to think. Tally is one of the well-rounded characters, and that makes it hard for her to balance. And that's what readers need - a protagonist that needs help, that's self-conflicted, to make the book something to connect to. Like Pip, Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, and Guy Montag, facing the real fact and humanity is just something Tally has trouble doing.
What makes this novel really unique is how unexpected Tally can really be. Judging by Pretties and Uglies, we predict that Tally's going to be predictable; like squabbling with herself and her friends and breaking down from thinking about the overwhelming consequences of every choice she selects. But this time Tally does unpredictable things without thinking, and it shows that Tally is just a regular person. Not a Special, just a person with enormous society problems that aren't even a bit remorseful. In the end of the end, Westerfeld brings all things to a circle, finally bringing the troubles of Tally to a very special finale.
Irene, 7th Grader
A Special Book 2008-05-11
If you're looking for a romantic, cliché, smooth novel, then SPECIALS is not for you. However, if you are searching for a fast paced novel with adventure and twist and turns of every kind, I highly recommend this book. As the finale to the UGLIES trilogy, Westerfeld has truly outdone himself, in more ways than one. There's a quick pace with a helping of on-the-edge excitement that makes SPECIALS a good choice for almost any teenage/young adult reader. I say teenage/young adult reader because younger children would most likely be confused as to what is what in this futuristic society and older adults, though I am not counting them out entirely, might not understand the teenagers `petty' problems and reasons for taking the actions they do. To be blunt, to really enjoy the book, the reader must be able to fit themselves into the characters shoes. However, with a twist and turn around every chapter, once the reader has begun, it is impossible to stop.
The third book in the UGLIES trilogy is a grand conclusion to Tally's adventure. Unlike many series I've read, SPECIALS ends it with a bang, but not a terrible cliffhanger. As the story moves along, the reader will find it more and more suspenseful. I personally have found this to be a book you have to sit down and just read in one day, and its size makes that very possible. Another plus to this book is that the reader doesn't have to start at UGLIES and work their way up, the basic plot is explained for the most part. Finally, Westerfeld's imaginative land of beauty and perfection doesn't end at PRETTIES, but instead reveals a very fascinating side in SPECIALS.
However, I still found the book to be lacking very important pieces. As I found in UGLIES and PRETTIES, SPECIALS is also difficult to understand from time to time. The environment is very vivid and creative, but I don't believe Westerfeld's writing abilities capture its full potential. Even though there is obvious improvement, the action scenes along with some descriptive settings become confusing at times. There is also the beginning of the book. For a reader starting the book, the beginning may be fine, but if the reader is coming from PRETTIES then problems occur. There isn't a smooth transition from PRETTIES to SPECIALS at all. Yes, there was a large gap between UGLIES and PRETTIES, but the readers had background information on the pretties then and knew what was going on. As for the opening in SPECIALS, without more information on the specials, Tally and the others actions leave the reader questioning how they are able to do what they do and why they're doing it in the first place.
Overall, I enjoyed SPECIALS, but it wasn't the most spectacular novel I've read. Indeed, the ideas, creativity, imagery, and almost everything about the book astounded me and left me asking: How does he come up with this stuff? But, as I said though, his writing style didn't seem to fit the mood or flow. I did love the ending the most, but I probably shouldn't be commenting on that part. In my opinion, it's a good book for a rainy day, one the reader can read again and again and still find new things. Surprising, I usually prefer a fantasy/horror genre over the sci-fi/technologically-advanced stories, but SPECIALS was just... well... a special book.
Best of the three; interesting tech and good conclusion 2008-05-06
This is the third, and final, book in the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. I think that this book was the best of the series.
In this book Tally is a Special. She is part of a Special group that Shay leads called the Cutters. Zane is strangely absent in the beginning and Tally sometimes wonders about him but not as much as you would think. The Cutters are on a Special assignment to find out where all of the Pretty curing pills are coming from and eliminate the source of them. The Cutters (as the name suggests) cut themselves to stay "icy"; it helps them to see the world in perfect clarity. The Cutters are finding out that the Pretty cure is something that is much bigger than their own city.
Once again it was interesting how the Specials operation changed many aspects of Tally's personality. All of the neat abilities of the Specials were really fun to read about. This book was the fastest paced of the three; still a really fast and easy read. There was a ton interesting technology introduced in this book. I also think that a lot of the characters grew up some in this book.
This book was the most fun of the three books to read. It was also the most significant as far as discussing more worldly issues. I was still a little disappointed in how the author dumbed things down. I also though the final manifesto was a bit over the top, unnecessary, and cheesy; it was a very juvenile statement from a character who seemed older than that by the end of the book.
Overall this was a good conclusion to a mediocre series. This wasn't a bad series, but I don't think it really deserved all the acclaim that it got. There are other young adult sci-fi series out there that are more deserving of praise. There is now an additional book out to this series called Extras that deals with the same world but different characters. I don't think I will be reading Extraas; it bothers me when an author commits to a trilogy and then extends the series because of good sales.
An okay book 
2008-05-04
Unfortunately the library had this book available before the second book. :( However, I was able to "fill in the holes" as the story progressed, though it felt hard to connect with Tally's further metamorphosis from an ugly to a pretty to a Cutter, a *special* Special. Specials are basically the ones who keep order in Tally's city.
In this adventure, Shay (the Boss), Tally and other Cutters try to track down the Smokies who have infiltrated their city and passed on their "cure." Smokies are those who have runaway and live in the wild, refusing to undergo an operation at the age of 16 to become a pretty. A doctor from the Smoky society invented a pill to cure lesions found to cause the obedience and air-headedness of new pretties.
So Tally and Shay hunt down another group of runaways from their city, which includes Tally's (ex?) boyfriend Zane who was affected for the worse trying this new cure. Tally finds out where the New Smoky is - it seems somewhat out of the blue - and figuring for herself what it means to be "Tally" and a Cutter. Apparently cutting themselves (or burning) brings clarity and makes them "icy." (Sometimes the slang in these books is quite annoying...) This leads to a rather quick and action-packed climax.
The end of the book does leave possible books for other books set in this universe, which Westerfeld has indeed done, though Tally is not the main character.
At times this book felt too rushed, especially at the end.
SPECIALS: Amazing Book for Young Adults 
2008-04-18
This book was the perfect ending to a spectacular trilogy. The plot is so well crafted and there are twists and turns that you would never expect. Scott Westerfeld executes the story perfectly (again). The characters seem so real to you and you almost feel like you're there, cheering them on. This is one of those books where you just can't seem to make yourself put it down.
We are the Borg, you WILL be assimulated. 2008-07-19
"Special Circumstances"
The words have sent chills down Tally's spine since her days as a repellent, rebellious ugly. Back then Specials were a sinister rumor- frighteningly beautiful, dangerously strong, breathtakingly fast."
And Tally is now one of them; in fact she is a part of a special group called Cutters, the best of the Specials, the most dangerous, the most crazy in some cases... And she now has a new choice to make to stay the way she is: a fast, deadly fighting machine or to be just normal pretty again, even if it means undoing everything that's been done to her and everything she's been through.
This was actually recommended to me by my mom, who was told about it from a friend at work (yay for being a high school English teacher), and she lent it to me. I liked this whole series a lot and I'm looking forward to looking into the fourth book of the trilogy (even the author still calls it a trilogy) Extras.
daughter loves this series 2008-07-04
I haven't read these books but my 12 year old daughter loves them. Don't really understand, the series was a trilogy; uglies, pretties and specials but then there is a forth book called Extras. Of course my daughter loved that one too.
the completion of the cycle 2008-06-25
In "Specials", we see the final stage of the natural progression of the heroine Tally through the stages available to her: Ugly in the first novel, Pretty in the second, and now Special in the conclusion to the trilogy. Pretties undergo a mandatory surgery at 16 to become stunningly beautiful (albeit with an insidious side-effect). Specials are those Uglies and Pretties who have shown a predilection to live on the edge, and are thus recruited to become part of an elite force that ensures that the city is safe. Specials get their own surgery: their beauty becomes cruel, and their bodies become superhuman. Again, there is an insidious additional side effect to the Special surgery, which Tally discovers toward the end of the book.
Tally, as a Special, is tasked with finding the Smokies that have infiltrated her city and are sharing the secret of the true goal of the Pretty surgery. In the process, she discovers that her Special surgery has made her see Zane in an entirely different, and entirely unflattering, light: she can only focus on his weakness and how her new body is in every way superior to his. She decides that Zane must also become Special, and hatches a plan to convince the Special leader that Zane too deserves the distinction. Zane succeeds, but not without a high cost.
Throughout this book, we see Tally wrestle with her demons: her guilt over Zane's debilitating injuries from the previous novel, her guilt over the city's discovery of the New Smoke in the first novel, and her complex relationship with her best friend Shay that has unfolded and grown ever more messy in each novel. Her demons come together in unexpected ways. I don't think that it's fair to say that she wins the war with her demons, but they are dispensed in one way or another -- not always to Tally's benefit.
Westerfeld's Pretty dystopia is anything but pretty, and presents a captivating discussion about the nature of beauty and our desire to avoid conflict. He doesn't present a neat ending where everyone lives happily ever after. Specials is a satisfying ending to the trilogy.
Best of the three 2008-06-18
In the third installment of the "Uglies" series, Tally Youngblood has changed yet again. She's a Special, the elite police force of the city, imbued with super strength and speed, unbreakable and unbeatable. Perfect.
Yet Tally can't forget Zane, her boyfriend from her pre-special days, tragically damaged in his attempt to reverse the mind-dulling effects of becoming "Pretty"--damage Tally still blames herself for.
Now Tally is once again torn between allegiance to her best friend and fellow Special Shay, and feelings of love and responsibility for Zane.
This was probably my favorite (so far, anyway, since I haven't yet read "Extras") of the "Uglies" series. In the previous two books, I had a lot of trouble "bonding" with Tally and relating to the decisions she made. But the emotional climate in this book seemed much more plausible, and Westerfield's dialogue shines. My only complaint is that the action scenes were a little too complex--you almost needed to sketch a diagram to keep up.
Jacquelyn Sylvan, Author, Surviving Serendipity
This is an absoloute must-have 2008-05-23
I will begin by saying simply: this book took me by surprise, and I mean that in a very good way. The two books before it had been very good, yes, and I was expecting relatively the same quality out of this one. However, after I had finished the first few chapters, I knew that this book was (and ths might sound cheesy) different; and I'm quite serious about that. It literally took me by surprise, and its magnificent, extremely well-crafted ending left me not only in awe for a moment (because of its amazingness, in case you're wondering) but actually envious of Scott Westerfeld's writing talents. I would recommend this book to anyone and every one.
