Specials

I loved this book and thought it was the best of the trilogy. The excitement of Tally and Shay's destruction of the Armory, Tally helping to defend Diego from attack, and other scenes - written so well that I could almost feel the adrenaline pumping through my own veins. The feel and speed of the book had a cinematic quality. I imagine Westerfeld wrote in this style on purpose to capture the style of the Specials, just as the second book had an "airhead" style of writing. The vocabulary also reflects the subculture of the Specials with words such as icy, which indicates the state of being clear-headed. I was saddened by Zane's death and disappointed that Tally could not have had more of a good-bye with him before he died, but I did like show more that she was reunited with David. I'm rather split as to which boyfriend of hers I prefered, since Zane and David are both very different and compliment Tally in different ways. Fortunately, Westerfeld made that decision for me. show less

This is one of those cases where the star rating has little to do with the quality of the book/writing and everything to do with my reactions to the characters. I made it through the first two books because I was so curious about the fascinating world Westerfeld created. But I had to force myself to even finish this one, and it's all because I really, really loathed Tally. Her motivations and attitudes, her reactions and voice, everything just grated my nerves down to shreds. I wanted to reach into the book and throttle her. Which meant that I spent a lot of time rolling my eyes and grumbling under my breath as I read. I'm sure the people around me thought I was kind of crazy.

I found myself wishing that we could read this book from show more Shay's perspective because even when Shay acted stupidly I found myself sympathizing with her.

I didn't hate the story, there were even moments where I really wanted to know more about the cities and the social structures. And I wish I could feel differently about Tally, but I tried and it just wasn't happening. It's a testament to Westerfeld's writing that I might still read [b:Extras Uglies 4|493456|Extras (Uglies, #4)|Scott Westerfeld|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51eZ85LAZfL._SL75_.jpg|3315797], after thoroughly despising this book, just to see where the world goes now. show less

"Special Circumstances." Those words send shivers down the spine. Often thought of as a boogy man or merely rumors to scare young children into behaving. That is until Tally finds herself as one of them. Now as a Special she is fiercely beautiful, a superb fighting machine, ready to protect the city and all it stands for. The strength, the speed, the clarity of focus... yet why is she plagued by questions? Why this nagging doubt that not all is quite right? The doubts are easy to ignore until she's given the opportunity to stamp out the New Smoke once and for all. Now the question is does she listen to that tiny voice or carry out her mission as programed?

Specials is the third in the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. The story takes show more off and doesn't let go! It is action packed throughout and quite a wild ride. We rejoin Tally about a month after where book two leaves off. After becoming Special everything is more intense for Tally and that definitely comes through in the new descriptions. I have enjoyed how Westerfeld keeps giving us new insight into the world he has created simply by changing the tone of the writing through Tally's different stages.

Tally is really put through the wringer in this book. Physically, mentally, emotionally, she experiences it all. Her entire personality shift from Uglies to now is amazing, both at how she starts off acting as she is "supposed" to and then how her underlying personality fights to break through those barriers.

Some of the themes this time around take a disturbing turn. The idea behind the Cutters in particular is concerning and sometimes painful. Yet it remains fairly realistic in the depiction of the psychology behind the act.

While the ending is not exactly happy, there is hope. I found this to book to be a great read and good ending to the trilogy. show less

Tally is now a Cutter, a special Special - designed to hunt down and take out the New Smoke, wherever it may be. However, she still has some troubles. She needs Zane, her old boyfriend, to be Special like the Cutters (so named because they cut themselves to retain "icy" clarity from the overwhelming input their new bodies and senses give them). In order to convince Special Circumstances to turn Zane Special, she and Shay devise a plan, a tricky plan, one that will change not only their lives but the entire world.

I loved this book! It went along at the same fast-paced speed as Uglies: as fast as Tally's new hoverboard or as her reflexes as a Special. I couldn't put it down except when I was too tired to keep my eyes open. I wanted to show more know what was going to happen - was Zane going to be alright? Were Shay and Tally ever going to be reconciled? Were David and Tally ever going to be reconciled? What was going to happen to the New Smoke, to Tally's city, and to Diego (the city Tally eventually tracks old friends to)?

I highly recommend this series! It has so much going on - sci-fi, dystopian fiction, a social commentary, an environmental commentary, and the list goes on. And it does it all flawlessly, in a fast-paced, high-adrenaline story you can't stop until the last page is done. I've got the next book, Extras, on hold at the library and am eagerly waiting my turn with it. show less

Every time I picked up a new Uglies book, I wouldn't think that it could possibly be better than the last one. And then it would be. So perhaps by default because it is the last book in the series (sans Extras of course), Specials is definitely my favorite one. I have loved this series for such a long time, and it has always been my favorite dystopian world (yes, I love it even more than Divergent and The Hunger Games, which is saying a lot). It is just so intriguing, and so closely resembles the world we live in today (even back when I was in middle school and read this for the first time I could recognise that) that frankly, its a little terrifying. Scott Westerfeld writes it so well that I felt it would be almost natural to fall into show more this world and live as if nothing was wrong, but then you come out of your bubble and realise how messed up the world you live in is. I am grateful that the various movie deals it always seems to have never pull through, because then I would have to share this series and I just don't want to do that. show less

I have such mixed emotions about this book. It was originally supposed to be the final book in a trilogy, although there is now a fourth book in which Tally appears as a non-central character. So, even though this ended up not being the final book, it is really the final book in which Tally is forefront. Because of that, the ending felt a little unfinished for what was in essence the end of her story. But then again, those imperfect endings are a reality of life.

Tally was also a lot less likeable in this book. This is not because of a lack of character development, but rather the fact that her character has undergone some extreme changes within her story arc. Her character has changed so much across the course of the three books to show more date. In the first, she was an Ugly, full of humanity as we know it. In Pretties, she was changed into a Pretty and her personality changed with it. Even when things changed for her, her personality was never really as it had once been. And now, as a Special, she is nothing as she once was. Her humanity is almost entirely gone, more cyborg than human.

The plot was extremely action-packed and there were some fantastic twists and turns throughout the story. Like the other books, there was romance, but it wasn't the central focus of the plot. That is something that I generally appreciate, although even I hoped for a little more. But I suppose romance is difficult when one has virtually no humanity.

The one thing that drove me insane for most of the novels was some of the vernacular. Emotion words are changed a bit and the style was fairly annoying at first, until I realized the reasons for that linguistic twist. Emotions are expressed as "bubbly" or "happy-making" or "fear-making." Even among the Pretties, emotions are less inherent and more manufactured. There is a distance between the Pretties and truly feeling emotion and the language really supports that.

Despite my misgivings about the ending, it is still an engaging read. One of the things I love most about these novels is that the author doesn 't neatly tie everything up into happily ever afters. There might be happiness or resolutions, but they aren't complete. There is still failure, destruction, death, disappointment, and loss. Life never has a perfectly happy ending and the author isn't afraid of showing that. Bittersweet emotions are a fact of life.

My Recommendation: I love this series! I love that these books make you think about your own values and beliefs, about the world we live in. Such a great thing! I gave it 4.5 mugs! show less

Alright, the series is for YA, and I'm beyond that age group. I still found this book to be the best of the series, and shed a few tears and found myself vividly imagining the story as it went. I could almost see myself in the protagonist, and imagined that if I had been in the same situation I would have handled it just as her. Two specific scenes in the book had me seeing it in my minds eye in vivid details, a silent tear sliding down my cheek as I was overwhelmed by my own feelings, seeing myself in the situations.My secret shame: I said to someone who did something silly today that what they did was "brain-missing"