Specials by Scott Westerfeld
"It all comes down to one last choice: listen to that tiny, faint heartbeat, or carry out the mission she’s programmed to complete. Either way, Tally’s world will never be the same."
Here I go again ending another trilogy. Specials is the final installment of the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. I must admit that out of the three books, Specials is my favorite.
When we ended Pretties, Tally Youngblood is getting ready to be turned into a lethal Special. After the operation Tally is now a Cutter a branch of Special Circumstance that headed by Tally’s friend Shay. They are called cutters because unlike their pretty counterparts they have cunning speed, clarity, strength and focus, but sometimes in order to become even more in focus they inflict pain on their selves by cutting.
Their mission is to find the New Smoke and destroy it once and for all, but Tally can’t help but feel that there is something more to this mission.
Tally and Shay enlist Zane and a group of other Crims to run away to the New Smoke. Although Tally hates to feel the way she does, she can’t help but see Zane as weak and inferior. Zane and the other Crims have no desire to turn the New Smokes location over to Special Circumstances, but they may not have a choice with Tally and Shay following their every move.
When Tally finally makes it to the New Smoke, it isn’t what she was expecting at all. It isn’t like the Smoke at all. It is actually another city called Diego. But this city is nothing like the city she knows. Pretties and Uglies are interacting, there are variations to the pretties beauty that she has never seen, ranges in skin tone and hair color. They aren’t forced to have the operation, they get to choose, and they also get to choose what they want to look like.
Unfortunately events that Tally and Shay executed previously, leave Diego as a suspect for attacking an armory and Dr. Cable has started a war. Now Tally must clean up the mess she started, listen to what her heart is telling her, and save the New Smoke.
If you’ve read Uglies and Pretties, you will love Specials. Although if you haven’t read the two previous novels, you won’t understand much of what is happening in Specials. Specials was an exciting and provocative ending to the Uglies trilogy. It’s action-packed, full of suspense and awesome writing! Kudos to Scott Westerfeld for such an thought-provoking series!