Specials by Scott Westerfeld

“Tally thought they were a rumour, but now she’s one of them. A Special. A super-amped fighting machine, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid.”

With classes and essays finally done for the semester I finally got a chance to read the third book in the Uglies series – the Specials. This book definitely lives up to my expectations based on the first two books, and made it very difficult to put it down.

Tally, Shay and some of the other members of the “Crims” from New Pretty Town became one of Dr. Cable’s new experiments. They became super-strong with basically no one to report to in terms of restrictions or boundaries. Their basic mission was to prevent runaways, like their previous selves, and destroy the New Smoke. One of the advantages of the “post-rusty” era was that there was virtually no conflict in the town, and no war between different cities. But when Shay and Tally go rogue, will they destroy the peace? What happens when someone very close to Tally dies? Will she change her rogue and unconventional attitudes?

Again, Westerfeld did not disappoint with this addition to the series. I love the front cover with Tally and her black eyes and lace tattoos. The eyes are particularly mysterious and bring the reader further into Tally’s world.

This book will appeal to young adults, even if they have not read the first two books in the series as Westerfeld briefly explains things that may be confusing if the reader did not read either Uglies or Pretties. Tally goes through stages that many young adults face, but to the extreme: fear of not being accepted, resisting authority, peer pressure, love/lust, the loss of a loved one, and the challenge between whether to do what is easiest or to do what is ethically right.

Read it!