Specials

Specials by Scott Westerfeld

AgeLevel: 13+

Synopsis(From Amazon)

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. Ordinary pretties might live their whole lives without meeting a Special. But Tally's never been ordinary.

And now she's been turned into one of them: a superamped fighting machine, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid.

The strength, the speed, and the clarity and focus of her thinking feel better than anything Tally can remember. Most of the time. One tiny corner of her heart still remembers something more.

Still, it's easy to tune that out -- until Tally's offered a chance to stamp out the rebels of the New Smoke permanently. 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.

Review

Scott Westerfeld concludes his remarkable trilogy with his final installment, Specials. (Yes, I said TRILOGY. In my opinion, Extras was merely an after thought.) With Tally now a Special, she has even more power to change the course of events in her life and in the world. And she does.

Specials was even better than its two predecessors, Uglies and Pretties, though they too, were great. Westerfeld continues to do an excellent job developing his characters. Specials was action-packed and a thrilling book to read. You really start to understand why Special Circumstances do what they do. They really did start out with good intentions, but ended up getting carried away.

Specials even made me cry, and if you have read it before, then I'm sure you know which part. Throughout the series, you grow to love and sympathize with Tally, as it is hard not to when presented with such a realistic and genuine character.

Towards the end, there was a certain something that I wish hadn't happened, but I later realized was somewhat necessary. We can't all have a fairy tale ending. The last chapter tied everything together nicely and was the perfect ending to a phenomenal trilogy.

Anyone who takes the time to read between the lines of these books will realize that Westerfeld has delivered a very important and meaningful message to, we, the readers, and not just another entertaining story. I can't be sure if that was his intention or not, though I like to believe it was. I already understood the message, which is why I loved the ending so much, but I believe it is something you should be left to discover and understand on your own. Once you figure it out, it'll make you love his books even more. Or atleast it did with me. So, you'll just have to take my word and go read these books. Believe me, if you haven't read them yet, you are truly missing out on something great.

Grade

Characters: A

Writing: B+

Plot: A

Ending: A+

Cover: A

Recommendable: A+

Series: A+

Overall: A