Specials by Scott Westerfeld

 Do not read this review unless you have already read both Uglies and Pretties or don't mind being spoiled. My review for Uglies is located here and my review for Pretties is here.

Synopsis (from the Waterstones Website)

Pages: 400
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release Date: 4th of March 2010


"Special Circumstances" - These words have sent chills down Tally's spine since her days as a rebellious Ugly. Back then Specials were a sinister rumour - frighteningly beautiful, dangerously strong, breathtakingly fast. Ordinary pretties might live their whole lives without meeting a Special. But Tally's never been ordinary...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: carry out the mission she's programmed to complete, or listen to that tiny, faint heartbeat telling her that something's wrong...Either way, Tally's world will never be the same.

What I Have to Say

 With every book I read of this series, I wait for the idea to become stretched and unbelievable, but Westerfeld keeps making it work.

I love  the way he's combined Tally the Special, Tally the Pretty and Tally the Ugly. In both of these later books he's managed to put the 'bubblehead' or predatory-cruel-pretty persona onto her without losing the voice of Tally that we grew to love in the first book. It's easy to believe that no matter how much they muck around in her head, she'll always be the same Tally underneath. It works so well because the different versions are so different but still leave room for the character underneath to peek through.

I really love this series and don't want it to end. It's just such a great dystopian world that he's created.

If you've not already taken my advice and read Uglies, please get hold of a copy and read. I hope that you'll fall in love with this world as much as I have. :) I'll probably reiterate this in my review of Extras later on ;)