Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Specials by Scott Westerfeld

2006. 372p. Paperback

This is the third book of the series that started with Uglies and Pretties.   So there are some spoilers up ahead for any who have not read the first two books.  (And if you haven’t, please do!)

In the third book, Tally Youngblood has been transformed again, this time to be a Special.  She is a human weapon, part of a team of young Specials that seek out the members of the New Smoke.  Her team includes Tally’s friend Shay, a friendship that is not without its strain due to past betrayals.

Things become complicated when Tally goes to extraordinary measures to ‘save’ Zane, her boyfriend who has not fully recovered from the brain damage he suffered in the events of the last book.

The nature of Westerfeld’s dystopian world and the story is very good , but what has me loving the series, and Specials, is the character of Tally.  And Tally the Special is the most fascinating and magnificent version of her yet.  The cruel beauty that she has acquired matches the fierceness that she has always displayed.

Though I was interested in what happened to Tally’s world and her friends, it was Tally’s destiny that had me flipping the pages to the end.  And I think that Westerfeld handled it just right.  Apparently there is an alternate ending to Specials, but I don’t want to know what it is, because the ending given is completely satisfactory to me.