Specials Author: Scott Westerfeld | Language: English | ISBN:
B001LFDAIC | Format: PDF
Specials Description
"Special Circumstances": 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, in the third book in the series, Tally's been turned into a Special: 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.
- File Size: 1369 KB
- Print Length: 388 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1416917284
- Publisher: Simon Pulse; Reissue edition (June 20, 2008)
- Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
- Language: English
- ASIN: B001LFDAIC
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,614 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #7
in Books > Children's Books > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Family Life > New Experiences - #26
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Action & Adventure - #41
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure
- #7
in Books > Children's Books > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Family Life > New Experiences - #26
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Action & Adventure - #41
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure
Specials is the final book in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies trilogy (after Uglies and Pretties). In this installment, Tally wakes up from surgery and finds herself part of an ultra-cool team of Specials (bio-engineered, covert law enforcement personnel) called the Cutters. She has snazzy techno-features, like embedded computer chips, unbreakable ceramic bones, and razors that come out of her fingernails. She's the ultimate weapon.
It's a bit disturbing to read a book in which the heroine of the series has been essentially co-opted by the bad guys. Tally now works for Shay, her complex best friend, and is expected to find and betray the New Smokies (her friends of the first book). But she does maintain traces of her former self, and she is particularly motivated to find Zane (her now brain-damaged love from the second book), and convince Dr. Cable to transform Zane into a Special, too. However, when she does find Zane, she is revolted by his weakness, by his not being "special" like she is. She struggles with herself, knowing deep inside that she loves him, but programmed to see the world so keenly that his imperfections grate on her, and so sure of her own superiority that she can't really imagine being with him again.
A series of adventures follow, during which Tally and Shay pull a stunt that turns out to have disastrous consequences, and then set off on the trail of the New Smoke. Tally re-encounters David (her love from before she met Zane), and has to go up against the seemingly invincible Dr. Cable. The ending is satisfying in many ways, although the resolution of the Zane vs. David choice is a bit of an anti-climax.
Overall, I found it a fascinating story, full of unexpected twists, chases, and cool special effects.
This is a review on the audio book version of "Specials" performed brilliantly by Carine Montbertrand.
I will assume that anyone reading this book has read the previous books in this series. If not than stop reading this review and go read them. The last we saw of Tally Youngblood, she had escaped pretty town and on her own made it to the New Smoke ready to reunite with her boyfriend Zane. Poor afflicted Zane, who took the cure with her and started to experience terrible headaches. At the Smoke, Tally is told by her old beau Ugly David that the cure pills were meant to be taken together (although in their directions they never said so!) and Zane got the Nanobytes that apparently lurved to snack on brain matter nonstop, while Tally got the pill that stopped those Nanos from that third trip to the buffet. Tally realizes that she has cured herself of pretty-mindedness. She is sort of like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix but without the leather outfit or Laurence Fishburne.
Tally is soon revisited by her old friend Shay, who is now a Special by her own choice. Shay wants Tally to be Special too, and whisks her back to Pretty town for yet another operation. Specials are like the Men in Black from our society, you hear of them but never see them, yet you fear them anyway. They don't have the brain lesions, so they aren't airheads like the Pretties. Specials have all sorts of add-ons, for sight and stealth and strength. They have "skintennas" built in so they can talk to each other on a network, they can see in the dark, and have tattoos covering their bodies. They also have wolf like features and sharpened teeth, the better to eat you with my dear!
Tally, as a special, is deadly beautiful.
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