Name: Priscilla Stanfield's review of Specials by Scott Westerfeld
Item: Specials
Rating: 4
Author: Priscilla Stanfield

Scott Westerfeld

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, the clarity and focus of her thinking feels 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 to 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.

Specials

Sarah Broome

After being captured and surgically transformed into a "special," teenaged Tally Youngblood, now a government agent programmed to protect society from outside threats, is ordered to eliminate the rebel colony New Smoke, Tally's former home.

Priscilla Stanfield

Specials er tredje bind i Scott Westerfelds succesfulde serie, der har gået sin sejrsgang over det meste af verden og som netop nu er ved at blive filmatiseret af 20th century Fox. Særlige Omstændigheder har givet Tally kuldegysninger, lige siden hun var en frastødende, oprørsk Grim. Dengang Særlige Omstændigheder blot syntes at være et ondsindet rygte – skræmmende Smukke, unaturligt stærke og ekstremt hurtige. Nu er Tally selv blevet forvandlet til en af dem: en superudviklet kampmaskine udviklet til at holde Grimme nede, og Smukke dumme. Og den nyvundne styrke, hastigheden og det klare fokus føles bedre end noget, Tally kan huske. Det meste af tiden. Et lille hjørne af hendes hjerte kan stadig huske noget mere ... Hidtil er det dog lykkedes Tally at overdøve den snigende fornemmelse – til nu, hvor hun tilbydes en chance for at udrydde oprørerne i the New Smoke permanent. Hun stilles over for et sidste og endeligt valg: at lytte til det lille svage, tvivlende pulsslag eller udføre missionen, som hun er programmeret til. Endnu engang bliver Tallys loyalitet sat på prøve, og denne gang er indsatsen højere end nogensinde før – klodens fremtid står på spil. Uanset, hvad hun vælger, vil Tally aldrig blive den samme igen.

Sarah Sammis

Talia Dominguez 

Oh My God !! Im In Shock How People Alwayz Use Tally Like A Pawn Without Her Knowin! They Just Use Her Like Nothin!! Aside From That, Its A Cool Book !Well Even Tho I Kinda Took A Long Time To Read It, It Was Still Interesting ! /.\ :)

The third installment of Scott Westerfeld’s New York Times bestselling and award-winning Uglies series—a global phenomenon that started the dystopian trend. Tally thought they were a rumor, but now she’s one of them. A Special. A super-amped fighting machine, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid. But maybe being perfectly programmed with strength and focus isn’t better than anything she’s ever known. Tally still has memories of something else. Still, it’s easy to tune that out—until she’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.

Possibly my favorite of all 4 books so far :)

Isabel Nelson

My favourite in the series was uglies, and I must say this book was a bit of a let down. Tally wasn't really... Tally, surgery or not. I expected to see her fight through it more, but I'm just happy no one died...

Tally has been turned into a Special and is offered a chance to stamp out the rebels of the New Smoke permanently.

annie

Catherine Matheson

I really enjoyed uglies but found this pretty hard to finish. Most of the book feels like repeat story arches from uglies and pretties so was quite boring. Disappointing conclusion to the whole story too

Nina Koen

4.0☆ 

There is no way any other book has as many plot twists as this one. Unfortunately they all happen in the last 50/100 pages, making it super addictive once you get closer to the end. Otherwise it wasn't a very demanding read. I'd read it then would be able to pick it up after 2 days and immediately know what happened. 

There is no heavy romance or love interest which I enjoyed as it focuses more on the control in the city and the theme of freedom. 

I love the way there is a consistency in Tally's character. Tally is portrayed as a bit selfish. I think it shows that not everyone is this perfect person and selfless, which today relates to many people as we all aren't perfect and have our downfalls. She also doesn't  (mentally) have a major change which I both liked and disliked. Honestly I don't actually have a valid reason for liking/disliking it. 

Anyway, just my honest opinions and thoughts, not really a book review but I enjoy doing this.

Yulande Lindsay

I have to say that this third installment of the Uglies series was a bit of a disappointment for me. The character of Tally Youngblood had undergone such a drastic change and knowing it was the result of surgery she was forced to undergo didn't make it any easier to empathize with the character. I think the story would have benefitted greatly from multiple POVs in order to better balance this extreme characterisation. I found myself wanting the story to end, just end right now! I wasn't even able to work up the required sympathy when a pivotal character met their end. There was much potential here just not fulfilled.

Emma Motze

Eh, out of the other 3, this is the worst, I don't like how they ended up being turned again, I think at this point the series should have ended. To me, this book feels like a desperate way to continue the series

Bryanna M

2.5 why is Tally just so unlikeable in every book lol

"Special Circcumstances"… the words have sent chills down Tally's spine since her days as a repellent, rebellious Ugly. Back then, the Specials were a sinister rumour - frighteningly beautiful, dangerously strong, and breathtakingly fast. And now Tally's become one of them: a super-amped fighting machine, engineered to keep the Uglies down and the Pretties stupid. But one tiny corner of Tally's heart still remembers something different. When she is ordered to stamp out the rebels of the New Smoke, she is forced to make one last choice: carry out the mission she's been programmed to complete, or listen to that faint yet persistent heartbeat telling her that something's wrong…

Eleanor Luhar

Now I've got just one more Uglies book to go!

If you've read any of these books, then you'll probably know that the title of this book is referencing Special Circumstances - a terrifying, elite group of pretties. After Shay turned up at the end of the last novel, things with Special Circumstances get rather interesting...

The tables have turned and Shay and Tally are working with Special Circumstances to bring down the New Smoke - along with David. But the New Smoke is far more advanced than they ever expected, and someone among their group has been planning to help develop a cure for Specials all along.

Dr Cable, the leader of the Specials, has big things in mind. In fact, she decides to start a war with Diego - the New Smoke. The first war since the Rusty days.

Tally's boyfriend, Zane, is suffering the aftereffects of the cure he tested. Can the New Smoke help him? Is it worth the risk?

Again, Scott Westerfeld writes exactly like Tally would (I imagine, anyway) which can actually get kind of annoying as Tally is rather shallow at times. Yeah, this is due to all the mental meddling the city does, but it still gets on my nerves occasionally. And I understand that Tally isn't the same now that she is a Special, but I feel like she should have had a more emotional reaction after what happens with Zane in Diego. (I'm trying not to spoil anything!)

Also, the war just kind of... sizzles out. It seems so anti-climatic to me. The first war in centuries, and it just kind of... ends.

This series is really easy to read and is actually pretty exciting. I do enjoy it more than I really expected to. But it isn't overly Special (hah! See what I did there?) and each book just seems to have a new element thrown in on top of everything else. I don't know, I guess this series just doesn't quite do anything for me. But I do like it, so I think I'll give it 3.5 stars.

Olivera Mitić

So, first of all, here is a quick review: 

Plot- it was rather interesting and there were some really action packed parts. On the other hand, I did not support some decisions made by Tally (even though I did understand them). It could have been much better. 3/5
Characters- Tally has a totally new personality (which is always cool reading about), Shay is super crazy once again, David is a bae (even though there were AGAIN only few scenes featuring him) 4/5 
Romance- I guess the romance was there? Well, it certainly wasn't the main theme of the book and it didn't really go the way I thought it will. 3/5
Writing- amazing once again (even with the annoying pretty talk.) 5/5
The ending- as the final book in the series (I am not counting Extras into this), the end was more or less satisfying. 3,5/5

I do believe that I don't have to go into details here because I said almost everything. But, I would like to give my opinion about Tally's decision to (view spoiler)[ stay a special. As I earlier mentioned, I did understand why she wanted to do that. She was sick of people messing with her brain for the third time now, but I really believed that she would want to return to her old self and to her old looks. She was cured, she got control over her brain back, but I think that she didn't understand that being an ugly isn't ugly. That it's human and that there is really nothing wrong with that. But did the message of this story get through to her? I didn't get the feeling like it did and that for sure is my main issue with this book.  (hide spoiler)]

That's it people. Thanks for reading!

Magdalene Lim

Interesting but unnecessary towards the end. I felt as thought I was reading a whiny account of a teenager who thinks the world is about her, which I guess was what the Shay said Tally was like.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I bought this book. Support your authors!
 
Book Series: Uglies Book 3
 
Rating: 5/5
 
Publication Date: May 6, 2006
 
Genre: YA Dystopian
 
Recommended Age: 14+ (violence, some gore, fighting the government, TW: cutting)
 
Publisher: Simon Pulse
 
Pages: 384
 
Amazon Link
 
Synopsis: "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 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: This was the first book in the series that scared me lol. Tally is so fierce and scary! I loved the character though, the continued development of all the characters is so good. I love how the story developed and I thought the writing was fantastic yet again.
 
However, I do feel like the book could have been a bit longer. The ending felt rushed and I didn’t understand why Tally made the choice she did at first. I also feel that the cutting was, yet again metaphorical, but can still be scarring and damaging to younger children.
 
Verdict: I still love this series.

Tannie Davidson

*spoiler*










hated that Zane had to die

"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.

(#1) Uglies ★★★☆☆
(#2) Pretties ★★★☆☆
(#3) Specials ★★☆☆☆
(#4) Extras ★★☆☆☆


I don't remember how I felt about this book the first time around but frankly this time it was a complete bore. Which honestly is really disappointing because I love the entire concept of Special Circumstances.



  
    “ I love you all. But it's time to say good-bye, for now. 
be careful with the world, or the next time we meet, it might get ugly.” 
  



Long story short, I loved the IDEA of this book but it just wasn't executed. 

The pacing was incredibly slow and monotonous. There is just way too much focus on the romance in this book, which honestly didn't really do anything for me either. There is just way too much of the bitchiness between Tally and Shay. If it bugged you in previous books, it'll well and truly drive you up the wall in this one. 



  
    “Be careful with the world , or the next time we meet, it might get ugly.” 
  



Westerfeld really tries to push the inner battle of Tally in this book. What is the real Tally and what is the alterations that have been made during her countless surgeries? 

While I typically love moral ambiguity in my characters, this was just so poorly done. It was slow and repetitive and really didn't achieve what it was aiming to do. I felt bored and zoned out from the audio without really feeling like I missed anything.

I will finish off the reread of this series. I don't remember the final book at all. But frankly, I think I am officially done with this series.


More reviews | Twitter | Pinterest | The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame (O. Wilde)

Chelsea Breher

This world honestly stresses me out, there is so much wrong with it yet I cannot look away (what do I expect for a futuristic dystopian novel though). It's kind of like a train wreak one cannot help but stair at. I remember reading these years ago but not well enough so I decided to reread the series, and its not a love for me but also not a hate. 

Overall the story sucks you in but there is also just so many things wrong within the world that it just makes me cringe in a way. There def needs to be some trigger warnings for self harm and eating disorders throughout the series as a pro-cautionary measure. Will I finish up the series again? Yes! Will I run out and buy it for my shelf? No. But I am glad I am re-reading it.

Jessica Smith

** spoiler alert **
           On the reread, I liked this book better than the one that came before it. This may be due to improvements such as – less time devoted to camping in the woods, and not just rehashing the first book.

It still didn't match up to my fond memories of it.

Overall, I don't think the plot of the entire trilogy made much sense. It all hinges on some connection between brain structure and chemistry that I don't think Westerfeld properly worked out himself. On the one hand, Tally can "think her way out of" being a bubbleheaded pretty, and the same with being a special; but on the other hand, some mysterious chemical "cure" changes people's brain chemistry such that they break with the habits of a lifetime (or at least the part since their pretty operations)... and stage an entire continent-wide revolution.

The "cure" is explained even less well than in the last book, too; at least that time there was something about "lesions" making people bubbleheaded, that "nanos" can eat to cure the affliction. Okay. But then in this book, we learn that Tally's experience of thinking her way out of bubbleheadedness has inspired Maddy to change her cure design. So what does it even do now?! If Maddy's been inspired to let people think their way out of their brain configuration, that makes it sound like her new "cure" is just a placebo. But it's clearly not, because countless specials receive a cure against their will that changes the way they think... against their will.

So, I really don't understand what we were meant to take away about brain structures and personality and so on there. It just seemed inconsistent and considering it's what the entire plot revolves around...

There were other plot holes, too. For instance, I do not believe that the Crims would be recruited to this elite, secretive force known as Special Circumstances and never seem to be under any kind of supervision of any kind, ever. They're just free agents doing their own thing, and "their own thing" turns out to involve destroying the city's armoury in a massive chemical disaster. Seriously? Dr Cable didn't think to monitor her pet projects a little better? Considering the way the trilogy depicts her as this master manipulator who's always three steps ahead of everyone else, this is perplexing.

And her demise, as I suggested, is pathetic.

Then the book seems very muddled in the message it's trying to send about human nature. The book specifically declares that human nature is to be selfish, and it suggests that human nature is to pursue endless growth until the destruction of the world. "Rusty civilisation" (our civilisation) serves as a warning throughout the series of the dangers of endless, unsustainable growth, but then in this book it seems that the first thing humanity does when in possession of their own minds is resort to environmental destruction. Which is why the last two pages is about how Tally and David are going to become the "new special circumstances", and try to stop that. But again... seriously? Two people are going to single-handedly save the environment of an entire continent? Sure, that is so believable.

And as well, it ends up giving the impression that the very regime Tally just overthrew had the right idea – human nature is to slowly commit mass suicide, so you'd better keep them pacified for their own good. I think when I first read the series, I loved the apparent moral dilemma. Now, I'm not so sure.

Another seeming contradiction that crops up is the glorification of cutting, after the first book spent so much time preaching about how horrible all our modern stress over body image is. Like... I don't understand why you would preach and preach about body image and how everyone should feel comfortable in their own skins, but then glorify cutting. They just seem like two sides of the same coin (or two sides of the same dice... I'm sure there are lots of similar issues), and considering this trilogy seems to aspire to impart a moral lesson to pre-teen, or perhaps young teenage readers, it doesn't seem very good at it.

In the end, I am really undecided as to whether to give this two stars or three. I did like this book better than the previous one (which I rated two), mostly for reasons of pace and structure, which were much improved. But then the plot made a lot less sense, so ratings-wise I think that evens out. It's a reasonably fun read, just kind of nonsensical.

I'm still planning to read the "bonus" book, Extras, at some point in the near future; I didn't actually read that one when it first came out so it'll be something new, at least! And hopefully an improvement, although, maybe I won't expect too much from it.

Erica

This is the third book in a series I randomly came across one day in Barnes & Noble, and enjoyed. The whole concept of the world is very interesting to me, how everything is based on how you look. The vernacular-jargon in the novel gets annoying sometimes (I can only imagine the name “Shay-la” and the word “bubbly” being pronounced in a high-pitched girly voice) but it does add a lot to the atmosphere of the book(s).

Erin 

This review also appears on my blog in an Uglies series review here!

2018 series re-read review:
Specials has always been my favourite out of the original three books of the series. There’s just something about being deep in a story, having watched the characters change and evolve so much that just appealed to me. I think it’s a fascinating plotline that Tally ultimately becomes what she despises, but that she still thinks her way out of her brain surge. I also like Specials because it gives us a much clearer idea of where exactly Tally’s city is based. I think I would have preferred the Cutter storyline to have been limited to Pretties, though. I always associated it with Shay and her attempts to make something of herself unrelated to Tally, and to have Tally submit to the same practise seemed really out of character – but I guess that’s the point. I love that Andrew Simpson Smith returns though. As far as plotline, Specials does a lot more than the plotlines of Uglies or Pretties. Both of the previous books have self-contained stories, and feel like more of a build-up to the extravagance that Specials promises to bring. Uglies is there to introduce us to the world, Pretties is there to show that there are many sides and illustrates the danger of the operation (if that wasn’t already obvious), but Specials is where it all comes crashing down and nobody knows who to trust anymore. It definitely feels like for the first two books we are in a tiny little bubble, but in Specials we get a much bigger picture and the whole world is involved. There’s also a ton more action in this book too, which is totally icy-making and so much more fun.
---
Original review:
Every time I picked up a new Uglies book, I wouldn't think that it could possibly be better than the last one. And then it would be. So perhaps by default because it is the last book in the series (sans Extras of course), Specials is definitely my favorite one. I have loved this series for such a long time, and it has always been my favorite dystopian world (yes, I love it even more than Divergent and The Hunger Games, which is saying a lot). It is just so intriguing, and so closely resembles the world we live in today (even back when I was in middle school and read this for the first time I could recognise that) that frankly, its a little terrifying. Scott Westerfeld writes it so well that I felt it would be almost natural to fall into this world and live as if nothing was wrong, but then you come out of your bubble and realise how messed up the world you live in is. I am grateful that the various movie deals it always seems to have never pull through, because then I would have to share this series and I just don't want to do that.

Sarah Broome &
Specials by Scott Westerfeld

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