Specials by Scott Westerfeld (4/5 stars)

This is the third, and final, book in the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. I think that this book was the best of the series.

In this book Tally is a Special. She is part of a Special group that Shay leads called the Cutters. Zane is strangely absent in the beginning and Tally sometimes wonders about him but not as much as you would think. The Cutters are on a Special assignment to find out where all of the Pretty curing pills are coming from and eliminate the source of them. The Cutters (as the name suggests) cut themselves to stay "icy"; it helps them to see the world in perfect clarity. The Cutters are finding out that the Pretty cure is something that is much bigger than their own city.

Once again it was interesting how the Specials operation changed many aspects of Tally's personality. All of the neat abilities of the Specials were really fun to read about. This book was the fastest paced of the three; still a really fast and easy read. There was a ton interesting technology introduced in this book. I also think that a lot of the characters grew up some in this book.

This book was the most fun of the three books to read. It was also the most significant as far as discussing more worldly issues. I was still a little disappointed in how the author dumbed things down. I also though the final manifesto was a bit over the top, unnecessary, and cheesy; it was a very juvenile statement from a character who seemed older than that by the end of the book.

Overall this was a good conclusion to a mediocre series. This wasn't a bad series, but I don't think it really deserved all the acclaim that it got. There are other young adult sci-fi series out there that are more deserving of praise. There is now an additional book out to this series called Extras that deals with the same world but different characters. I don't think I will be reading Extraas; it bothers me when an author commits to a trilogy and then extends the series because of good sales.