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Pippa Kennedy

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Specials (Uglies, #3)

by Scott Westerfeld (Goodreads Author)

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Pippa Kennedy said: " “Specials” by Scott Westerfeld tells the fast-paced unpredictable story of a girl named Tally and her fight to make the right decisions for herself as a special. Tally has to surpass the struggles from the many different surgeries she has experienced “Specials” by Scott Westerfeld tells the fast-paced unpredictable story of a girl named Tally and her fight to make the right decisions for herself as a special. Tally has to surpass the struggles from the many different surgeries she has experienced, while still staying true to herself. Specials forces you to compare the complex dystopian society that takes place to the messy ever changing world we live in today.
Specials starts when Tally and the rest of the cutters (a small group of the specials) discover a Smokey smuggling the cure at a party, and try to chase her but end up getting one of their members captured by the Smokies. In this dystopian world, there are only three kinds of people, uglies, pretties, and specials. Everyone gets a procedure when they turn 16 that turns them pretty, unless you become a special, who's job is to make sure that no one interferes with the government. What no one knows except for the specials and the smokies, is that once you get the pretty surgery, a lesson is put in your brain, causing you to be less smart. Smokies are people who have escaped the cities and are trying to “cure” the pretties, and they are working against specials. Tally and her friend Shay come up with a plan to capture the smokies and help their friend Zane (a pretty) become a special. Unfortunately, along the way, Tally and Shay get into a fight causing them to split paths, but not after breaking into a highly confidential military building that very few people have access to. Tally and Shay’s city takes this as an attack, and decides to aim fire at a city that they have had political disagreements with. Tally then has to put her need to do what’s right in front of her personal beliefs in order to stop the war that she and Shay have started.
My favorite part about this book was how complicated and complex the story was. When i was reading the book, I would try to make predictions about the plot and how the characters would react to things, but I was always surprised with what really happened next. For example, one of the biggest plot points in the story is when Tally arrives in Diego, the place that she found from following Zane and his friends. When she gets there, she is placed in a hospital because the way her body was made is seen as a “threat to society.” I had predicted that she would have to go through another surgery, but instead, Shay broke into the hospital and helped her escape. I continued to be surprised when I found out that the smokies were curing Shay, and that there was a war about to start. “He’s not weak.. Neither am I,” (269) Shay explained just before breaking the news to Tally that they had started a war. This was just one example of when I was surprised, and my predictions never turned out to be correct.
Another thing I liked about this book was how real Shay and Tally’s relationship was. In a lot of books, best friends never fight and have a “picture perfect” relationship. In Specials, Tally and Shay have multiple arguments in the book. Neither of them shy away from sharing their feelings, which causes them to get very upset with each other. There relationship was refreshing to read about because it allowed me to think about my relationship with a lot of my best friends. My friends and I are usually very open with our feelings, and also are very stubborn, so I could relate to Tally and Shay when they refused to give up on what they believed was the best option.
One thing I didn’t like about the book was how long some parts of the book took. Although the story is interesting, some parts of the plot seem to last forever. For example, Tally following Zane and the rest of his friends takes up 7 chapters in the book, and some of the information is unnecessary. Although the author uses lots of imagery to describe the setting and what the characters look like, sometimes in takes up pages just to describe the setting and how Tally feels about it. This made the book hard to read at some points because I would get bored and not want to continue reading. Despite having to push myself to continue, I always enjoyed reading the book after I got through the part that I was stuck on.
Without directly telling the reader how they are supposed to feel, Specials takes the reader through an emotional roller coaster when trying to identify what is best for Tally despite what was best for her in the past. While combining friendship, love, betrayal, and adventure, Specials sucks the reader into the life of Tally and the many sacrifices she has to make to do what she feels is best for her in the moment. ...more "

Nov 28, 2018 04:48PM · see review