Sunday, September 11, 2011

Scott Westerfeld's Specials


Specials by Scott Westerfeld
 Book 3 of the Uglies Series
Simon Pulse- 2006
Facebook: yes (but already full)
Rating: Completely and totally satisfied (in the best possible way)
Recommendation: YA Fans, readers of Westerfeld’s other stories, heroines coming into their identity

            Tally Youngblood is back and she has gone through another change. But this change may be more than she can handle. This time life is complicated as she wakes up and is now a part of the elite specials. Instead of being the hunted, she is the hunter. But there is still the nagging sense of who she was before when she was all about doing tricks and being ugly. This time when she breaks through to find her freedom, she knows that she has to do all she can to set the rest of civilization free as well. In this war for freedom,  Tally realizes that the greater risk is for all of humanity reverting back to the way of the Rusties. In the midst of the war that has broken out between towns, Tally realizes that she will have to maintain the balance between freedom and responsibility.

            I believe that this may have been the original ending to the series, but there is another books that comes after this. I have to admit that in the beginning I didn’t really see how this story could get any better. The same thing seems to happen, she is trapped between what she knows in her head and what other people tell her and what the city wants her to know. She constantly appears to be at war with herself and never really sure who it is that she can trust and who her true enemies are.  But Westerfeld surprised me with new developments page after page.
            I like Tally, I like who she’s become and all that she stands for. I like the fact that she is a fighter and constantly growing into herself. In the first book, I never would have imagined that she would have turned into one my favorite heroines. She broke through all of the chains that bound her, including the chains that bound her to herself. She found strength in the midst of impossible odds. She created hope where there was none. Most importantly, she didn’t do any of this just for herself. She did it for mankind as well as nature.
            The last scene, the last words from Tally Youngblood was an unbelievably perfect poetic exit for the series. Yes, we know that there is more life for her to live, but this ending shows that it will be life on her terms now.  Because this was such a perfect ending for a series, I am hesitant to continue the series with the fourth book.  But as of right now, the Uglies series is one of my favorite series that I’ve read this year.

Always Shine, 
Starr K 

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