Review: Specials - Scott Westerfeld

Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Book 3, The Uglies series

Genre: YA dystopian fiction
Pages: 372
Published: 2006

"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.

 

First book read for the year.

I can say at once that it was not as good as the first, but then it is hard to top a thing like that, and this book evolved in its own way so we get to follow all "different" kinds of people, from the uglies, to the pretties and now the special.

Tally is now scary, with fangs, and all hard angles, she has the body of a machine, and on top of that she cuts herself like the rest of the cutters. it is something to feel, to make them more special. yes I am very sure Westerfeld has a point with that, and how some fall into it to feel, when everything else is dark.

She also looks down on everyone else and thinks the specials to be the greatest people ever. Even Zane, her pretty ex is just boring and average. She is scary in her believes, and it is hard to like her in this book. But then she is the extreme.

The story in this book is how to get Zane special too, and by doing that they start something really bad. That and fighting the rebels will shape her world. It has been crumbling for a while now and the governments are not happy, and they are also scared.

I like his world, and the history he made into it. And even if it is an extreme world they do have points. By making everyone pretty there is no jealousy, wars, and fights (and yes they have stuff in their brains). And they are not destroying the earth. The question here is whether freedom is more important than the earth itself. For when people are free it will start again.

One thing I did have a problem with, the way things gets fixed, it seems so easy even though it is hard, and it does makes Tally to the center of the world. But other than that this is a most to the trilogy, and to find out how it all ends for this beautified world.

Blodeuedd's Cover Corner: I like it, I can see the fangs almost there, she looks scary pretty.

Reason for Reading: Library book.

Final thoughts: Not as shocking as the first, but still an ok finish to the series. And there is one more book too even if Tally is not in that one.

 

Review: Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

Pretties by Scott Westefeld
Uglies, book 2

Published: 2005
Genre: Futuristic YA
Pages: 384

Gorgeous. Popular. Perfect. Perfectly wrong.

Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are awesome, her boyfriend is totally hot, and she's completely popular. It's everything she's ever wanted.

But beneath all the fun -- the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom -- is a nagging sense that something's wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what's wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold.

Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life -- because the authorities don't intend to let anyone with this information survive. (good reads)

The second book is not as good as the first, but that would be a hard thing to do anyway. This is still a great book, and it leaves me with a cliffhanger that leaves me wanting more at once.

Tally has become pretty, she is perfect in every way and she is loving the parties, drinking and all the pretty things. The gang she is in is the coolest and she is drawn to the leader, Zane. But she cannot stay in her bubble forever and she is contacted by an ugly person, some bells ring in her head that they have met before. That is the beginning to trying to figure out what really happened before she became pretty, when she was "kidnapped" by uglies and taken to their camp, Smoke. But all is not what it seems to be. And the constant rush for a moment of clarity is dangerous.

It's great seeing Tally again, and this time she has fallen for Zane, who is troubled and who had started to figure out that when you become pretty, they do something to your personality too. I can see them as a couple even if I miss "ugly" David.

This book is about the struggle she has in pretty town where she is trying to figure things out. Not much happens in a way but it leaves more time to think. First I was horrified at what was being done to people, but now I see it has to be done. By doing this there are no wars, not even fights, people are happy and loving, and yes terribly shallow. They take care of nature and they live in their cities while nature takes care of itself outside. By doing this they are saving the world. The people that escape and go to Smoke, those burn the trees and cut them down. If there were more they would soon be too many and the planet would be harmed. Mankind stood on the brink of extinction and was only saved by this. Yes the way it's being handled is wrong, but there is a good thought behind it. It leaves me wondering, what is right and what is wrong? And what will Tally choose in the end?

He has managed to create an interesting world, and I like the concept behind these books. I really need to know what Tally will do and that cliffhanger, oh yes you should be ready with book 3 because it's a big one.

If you want to have a look at book one, here is a free download

Review: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Book 1

Genre: futuristic
Pages: 448
Age: YA
Published: 2005

Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?


Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.


But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

(fantastic fiction...I so need to write my own blurb one of these days, but in a hurry as usual)

Finally a YA that made me think more than ok, this was a good book that had a depth to it. A scary new world after we have destroyed ours. It's a world where everyone gets pretty when they are 16 and then they live happily ever after. Now what is wrong with that? Well all the pretties seems to have no mind of their own, and they all have the same look in a way. It's supposed to stop people from hating each other, and that is good. But no one has a personality except from being pretty. It's not a world where I would like to live.

Tally is like all the other kids, she hates being ugly, and she cannot wait for her operation. I find myself liking her, I cannot help it. She is a good heroine that does what she thinks is right. And she grows as a person through out the book, and she learns the meaning of ugly, and pretty. The she meets Shay who doesn't want to have the operation. I am rather partial to Shay. Then there is the mysterious David, the one who frees the uglies. Him I like.

We learn how we destroyed the earth, oh that was creepy and made me fearful. One big accident. Because of this a new world was built, where pretty rule. I like his critique on society here. It gives the book depth and meaning. It's not just some futuristic YA book, I really understand why it became as big as it did. It's not like the other YA books I have read lately, and the subject fits the age group perfectly. I do not know if it would have worked as good with an adult theme.

I do recommend this book, it will make you think, and it's nicely written. Of course I read it in Swedish so I can't say where and how the translation played in. That is made is easier or things like that. Because if this was a good book, then is sure must be better in it's original language. Westerfeld is a good author and I really want to read book 2 now. Too bad I didn't pick it up the day it came to the library. If I had only known. This one restored my hope in YA again.

It has a good cast, a good story, and that depth behind it makes it a good book. And I do like a book that makes me think and feel. I am happy with my read.