Release Date: May 9, 2006Publisher: Simon Pulse
Age Group: 12+
Pages: 384
Other Books In Series: Uglies, Pretties
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.
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Can I start this review by saying that this is an overrated series? I've heard nothing but how amazing they are and I read Uglies, and it was good, but not as good as I'd heard. And these books take me forever to read! This took me the least time to read. But, then again, my mom likes them a lot more than I do, so it's really a matter of opinion.
I've never felt a connection to Tally. I've never related to her, and at at times I don't understand her logic. I don't care for Shay, either. I like the guys, Zane and David, better.
The plot didn't really grab me until the end, which was by far the best part of the book. I actually started to feel for Tally towards the end.
The writing was good, as Scott Westerfield's usually is. Very descriptive, as expected. I'll have to look into getting some of his other books.
All in all, a pretty good read, to go with a pretty good series. I will be reading Extras, though.
(It gets that last half star for Part 3.)
Hmm I almost never hear people talk about this series, weird. Twilight now, THATS overrated *shudders*
ReplyDeleteWell The first one was the best one of them all, the series kept decreasing in quality after. This is my least favorite book of the series.
PS; Ive heard from people that Extras isn't really worth it :S
I just read Specials a while ago, and it took me a while to finish (but I usually take a while with books set in alternate worlds/realities-- it's a lot to take in). I like the Uglies series, but not as much as Midnighters. It's really good, but I will admit that people make it sound better than it is.
ReplyDeleteTaschima: I've heard mixed things about Extras, I've heard people say that it wasn't needed, but a personal friend of mine said that it was her favorite of the series, so I'll probably try it, but not for a while.
ReplyDeleteDahlia: I have been wanting to read Midnighters for a while. I've heard that they're great, but have had trouble finding the first one.
I admit Specials wasn't the best book in the series, but I LOVED Uglies. I also really liked Extras, because it was great to get a few loose ends wrapped up and find out what happened after the mind rain.
ReplyDeleteI simply must check out this series.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading Uglies right now... It's weird, wasn't this like a critically acclaimed or whatever series? I rarely here anything about this series anymore, though.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Taschima: Twilight is desperately overrated... Weird though her blogger name's Cullen ;)
Meggin
serendipityreviews.blogspot.com
I like alternate reality stuff, so I might check out this series. Eventually.
ReplyDeleteNot really my kind of book, but thank you for the review.
ReplyDeleteTony Peters
Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping
http://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/
I read this series in Jan/Feb and loved it. I had to force myself to slow down. Each book took me about a day to read because I just could not put it down. Maybe it's because I'm looking at it from a different perspective as someone who was 29-going-on-30 at the time. I like dystopias a lot, too, so that helps. Specials was my least favorite of the 4. I cried when Zane died.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Extras was a waste. It really doesn't have much to do with the series, and is more of a standalone book, so reading it that way was better for me.
I read some of Uglies but put it down because it was taking me so long lol. I'll pick it up again sooner or later, and hopefully I'll enjoy it more!
ReplyDelete-Briana
I agree this series is overrated. I take it that you are not going to read "Extra", the last book in the series.
ReplyDelete