Uglies 03 - Specials

Grade 8 Up–This final installment in the series is a warning of the

dangers of overconsumption and conformity. Set some time in the future,

after a human-made bacteria destroyed the modern world, the trilogy

tells of new cities established and tightly controlled through

brainwashing and a series of operations leading to a compliant society.

Tally Youngblood, the 16-year-old protagonist, learns in the first two

books that free will and truth are more important than a false sense of

security. In Specials, she has become an elite fighting machine,

fully enhanced with nanotechnology and super-fast reflexes, and made to

work as a Special Circumstances agent for the nameless city that she

fled. As in the first two books, much of the story takes place with

characters whizzing through the air on hoverboards, but Tally and her

friends are in for some harsh realities here. Readers who enjoyed Uglies and Pretties (both S S, 2005) will not want to miss Specials,

but those who have not read those books will not understand much of

what is happening. Westerfeld's themes include vanity, environmental

conservation, Utopian idealism, fascism, violence, and love. In this

trilogy, the author calls for a revolution in our hearts and minds–think

The Matrix.