Specials

By: Scott Westerfeld

Spoiler Warning!!!

            The story begins with Tally.  Tally Youngblood, whose only dream had been to be a Pretty.  Her wish was granted, but not before she found out that Pretties sported lesions- something to stop a Pretty from thinking clearly- in their brains.  Tally found a cure however, and she and Zane were able to think clearly.

            The cure was a pair of pills sent to her from the Smokies.  Tally was too afraid to try the untested drug by herself so she and Zane took the two pills together; right before Special Circumstances found them!  They both could think clearly now, but they could tell no one.  Shay, Tally’s best friend, however, knew something was up.  When she asked about the cure, Tally just had to tell her. 

That was a big mistake.

Shay was furious.  How could Tally give the cure to Zane, someone she had just met, and not her best friend?  Afterwards, Tally and Shay hardly spoke.  Zane and Tally grew closer, and she began to notice that ever since the cure, Zane had been having headaches.  It wasn’t until she and Zane spied on Shay did she notice that Shay had formed a new group called the Cutters.

Zane and Tally escaped from the city to the New Smoke.  They had to find a cure for Shay!  But Special Circumstances wasn’t going to let that happen.  What they didn’t know was that Special Circumstances had put a tracking device in Zane during one of his hospital visits.

            Tally was captured again, but instead of having the lesions returned, she was turned Special. 

            The Cutters had also been turned Special, and now she was one of them with Shay as their leader.  It wasn’t long before the Cutters came up with a plan to find the New Smoke, which had relocated again.  They would free Zane, who was returned to being a Pretty, again and send him to find it.  They gave him a locater he was to set off once he got there.

            They knew he wouldn’t use it, so Tally and Shay followed on foot and hoverboard to track Zane the “old-fashioned” way.  Along the way, Shay and Tally had split up.  Shay decided to go off ahead in search of the Smoke, and Tally stayed to protect Zane from the wild on his slow journey. 

It took weeks, but Tally finally arrived.

Tally had never seen anything like it.  The New Smoke was actually a different city who had joined the Smokies.  While there, Tally was attacked by Old Smokies in an attempt to give her a new cure for being Special.  However, Tally didn’t want to be un-special, so of course she fought them. 

That’s when the government stepped in.  They took her away to a padded cell.  Lucky for her, Shay came to the rescue!  It was later that Tally found out that Shay had been given the cure.  Tally was horrified.  All the Cutters had been given the cure.  Now they needed Tally’s help to-

Oh, did I mention they started a war?

I’ve said too much.  You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens!

Cover of Uglies (Uglies Trilogy, Book 1)

Cover of Pretties (Uglies Trilogy, Book 2)