Specials
2006
- reading level-grade 9
- reading level-grade 11
- reading level-grade 10
- reading level-grade 12
- fiction
- personal beauty
- brainwashing
- science fiction
- teenage girls
- insurgency
The story
After being captured and surgically transformed into a "special," teenaged Tally Youngblood, now a government agent programmed to protect society from outside threats, is ordered to eliminate the rebel colony New Smoke, Tally's former home.
What it’s like
Clean, kinetic prose with a restless, hyper-aware teenage voice, short punchy sentences broken up by quick sensory snapshots of a sleek future city: glittering towers, bright hovering devices, and the dim, rough-edged world beyond the edges of the map. The mood is taut and urgent, a sci-fi thriller with a bite of unease running under its glossy surface, and the pages move fast, with chapters that end on hooks and short scenes that keep the momentum up. Its atmosphere suits a long-haul flight, a late-night read when you cannot put it down, or a school-holiday binge, and it gives the feel of a dystopian chase without losing its interest in identity and appearance. The emotional register is anxious and searching: a young woman wrestling with a mind that has been reshaped against her will and trying to hold onto what she remembers of herself. Violence is present and occasionally sharp, including fights, a few gruesome moments, and scenes of menace, though it stays mostly in the realm of action rather than graphic gore. For readers who want a propulsive, accessible YA sci-fi with a strong female lead, moral tension and a page-turning rhythm.
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