Book four is great if you accept that it is not about Tally the way the first 3 were. Instead it is a new look at the world Tally created in the first 3 novels.

I LOVED the whole concept of getting hits or “kicks” and I think it is so relevant when you look at society today – hell look at what I am choosing to spend my time doing right now….

A trilogy no more…now we have “Extras” which continues the story of what happened after Tally Youngblood “cured” people in the Uglies, Pretties & Specials books. In this tale, Tally is still relevant but only returns in the 2nd half to help Aya Fuse, the main protagonist.
Scott Westerfeld’s new young adult novel, is filled with characters who obsess over manga, anime and Japanese culture, as well as taking cues from the increase in social networking site, like Myspace and Facebook, to create a new society based on a reputation economy. The more “popular” you are, the more you have. The more hits, or “kicks,” you make the more your number goes up. For some, having a higher number is the goal. For others, the odd ones, it’s staying beneath the radar.
I really enjoyed the first 3 books in this former trilogy, however, the fourth book was difficult for me to get through. I was pretty irritated with the main character, Aya, and her obsession with having a higher rank. It look a little too long to get to where she would eventually learn her “lesson.”
The story was decent, but I was struck more by Westerfeld’s commentary on reputation and ranking. In this book, it did not matter so much about how you looked, like in the other books, but how you could remain relevant to other people. Did you just film the Sly girls surfing on mag-lev trains? Did you complain enough about the “popular” & “famous” people that people listened to you? Did you out an underground graffiti crew? Are you “techie” enough?
“The Extras” is average as a book but some of the things Westerfeld writes about do make you think about how individuals present themselves and what they will do to get to the top.

I didn’t enjoy this last book as much as the previous 3 because Tally wasn’t the main character. But it was interesting to have a different point of view. It wasn’t as adventure filled as Tally’s point of view because Aya was more on the safe side, which made the book seem slow at times. But overall I liked this book.