Specials characters

Appears from the start

Known from earlier: Tally's oldest friend, a new pretty and one of the Crims, comfortable with the life the city arranged for him.

Appears from the start

Known from earlier: one of the original runaways from the Smoke, who stayed on the outside after the settlement was destroyed and kept helping others get out of the cities.

Appears from the start

Rebuilt as a Special: stronger, faster and sharper than any pretty, with hardened skin and a mind that finds ordinary people slow and contemptible. She belongs to the Cutters, an elite group inside Special Circumstances, and she is loyal to Shay. When her thoughts start to soften she cuts herself to bring back the cold clarity the Cutters call being icy.

Appears from the start

The founder and leader of the Cutters, a clique of Specials who keep their minds clear through pain. Certain, controlled and possessive of Tally, she treats the Cutters as the only people worth belonging to, and she has not let go of her grudge over Zane.

First appears in chapter 2

One of the Cutters, formerly one of the Crims, who follows Shay without argument.

First appears in chapter 3

Still a pretty in the city, leading what is left of the Crims. The half-cure he swallowed has left him with tremors and constant exhaustion, but his mind is clear and he is determined to get out. Whatever her surgery has done to her, Tally has not stopped caring what happens to him.

First appears in chapter 5

The head of Special Circumstances, who created the Cutters and controls the city's response to anything that threatens it. She uses Shay's clique as her sharpest instrument and is prepared to escalate far beyond policing when other cities begin to change.

First appears in chapter 24

The young man born outside the cities, still working with the runaways and the settlement that grew after the first Smoke was destroyed. He has kept going through everything that has happened since, and he recognizes Tally as herself even after what has been done to her.

First appears in chapter 30

David's mother, the former surgeon whose cure for the pretty lesions has now spread well beyond her control. She works openly in a city that has accepted it, and she has little patience left for Tally.