Extras
Three years after the events of Specials freed the world from the pretty lesions which forced them to be compliant, society is beginning to settle into a new form. Each city has been forced to find a way of dealing with the new pressure on its resources, caused by the freed creativity of the inhabitants. In Japan, one city has chosen a "reputation economy", rewarding citizens either with merits for productive tasks which help the city, or with face rank, a measure of popularity. Every inhabitant has their own feed and obsessively tracks their face rank, hoping to gain fame and lose their status as an "extra". Aya Fuse tries to win fame as a "kicker", or amateur journalist, filming stories with her modified hovercam Moggle and posting them for the city to see.
Characters
**BEWARE SPOILERS**
Aya Fuse
The main protagonist of the book. Aya is fifteen years old. Aya falls in love with Frizz Mizuno and becomes his girlfriend. Aya originally wanted to use the Sly Girls as an anchor to bring her miserable face rank up, but turned out to save the world in the end. Her face rank went from 451,359 to 3.
Moggle
Aya's hovercam, with near artificial intelligence. Aya was forced to lose Moggle in order to join the Sly Girls, but recovered it. Moggle constantly blinds her with its night-lights. She cannot stand being without Moggle, as it makes it somewhat hard to put things on her feeds; for example, Tally informed Aya not to send a transmission signal to Moggle so that the Extras would not see, but she did anyway (this was utilized by Tally as a trap). Moggle was used as a tool for the Extras to convey to Aya the goodness in their actions.
Hiro Fuse
Aya's older brother. He was a pretty during the Prettytime but was cured thanks to the mind-rain, the time when all the pretties were cured of the lesions on their brain. Being famous has made him somewhat arrogant, and is still harping about fame.
Frizz Mizuno
A leader of a clique called "Radical Honesty", where the members must have a brain surgery that gets rid of all deception. He becomes Aya's boyfriend. His surgery did not agree somewhat with the story as he was unable to hide anything, and it especially did not agree with Tally. She convinced him that he was not strong enough to tell the truth all the time (he took the surgery because he lied constantly, especially to girls). His Radical Honesty saved the day as a tool to prove to Tally that he was not lying about the Extras. At the end of the story, Frizz decides to give up the clique.
Ren Machino
Hiro's friend who is good with technical things. He installed the mods on Moggle to make him waterproof, able to fly, able to carry Aya, and with artificial intelligence.
Jai/Kai/Lai and the Sly Girls
This clique did crazy things, but were forced to keep their face ranks down, otherwise the wardens would catch and stop them. They keep their face ranks down by changing nicknames every so often. Aya joins them and tries to betray them to the public, but realizes that she must do so anyway to save the world. Their original plan was to leave town once Aya kicked her story. However, Lai is seen at the Thousand Faces Party as a recruit to the Extras, and when Aya asks where the others are, Lai replies, "Probably all watching this party on their wallscreens." Their last trick was to have the cake explode at the Thousand Faces Party as soon as it is cut. It is unsure whether this was accomplished as the book ended before this could happen. Scott Westerfield has stated that Lai's original name is Ai, using variations of the name as a cover-up, going in alphabetical order.
Tally Youngblood
The most famous person in the world, the architect of the mind-rain, and the original protagonist of the Uglies trilogy. Tally is almost twenty years old. Still a Special, Tally flocks to Japan when she sees Aya's City Killer story. She is still somewhat destructive thanks to the Special wiring in her brain. She has not kissed anyone since Zane died but in the book it is hinted that she may like David and be in a romantic relationship. She is ranked number 1 in the face rank.
David
David is an ugly, and has never had any surgery at all. He use to be part of the Smokies, and hates cities. He also helps Tally and the "Cutters" with different missions. He runs the new Special Circumstances with Tally. He has always been in love with Tally. In the book it is hinted that they may like each other and be in a romantic relationship.
The Cutters
Characters from the Uglies series. The two Cutters seen are Shay and Fausto. They help David and Tally with different missions and help with Special Circumstances.
The Extras
Aya considers herself earlier in the novel as an Extra - someone with a low face rank, no popularity, etc.Eden Maru later explains to her the concept of film extras from the Rusties' era, which is the true origin of this term. The word eventually gains new meaning as being an abbreviation of "extraterrestrial".
Andrew Simpson Smith
The man from the village of little men that the scientists from Tally's City created.
Plot
**BEWARE SPOILERS**
Aya Fuse, accompanied by her hovercam Moggle, crashes a party hoping to track down a group she saw surfing a mag-lev train, a story which she believes will make her famous. She follows one of the group's members, Eden Maru, out of the party, but they nearly get away when she is distracted by Frizz Mizuno, a far more famous person who compliments Aya. Aya leaves without telling Frizz her full name, because she is embarrassed by her comparatively low face rank. She then follows Eden into an underground cave, where she is ambushed by the mag-lev riders, who call themselves the Sly Girls. The group's leader Jai gives Aya a chance to join them, but to do so she is forced to drop Moggle into an underground lake.
The next day, she visits her famous brother Hiro, another kicker who is celebrating reaching the "top thousand" - a list of the thousand most famous people in the city. Hiro and his friend Ren Machino refuse to believe Aya's tale of the Sly Girls, who are an urban legend in the city, but Ren, who designed Moggle, agrees to help Aya retrieve him. Aya also happens upon a story about Frizz, discovering that he started a clique based around brain surgery which enforces honesty. That evening, Aya goes mag-lev surfing with the Sly Girls, enjoying the experience in spite of not having a camera to film it with. During the journey, the girls are surprised when the train stops, and they see inhuman figures loading the train up with a variety of items hidden within a secret underground room.
Aya retrieves Moggle, and uses him to film her next excursion with the Sly Girls, a mag-lev surfing trip which ends in exploration of the underground room they had discovered. Inside are many large cylinders of metal, and a large chute leading to the top of the mountain, neither of which are understood by the Sly Girls. They plan to return to explore further, but Aya's credibility is ruined by the kicking of a news story about Frizz Mizuno coming to talk to her by her dorm. Aya is forced to break off contact with Frizz in order to lose fame, which the Sly Girls despise, and the story leaves her disillusioned by the hateful comments of the kickers. However, she does have the chance to tell Hiro and Ren about the Sly Girls story, and from her description Ren guesses that the chute inside the mountain is a mass driver which, combined with the steel projectiles, could be used to launch an attack on the city.
When Aya next meets the Sly Girls, they reveal that they knew she was a kicker, and have decided to allow her to kick the story of the mass driver in spite of their hatred of fame. They launch themselves and Aya out of the mass driver with homemade parachutes, giving her one last thrill before they part ways, and also giving themselves time to move on to a different city. Aya kicks her story and becomes instantly famous, but is concerned when she receives a message from Tally Youngblood telling her to "run and hide", and is nearly captured by the inhumans while trying to do so. Eventually, Aya uses her fame to take control of a high-security apartment, and waits there until Tally arrives, accompanied by Shay and Fausto.
After talking, the Cutters (Tally, Shay, and Fausto) go hoverboarding with Aya, Hiro, Frizz and Ren. Aya has a signal up for her hovercam, and the Cutters boost it so the inhumans could find them. They are soon captured, and on the inhumans ship, Frizz ruins their plan...The Cutters knock out the inhumans and put the hovercar on autopilot, where more inhumans wait. The Cutters, Aya, Frizz, Hiro, and Ren jump out of the hovercar, not wanting to meet more inhumans. Soon, they have to travel through a jungle, to meet David.
After deciding Aya, Ren, Hiro, and Frizz would get in the way, Tally, Shay, and Fausto plan to leave them where they were. Meanwhile, they, the Cutters, would go to destroy the ships of the inhumans. After they have left, Aya says that she is going as well. Ren, Hiro, and Frizz come with her. Soon, they are caught by the inhumans, and meet Andrew Simpson Smith, who mistakes Aya for Tally. The inhumans explain what they were doing with the metal, and then they hear explosions. Aya and her friends and brother rush over there and tel Tally what the ships are for. Soon, everyone is fighting against the fire that the Cutters had started.
Mystery solved, Aya, Frizz, Hiro, and Ren become all famous in their city. Aya especially benefit and becomes the 3rd most famous person. Aya, her friends, and the Cutters go to the best party, Thousand Faces Party. There, Aya met Lai, the Sly Girl leader. Lai tells Aya a secret about the cake, and makes Aya promise not to tell anyone. After, Frizz tells Aya that he might leave Radical Honesty, deciding he didn't need the group to tell the truth. Soon, Aya sees Tally and David together in the dark...