The Toll | Book Review

Author: Neal Shusterman

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐🌗/5

Trigger Warnings: Genocide, Gun violence, Transphobia, Graphic deaths and violence

Summary

It’s been three years since Rowan and Citra disappeared; since Scythe Goddard came into power; since the Thunderhead closed itself off to everyone but Grayson Tolliver.

In this pulse-pounding conclusion to New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman’s Arc of a Scythe trilogy, constitutions are tested and old friends are brought back from the dead. (Goodreads)

What I Liked About the Book

Thunderhead ended with a such a massive cliffhanger that it was absolutely impossible not enjoy this book. Writing about this book without giving away any spoilers is extremely tough but I will still give it a shot.

I think Shusterman does an amazing at weaving multiple different plots together and having it all make sense towards the end. It was almost like The Infinity War (Marvel) movie where all the characters were fighting their own battles in separate places and towards the end it all comes together.

If you pay attention to the book, you can see that the author does a brilliant job at world building. He gives attention to the tiniest details for example, he talks about how the animals living on a deserted island adapted after the humans inhabited the place in such depth. He could have skipped those things and it would have made absolutely no different to plot, yet he didn’t.

Even the characters in the story are so diverse in their race, gender and personality. You are bound to find at least one character that you relate too and feel emotionally invested in each of their well-being.

What I Disliked About the Book

I can’t quite pinpoint what I disliked about this book but it just didn’t have the same effect on me as Thunderhead. Don’t get me wrong, this was still an amazing read and several parts left me in awe. But Thunderhead left me physically gasping and screaming “NOOOOOO” and this book just didn’t have that punch. Towards the end I was just like “Oh. Alright. I get it.” It just didn’t Wow me.

Even in the start, I felt like too much was happening and it became so hard to keep track of stuff.

All that being said, I still really enjoyed reading this book and overall the series was brilliant. Definitely one of my favorite fantasy series now.