The Toll By Neal Shusterman Book Review

“A successful lie is not fueled by the liar, it is fueled by the willingness of the listener to believe.”

(pg. 302)

About

Author: Neal Shusterman

Genre: Young Adult Dystopian Fantasy

Series: Arc of a Scythe 3

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Arc of a Scythe Series

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Synopsis

In the highly anticipated finale to the New York Times bestselling trilogy, dictators, prophets, and tensions rise. In a world that’s conquered death, will humanity finally be torn asunder by the immortal beings it created?

Citra and Rowan have disappeared. Endura is gone. It seems like nothing stands between Scythe Goddard and absolute dominion over the world scythedom. With the silence of the Thunderhead and the reverberations of the Great Resonance still shaking the earth to its core, the question remains: Is there anyone left who can stop him?

The answer lies in the Tone, the Toll, and the Thunder.

Review

Spoilers Contained Below

To all those who despise Goddard,

I’m joking. But seriously if you read this, seriously, you would despise Goddard, but if you don’t you’re probably as crazy as him.

I’m joking again 😂.

Anyway, it took me a lot to write this review because there were soooooo many things that happened and it’s very overwhelming and knowing me I write a lot—heck my review will probably be just as long as the book—–so I’ve been testing myself by putting it off. It’s procrastination at it’s finest 👌🏼Something I learned from college. Joking again. I’m full of jokes I guess.

But before I get into the meat of the book and everything, I just wanted to say how utterly excited I was to read The Toll because the previous books in the series were stellar! They were absolutely amazing and I have never read a dystopian, fantasy book in a while that just hooked me as an Arc of Scythe books have. So I guess you could say I had high expectations for The Toll based on the other books. Now I’m not saying that Neal Shusterman is a bad writer because that’s far from the truth, but I didn’t really love The Toll.

It’ll make more sense as I go into this review, but I feel like my expectations were very high and I didn’t even know how Neal Shusterman could have met them because The Toll could have encompassed any storyline. All I knew going into the Toll was that we were going to find Citra and Rowan and Mira and Faraday. I also knew that the world was going to be in pieces because we had a psycho maniac ruling MidAmerica. But there’s so many things and so many new characters that showed up and some of them didn’t make sense or click int the best way possible. I also feel like some storylines were introduced that could have been introduced earlier in the series as to make sense in the moment of everything because I think just bringing it up in this book didn’t give me any preface as to why or how that made sense. Again, just things didn’t click for me and the solution of the book seemed rushed in some ways. I really would have liked to explore more of the things just brought up, the backstories, and the world in the in-between time when Citra and Rowan were down at sea and Goddard was ruling.

So I think that’s a good segue to talk about the beginning of the book.

The book opens with Grayson being taken by some Authority Interface people who are out of a job because the Thunderhead wasn’t talking to everyone. Out of everyone in the entire series, Greyson is honestly the most dynamic and interesting character. He went from someone who worked for the Thunderhead; got labeled unsavory, but at the same time was still working for the Thunderhead; and was now the only person who had ties to the Thunderhead. That obviously put a target on his back with a lot of people once they heard about him. Most people didn’t believe in his power until the Thunderhead spoke to Greyson and would relay facts about someone to Greyson to say back to that person. I kind of thought the Thunderhead talking to Greyson in this way was like how people sometimes have chips in their ears and someone speaks to them. I don’t know, but it was a weird vibe.

Greyson didn’t really want to be on the radar with people, but then that tonist leader, Mendoza, who used to be a marketer convinced him to use his godly powers to connect with people and give them hope in a dark time. So naturally Greyson became the Toll. I don’t know if it was a coincidence on Neal Shusterman’s part, but well done, well done. The Greyson Tolliver—-the toll is literally in the name. Iconic. I thought it was so strange that people near and far would go to the great and powerful toll to be connected with him and the Thunderhead. It kind of reminded me of how people go see psychics or they line up to see Santa before Christmas to tell him what they want. I also think that Greyson to them was the personification of the Thunderhead and they saw him as this God. But what was funny and I thought very humbling was how Greyson never saw himself as a God, but just a normal man who played this role. In some ways it did seem like he was acting all the time, but I liked when he had those human moments when he was just in his room speaking to the Thunderhead and wondering what his purpose was. HIS SONORITY.

I also always just wondered why the Thunderhead felt such a connection with Greyson out of everyone. The Thunderhead knows everyone, but why choose Grayson to be this Toll that everyone would look up to as so much to call him your “honor” and all that? Like why him? There’s also something very intimate between the Thunderhead and Greyson and you can tell by the way the Thunderhead really cares for Greyson and protects him even if it has to deal with scythe matters (because the Thunderhead can’t necessarily interfere between Scythe and state). The Thunderhead really likes a good loophole and we love that. It really came in handy when Scythe Morrison came into the picture. Scythe Morrison was the Scythe that was tasked to kill Rowan in Thunderhead, but obviously didn’t. So to redeem himself, he was tasked by Goddard to go after this all knowing Toll who was stirring up the tonist world and to glean him. He asked Scythe Morrison because he is known to glean with his hands and this was a job that needed to be done up close and personal because the toll would have a lot of security and people around him, which would make gleaning from afar difficult.

What kind of amazed me was how easy it was for Morrison to get into the toll’s inner circle. I mean, Morrison didn’t even have proper baking credentials to be the new baker, but yet they hired him off of his good looks. I mean, good looks surely help, but baking is the real task at hand. What surprised me though was how Morrison was actually able to pull off being a baker. Since Morrison was a close worker for the toll, he got to discover the ins and outs and how best to glean the toll when the time was right. When Morrison first encountered the toll as just GreysonTolliver, he was very surprised too because Greyson was a small man who seemed like any other person, which to me highlighted how Greyson really had a huge role to everyone, but was living this double life. A Hannah Montana if you will.

Greyson’s very trusting if you ask me and kind of ignorant to Morrison in wanting to glean him. I wanted to scream at him all the time that he shouldn’t be going alone to get a snack in the middle of the night where the one person who wants to kill you is going to be! The Thunderhead would keep giving him subtle warnings too in saying things like, “You should stay,” and Greyson wouldn’t get it. But then when he actually went to the kitchen to get his snack one night, the Thunderhead stopped talking. That was a big clue to Greyson because the Thunderhead can’t interfere in Scythe business, so the silence spoke volumes because that meant Morrison was a scythe. I have to give credit to both Greyson and the Thunderhead—–Greyson for picking up on the clue and the Thunderhead for giving him a heads up.

Morrison was about to glean Greysonand I really thought he was going to do it until Greyson surprised us all and jabbed a fork into Morrison. HE KNEW! Good on you Greyson, you’re not that ignorant 😆!

Greyson ran for his literal life as Morrison tried to chase after him in the dark, all the while I kept thinking, how is anyone not hearing this? I mean, it’s the toll and you would think there would be more or better protection around him. I loved that moment though when Greyson asked the Thunderhead to set off an alarm to buy him time from Morrison. I didn’t know that the Thunderhead could take requests and actually do what you asked, I thought it was just a thing with a mass amount of info.

When Greyson got to his car and Morrison caught his feet, I thought he was a goner! I was holding my breath the whole time until someone came and saved our sweet baby Greyson. He really does have this innocence about him that wants nothing to do with the role he’s been given, but he does it well. I also give a lot of credit for Greyson to have the bravery to walk into Morrison’s cell and lay the law down on him. The Greyson from Thunderhead would be shaking in his bones and would avoid confrontation, especially with a person who tried to kill him, but it really emphasized his growth as a character.

I thought Greyson striking a deal with Morrison was pretty darn smart and a bit risky. Greyson knew that if Morrison went back to Goddard and the toll wasn’t dead, Morrison would have failed. And it wasn’t like they were going to let Morrison free, so he gave him the ultimatum to protect him as a bodyguard or go back to the scythedom and be a laughing stock where they won’t take him seriously anyway. If I was Morrison, I could see the pros and cons of being set free, but at the same time, if I was Greyson, I would be less trusting of Morrison because at any time Morrison could turn on Greyson and still glean him. It took a lot of trust for Grayson to take off the ties that bound Morrison’s hands and I respect his courage to do so because that showed he trusted Morrison with his life. I also think that Greyson knew that Morrison deserved respect and that he wanted that and as a man, I think respect matters more than carrying out a job for someone just to be in good graces.

When Morrison agreed to be Greyson’s bodyguard, Greyson went into hiding because he was claimed to be “dead.” There was this one part after their deal where Morrison said how he was content on being Greyson’s bodyguard until that changed two years later, which felt like a whooping foreshadowing if you asked me. Was Morrison going to betray Greyson?

I don’t know.

Once the divine Toll was out of the picture, he was painted as this martyr savior to all the tonsils and it caused all this anarchy with the tonist world.

If I’m being honest, the tonsits were really out of hand in this book and it just made me wonder why they would ever think doing what they were doing was ever right. I thought it was beyond bonkers that some of them would cut out their tongues and I think they were called sibilant tonsits because all they could do was moan and groan. It’s crazy that any of them would think that cutting out their tongues and moaning to the world as their great resonance sound would be what the toll wanted. Heck, Greyson was fed up with all the sibilant tonsils and wanted them to shut the heck up. It was also kind of overwhelming how much power the tonsits had with destroying places and causing all this destruction because they were doing it for the Toll. As the divine Toll he was, Greyson would appear to these tonsits cults and try to talk them down by convincing them that it was truly him in the flesh. I thought it was pretty darn cool and epic how the Thunderhead would give Greyson birds, thunder, and lightning to magnify his tightness to people. I mean, what a show, Greyson! What a show! When the birds first came down on him, I imagined that scene from Shrek 3 when all the princesses came out and were ready to fight and Snow White had all the animals land on her, but when she pointed they charged 😆. I could imagine little Greyson with his birds surrounding him. Pretty darn clever if you ask me.

The best moment where Greyson just exuded so much power was when he went to that cave where it had those tonsits that set fire to the Amazonian castle building and then Greyson confronted them and was like: “WHO DO YOU SERVE?” The man who was in charge of this tonist cult wasn’t backing down because he was kind of prideful in his cult and having the power, but when Greyson brought down the birds and started yelling at them about who they served, more people knelt before him and I was like, YOU GO GREYSON. The man in charge of the cult wasn’t buying it or bowing to him, but he dared to make intone a sound in defiance. But Greyson wasn’t having it and told Morrison to Glean him and I was like, the Toll life changed him 😆. This moment really highlighted that power change in Greyson and how he really has been through a lot within the last few years with taking on a role that he didn’t even want, but had. But I’m not too hard on Greyson because he genuinely felt bad for gleaning that tonist and he had this conversation with the Thunderhead about how he wanted to be told if he was right or wrong. I think a big part of Greyson also feels how we feel in wanting to know his bigger part in what the Thunderhead’s plan is. At this point, Greyson also sounds defeated and tired because I don’t think he wants to be this big, scary bad guy to people nor a savior, but somehow that’s his role. I thought Greyson’s role was going to be finding Citra and Rowan in the ocean, but I guess not. I kind of still don’t get his role as the great Toll, but I think that maybe it was the Thunderhead’s way of controlling the tonsits, knowing that if the Great Resonance happened, they would lash out, but needed to be brought down. Greyson was the figure that brought them hope and kept them in check. If I’m being honest, I thought Greyson would have a much bigger role than that, but I guess his role was equally important in the grand scheme of what happened.

When Greyson was in these caves, an old “friend” came to meet him.

A new character introduced in this book is Jerico. I quite liked Jerico because Jerico was very dynamic in what Jerico brought to the book. One of the things I admired about his character was how Neal Shusterman wanted to explore the idea of the non binary and not really putting a label on the gender of a person. There was something that was mentioned in how Neal Shusterman didn’t use the pronouns he/she a lot when writing about Jerico because there would be a lot of back and forth and that can be confusing to read, but when he wrote about Jerico, he addressed him by Jerico’s name because that is who a person is—-their namesake and gender doesn’t or shouldn’t matter. I also really liked the concept of a gender fluid place such as Madagascar where people grow up in a culture where gender didn’t matter and anyone could be whomever they choose. There’s so much beauty to that because in modern culture, we are so quick to say “it’s a boy” or “it’s a girl,” whenever a baby is born—-we assign a gender to it—–when we should allow that baby to develop into whoever that baby wants to be. By putting a gender to a child, it really confines them to the norms set up by society in what a boy or what a girl should do, so to be as progressive as to allow kids to grow up to define themselves is a sentiment I think we should do more in the real world. It’s such a prevalent topic too in today’s world with more people going outside the binary of male or female, so I appreciated that Neal tried to bring that into this story as well.

It’s also interesting how everyone in the book also accepted Jerico as Jerico was and they never questioned or made fun of his genders. That’s what we should do as people to be more accepting to understand that people can choose to be who they want to be at any given moment and that should be okay.

One of the bigger things that I liked about Jerico was his relationship with Grayson.

When I read the way Jerico or Greyson looked, felt, or acted around each other, I KNEW. I knew that Greyson liked Jerico by the way his heart would palpitate, and the way Jerico would subtly flirt with him. It was very cute because Greyson would get all nervous and in the background the Thunderhead would make a comment to himself in how Greyson’s heart rate would increase and how Greyson had dreams about Jerico. I sensed the Thunderhead was J-E-A-L-O-U-S!

That was something weird about this book: the moment Thunderhead took over Jerico’s body. I think that was an interesting thing to do because the Thunderhead isn’t this embodiment of anything and to most of us, I think we imagine this big old cloud in the sky, but for the Thunderhead to take on a human form was kind of risky and adventurous. Part of me felt it was unnecessary because it was just done out of jealousy on the Thunderhead’s part to be closer to Greyson. Again, there was something kind of weird in the obsession and possession the Thunderhead had with Greyson in watching over him, caring for him too much for comfort, and he took it a step too far as to invade Jerico’s body like that. It was kind of disrespectful and I felt bad for Jerico. This whole scene kind of reminded me of that Disney movie where there’s this boy who created a tech software with a girl who could sing and brought her to life and then that girl becomes obsessive with him. I’m pretty sure it’s called Pixel Perfect and if you’ve watched it, you might understand what I’m getting at. It was also odd the way the Thunderhead almost kissed him in Jerico’s body but as the Thunderhead. If the Thunderhead wanted to relay information to Greyson, he could have just talked to Grayson, so it made no sense as to embody someone. Kind of weird to me.

Jerico felt very violated and who wouldn’t be?

Jerico’s main purpose in this book was to find Citra and Rowan.

“You could say I find things in the ruins of walls that have already fallen.”

(pg. 284)

We all knew that somewhere in this book someone was going to have to find them. I would have thought Goddard would have been more adamant to keep people out of the Endura area just in case someone or something would come again, but he seemed very lax and assured that nothing would. I guess that also came from a part of him that was too busy with recreating MidAmerica, so he didn’t care.

Possuelo is a Scythe that met Citra when she was on the run to the Amazonian Scythdom. To have him be the one to find them meant a lot in how he helped CItra in her time in need and how he admired her a lot. I think there was a part of Possuelo that knew that there was something more to be found in the Endura waters than just jams because he was very adamant that they keep searching the waters and to hide what they found just in case it turned out to be more.

So we find Citra and Rowan early on, and they get split up because people think Rowan sank Endura.

I thought that when we would find Citra and Rowan, they would open their eyes and come out swinging, but that did not happen. I should have thought that through more because they were frozen over for five years, it’s not like their instincts would come back easily. What was I thinking? 😂

It was even harder for Citra to remember what happened, but it was super cute how she kept asking about Rowan. I liked that she was treated with respect and was given time and space to heal as well as figure out what the world was like now. Rowan? He was stuck in a cell with no sense of time, but he was also worried about his sweet baby Citra. I also know that Possuelo didn’t fully buy that Rowan was the bad guy here because if he was, Possuelo would have gleaned him already, but I think he knew that Rowan had some good in him. Also, if Citra believed in the good in him, that had to count for something. Each day, Citra would want to fight, but she wasn’t physically ready, so she would play this board game with Possuelo (I think) and they wouldn’t fight until she could knock him down. Then came the day when she did knock him down, and I was like, my CITRA is back!

When Citra came back to life, I think this was when the videos of hope started to come out with her broadcasting that she was alive. I think it was this time or after her and Rowan were separated even more? I can’t recall clearly because a lot happened, but yea, Citra agreed to make these videos to challenge people to question Goddard and to know that there was hope with her. It felt a lot like those Katniess Everdeen videos of Katniss being alive and her telling people to stand with her and point your arrows to the capital. Gosh, that felt like AGES ago. But nothing works more wonders than good propaganda from a heroine, right?

Once people knew Citra and Rowan were alive, some were rejoyceful and others were like kill Rowan.

Goddard was the latter for both.

So how is our fine Goddard this year? 🧐

As CRAZY, IDIOTIC as ever! 🤪

Just how I like my Goddard.

Can I have a tall cup of Goddard, double crazy, hold the gleaning?

Anyway, one of the things that I really would have liked more from this book was to know what the heck happened in between the time Rowan and Citra sank and the moment Goddard rose to power. I feel like the book kind of touched on it in how Goddard became the all MidAmerica High Blade and how some places weren’t aligning with his new scythdom practices, but I would have loved to see that process of how he was decided to go into power. I feel like being Goddard he just placed himself in that position and no one was going to dare knock him off his high horse. But I feel like we didn’t get to know the extent of what Goddard did. I thought the world would be absolute RUINS in this five year gap. I literally sat down after Thunderhead and was like, there will be no world for Citra and Rowan to come back to if that MANIAC is in power, so I was kind of surprised that things actually seemed intact. Not to get political on you, but it kind of reminds me of this administration with our president now.

Not going to talk about politics because that’s a touchy subject and people can be so hateful on it, but I think a lot of people were worried about our current president getting voted in because he’s not the most experienced, qualified, or sane person there is. He’s also very biased, very sexist, and a big talker. Kind of like Goddard. I can see the parallels now because I think at the end of the day, Goddard isn’t so much a crazy, villainous person—–but yes, he is absolutely BONKERS—–but there is some good in him deep down like there might be with our current president. Like WAAAAAAYYY DEEEEP DOWN. Like Marinara Trench deep down. Like a sliver. But it’s there. I think we all made the jokes that if our current president was voted in, we would move to Canada, because gosh knows I’ve made those jokes. And those jokes came from a place of uncertainty and fear because of what we know of this person; we thought the world would go to ruins and everything would be messed up. Granted his administration is almost done and he kind of got impeached, but the world isn’t completely terrible or in ruins. There’s some hope to that, but there’s also a lot of divide that has been created due to certain policies or viewpoints the current president has expressed. And like the new order and old order scythes, it created this divide between those who sided with Goddard—-sided with the current president—–and those who sided with the tractional ways. There’s nothing wrong with change and trusting that the president would lead the country to better days, but it has to be done in a humanly kind and respectful way and not zealous and malicious like Goddard or the current president has done in some moments. One of the big things that relates to this world as well as our world is our need to stick together and to be rooted in our values. I think that the old order scythes that stuck together were very brave because during this time, a lot of scythes were compliant to Goddard because they didn’t want to be in his bad graces. I think doing so is weaker than actually standing up for what you know is right. Yes, it can be scary to go against rule, but if it doesn’t align with your beliefs, it’s not going to make you happy and it’s not going to make the world a better place, but just a place where you’re living in it and you’re a spectator to all the disaster that’s going on. One of the Scythes that gave into Goddard and his ways was Scythe Pickford who was such a moral and honest scythe, but she knew the times were changing and she had to align with it or reap the consequences. But that was so hard to read because Scythe Pickford seemed like such a good person who was in this difficult situation where her moral intuition and her moral theory didn’t align.

Society at large kept under the radar of Goddard because if Goddard didn’t notice them, then somehow they were safe. And this also goes with the world today in how we all try to keep under the radar of the current administration—–in not speaking up——because we don’t want to get backlashed on Twitter or something for saying what we honestly feel. So we act complacent and keep our mouth shut to be safe. But being safe in that way is worse than fighting for a better world.

“‘Why tempt the blade?’ had become a common expression. So ever since the rise of Goddard’s new order, and the silence of the Thunderhead, people lived smaller lives. A sort of post-mortal feudalism, where people kept to themselves and didn’t bother with the tumultuous doings of the high and might and things that affected other people, in other places.'”

(pg. 211)

I just found it sad that people “lived smaller lives,” as to “not tempt the blade.” They sheltered themselves and their voices so as to not risk punishment. And no one should confine their voices or their lives out of that much fear or punishment because the world should be a free place to express ourselves—–more so in America, we are a society of freedom of expression and if we “live smaller lives,” we are robbed of that.

The world wasn’t all that terrible, but that had to do with that fear and compliance to an unpredictable power such as Goddard.

One of the moments that really had me quaking in my feet was the moment that he gleaned everyone in that stadium.

I mean, there are no words to that kind of monstrosity.

Goddard knew Citra and Rowan were alive and sent scythes to glean or capture them. They weren’t able to get to any of them. What was so honorific about this scene was all the scythes that laid down their lives for Citra to run away before she was taken. It really highlighted how much faith they had in her to change the world. I loved when Jerico switched robes with her to allow her to run to the boat or something. But what an honorable thing to do. Can we talk about the relationship Jerico and Citra have? It’s honestly one of my favorite friendships in the book because Citra is a touch girl and she’s very open to Jerico in some ways. Jerico seems like the type of person who is more reserved and skeptical of people, so for Jerico to accept Citra and to actually care for her throughout her whole journey is a testament to how much Jerico loved Citra as a leader and a person. He had so much faith in her and it was so cute that he wanted to protect her. There was this one part when the Amazonian temple/castle was coming down and the drones were coming to save people getting hurt, but none of the drones were dropping down for them because Citra was a scythe. So Jerico stabbed or cut him/herself for Citra so that the drone would come and save them both. During this part, I think Jerico said something along the lines of how it would be an honor to cut or hurt himself to save them, which I loved. Not the stabbing or hurting, but the sentiment of sacrifice.

Rowan on the other hand was captured by these AI workers again and then he was captured by Goddard.

Good old Goddard.

Rowan and Goddard have such an interesting relationship.

“‘You really are enjoying yourself, aren’t you?’

“‘Oh, immensely,’ admitted Goddard. ‘You can’t imagine how many times I’ve stood here pondering all the ways I could torment you!'”

(pg. 290)

They have good banter! 😂

If Goddard weren’t so insane, I think a part of him likes Rowan because he trained him himself and Rowan challenges him. But Goddard doesn’t love him that much because he planned to make this whole spectacle to kill him—-lights, stadium tickets, fireworks, everything. It was kind of ridiculous if you ask me. But Goddard was using this as a way to get people to rally with him because if he could capture the “monster who sank Endura,” he would be viewed as the savior.

When Rowan’s locked up, he gets visited by Ayn.

You remember Ayn?

Goddard’s much underappreicated right hand girl who brought 7% of him back to life by attaching his body to Tyger’s body? Yup, that Ayn.

Here’s the thing, Ayn is such an interesting character too. In this whole book, there’s a big part of me that feels this anger, hurt, sadness, and tiredness from Ayn. I feel like she’s tired of going along with Goddard’s ridiculous plans only to be talked down or not appreciated fully. I feel like she’s hurt and sad because she thought bringing back Goddard would give her all this power and happiness to be his right hand woman—-that maybe some part of Goddard would love her for that—-but bringing him back wasn’t everything she ever imagined. That’s the thing though, she should have known Goddard doesn’t have a heart in his body, let alone that that body isn’t his body in the first place to love, let alone love her. Then there’s the part of me that knows she’s angry because Goddard constantly uses her when convenient and she’s angry at how everything turned out. But most importantly, I think she’s angry at herself for killing the one guy she actually liked: Tyger.

I don’t hate Ayn because I think there are circumstances that made her who she was, but it pained me whenever she would talk to the interface with Tyger and she would ask him all these questions as to have a normal conversation with him and then have him not remember anything. It also hurt because each time Tyger would reset and wouldn’t remember who she was again. That just made me ache for Ayn because she wanted to talk to him and the only way that she could be close to him was through this interface. But each time it was like a knife cutting deeper because he wouldn’t recall it again.

But this becomes important later on.

As for now, Rowan finds a way to escape his grand gleaning at the stadium, which ENRAGES Goddard. The guy has anger issues. First, he sank Endura because he didn’t get what he wanted and then because Rowan escaped, he gleaned everyone who came to witness it as a way to say that anyone there was being uncouth and malicious to enjoy in a scythe thing such as a gleaning.

My mouth just dropped and so did my heart! 😰

A WHOLE FREAKING STADIUM of people.

A STADIUM.

People were running and I was egging them on to go because by no means was it their fault for being there; They were just an unfortunate product of Goddard’s overreaction.

When this happened, all the scythdomes looked to Goddard with ill-ease and repulsion as to why he would do such a thing and that lowered their trust in him. But what I really liked about this moment was when that one scythe saw all that was happpning and he decided to side with Citra and not Goddard the crazy.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this book was getting a little bit of a backstory of Goddard. I love a good backstory because it puts into perspective how and why the person turned out the way they did. I think it all has to do with circumstances and how you are made to be who you are. It would have been interesting to know more aboutt Goddard as a child, but it’s an interesting plot line to bring up this whole mars thing.

So when Citra was under the supervision of Tenkamnin and these Amazonian Scythes, they gave her a mission to find out this big secret deep within the Thunderhead. This just made me wonder that if they knew that there was a big secret in the Thunderhead, why couldn’t they just tell her what it was and what she was looking for in the first place? I didn’t know what she was doing, but then this whole Mars subplot came about.

This is one of the reasons why I said in the beginning of this book that some things didn’t click for me. This was what didn’t make sense because if there was this whole Mars plot, I think it should have been introduced earlier in the series or should have been left out completely because I didn’t understand how it had anything to do with what the book revolved around for the longest time. To me, the Mars plot wasn’t significant to the plot of what the series was and it seemed like a scapegoat to get the story along or to get it somewhere else and I wasn’t really here for it.

So apparently, when earth was becoming overpopulated, the Thunderhead tried this experiment where they had people live on mars. But this didn’t work out because someone ruined the experiment and everyone had to go back to earth.

Who was this someone?

Carson Lusk?

Ring a bell?

Nope.

Because Carson Lusk is actually Goddard, which is a testament to how freaking old he is! And how he was crazy even back then. What doesn’t make sense to me is why Carson Lusk would do such a thing even back then? Did he want people on earth to control them to glean? How was he able to easily change his name? How was he able to become a scythe? Who made him a scythe? The Thunderhead surely knew that Goddard was Carson Lusk, but what changed in him to make him who he was? I’m not sure. But Carson Lusk was the last living person on Mars or the red planet before that experiment failed.

So that’s why no one could live on the other planets anymore because it didn’t work the first time. But that was because Goddard was there.

The plan or the solution to Goddard ruling MidAmerica and to escape his rule is to venture out into space and try again.

It just seemed like a scapegoat and an easy fix to everything this series built up to, you know?

It also seemed like we were running away from our problems rather than facing them head on because if Goddard didn’t discover the Marquesas Islands and Kwajalein where everyone was on, then he wouldn’t have had that confrontation with them and they would have all just had a clean getaway.

Which brings me to the island of Noll and the Murina, Faraday, and Loriana. Loriana is another new character introduced and she too worked as a Nimbus Agent until she got let go by the Thunderhead. Like a lot of people Loriana lost her purpose and didn’t know what to do with herself, so she was confused until this opportunity presented herself in the form of Audra Hilliard who got these coordinates from the Thunderhead who told the Toll who relayed them to her. The coordinates were given to them at the beginning of the book when Greyson was captured, but then released. So Hilliard, thinking this was her duty to the Thunderhead, set forth with a group of former Nimbus Agents to the islands and Loriana was one of them.

But before they got there, there was, of course, Murina and Faraday. When they got to the islands they were met with bombs and missiles that tried to take them down because the islands were heavily guarded. What was kind of anticlimactic to me was how this whole door as the backup to if the scythdome failed was locked and only two scythes could open it. There was only Faraday, so it was a big let down that he couldn’t do so. So they went into this overall funk where Murina and Faraday felt isolated and lost with what they had to do because no one else knew they were there and so they had no way out.

Until Hilliard and Loriana came. The thing with this arrival was that there was much more devastation in the way that the bombs and missiles caused a lot of the former Nimbus agents to sink and that just broke my heart. What really just shattered it to pieces was how Hilliard took it. She thought it was all her fault because she recruited and entrusted all these people to come with her and most of them ended up losing their lives to something they didn’t even know was going to be a big deal yet. There were 977 people on that ship and only 143 survived. That had to suck to carry that much loss with you and to feel like you were responsible for it. But by no means was it her fault because those people went with her and knew that it was a risk. I just wanted to hug her. The way Neal Shusterman wrote this scene was very reflective and dark when Hilliard was looking at the ocean where everyone sank and how she thought the ocean was inviting her so she walked into the ocean.

No one stopped her, which was DUMB, like if you see someone walking into the ocean to drown herself, don’t let her! She was so overwhelmed with her sadness and guilt, that she needed a hug and a friend to talk to. But I could see why Hilliard would do it because she felt like she couldn’t live with herself. But people were DUMB because they thought she was “Just going for a swim.” A swim? At night? Walking into the ocean? Do I have to write it out for you? But it really touched on the idea of self-gleaning and how people in the mortal age (today’s age) do that because they feel this all encompassing pain. But people then don’t feel that because their nannites heal them or take away their pain and it’s such an interesting concept that the nannites can heal even emotional wounds. But I guess, this wound was a wound too great.

When Lorinana and her crew came, Faraday gave much more interest to her and then for a period of time he really retreated from the world. I felt bad for Murina because she gave her all into this mission and she was disrespected and ignored by Faraday. But I think Faraday was just going through a lot because he was a scythe that has known a lot of loss and pain, and to be taken out of that world on an isolated island can change a man to make him kind of stubborn and crazy. The Faraday that was on Kwajalein wasn’t the Faraday I have grown to love. I didn’t like the way he would treat Murina when she was trying so hard to reach out to him and give him tomatoes and all that stuff. When Citra finally came to the island too, Faraday was so quick to open the door that he didn’t even call Murina to witness it and that made me ache for her. She sacrificed her whole life and risked going there with him to see this back up plan room and he didn’t even care to ask her to come. I would be highly offended.

But no matter what, she was always sweet enough to check in with him and bring him news no matter if he said he didn’t care to hear it. I mean, get you a friend who cares about your mental health as much as she did. One of the better moments between them was when she actually came bearing good news to him that CItra was alive because it just lit up Faraday in the best way possible. It was the hope that he was holding onto after getting all this news that Goddard was ruling and Curie sacrificed herself nobly. When Faraday and Citra reunited, it was compeltey funny and cute because she didn’t recognize him in his overgrown beard and ragtags. I probably wouldn’t have either.

Another thing with Murina was this idea that she like liked Faraday, which I wasn’t here for. I like Faraday and Curie, but that couldn’t be a thing anymore 😢. They joked about liking each other and being in a relationship, but I wasn’t buying it completely. Maybe Murina had feelings deep down for Faraday out of love and respect, but I think as she saw his true colors, it turned to resentment and then understanding that he was going through the gutter. But she was going through it too and no one asked her at any time how she felt.

She’s a much stronger person that people give her credit for. One of the moments I loved between Faraday and Murina was when he recognized how wrong he was for treating her and leaving her out and good on him for rectifying those mistakes. To make up for it, he tried to give Murina Scythe Anastasia’s ring so she could be the scythe that she was always meant to be. Murina declined because that wasn’t her path anymore and I thought that that was such a bold thing to acknowledge and turn down. Murina wanted to be a scythe for a long time, so for her to move on and know the power that that ring had, made her more powerful for her choice.

As I hinted at earlier, Citra, Rowan, Greyson, Morrison, and Jerico all found their way to this island thanks to the help of the Thunderhead.

He should honestly be a sponsor for this whole book 😅.

Citra, Rowan, Greyson, Morrison, and Jerico all came by means of a boat to the islands. Rowan came with a bunch of toll bodies.

What? Yea, I know.

On Kwajalein they were creating a civilization of sorts and building rocket ships to launch to space. Part of Loriana’s team was this guy named Skyroka and he was nuisance at best and always kept trying to assert his power, but we all knew he wasn’t the one in charge. It’s funny how everyone gave him the busy work to make him feel important when they were actually the ones doing the important things. Loriana was entrusted by the Thunderhead to carry out this grand plan to make the ships, and it made me wonder why her out of everyone? Kind of makes me want to know her backstory a bit more.

But she did her job well as much as she could.

I didn’t really know what the Thunderhead’s plan was until the whole ship and mars plot were brought up. At first, I thought we were going to create a civilization on these faraway islands to escape Goddard and rise to power. Then when the time was right and under Faraday’s leadership, this army of sorts would storm MidAmerica and fight back to take the land or that the Kwajalein would be used as a safe haven away from Goddard. I also thought the islands might be the new Endura because it was where the founding scythes formed and it would make the perfect place to start again with the old order ways. If the book went any of these routes, yea it would have been predictable to some extent, but it would have made more sense than all of them just flying the heck out of each in the bigger “see you later.”

Goddard finds these islands because gosh knows this dumb idiot at one of the peers told Goddard to be under his good graces. I wanted to slap that guy upside the head because Citra trusted him and here he was betraying her.

If I’m being honest, I really thought that the ending was going to be more epic than it was. I wanted a big fight with Goddard where Rowan and Citra and Faraday faced him. I wanted the resolution to be Faraday becoming the new High Blade or Citra. I wanted Rowan’s name to be cleared. I wanted more resolution than running away.

We didn’t get any of that.

There was no fight with Goddard, but his presence on this whole end battle with him was like an irritating bee flying in the sky again like he did in Thunderhead. All he did was say, “shoot here” or “shoot there,” like a coward he was. Like get down there and fight like a man!

I really thought that the ending of Goddard was going to end with a bang because there should be nothing less for him. And gosh, how AMAZING would it have been if Rowan gleaned him a second time, but actually the full figure? It would have been a full circle moment. And I get that it’s a classic troupe to do such a thing, but it’s what would have made a good story if you ask me. But you know, the author knows best and it’s his story to tell and if this is the way he wanted to tell it and try something not so confrontational, that’s fine. I just think that the end was kind of dull without that big confrontation.

The way Goddard ended was when he was thrust in the heart by Ayn when he was flying around commanding things. He wasn’t dead, but deadish and then afterwards, Ayn replaced his memories with Tygers. I thought it was a sweet ending for Ayn because it gives the hope that she might be okay and that she could create a life with Tyger again. Heck, it was his body. But that has to be kind of weird. So I get why maybe Goddard wasn’t full on out killed so Ayn could have her ending, but I also would have loved at least some confrontation with Goddard and everyone because I live for those kinds of things. I also thought Ayn being the one to end Goddard was a surprisingly fitting way to end his storyline. It actually worked because Ayn was the one to bring him back, so for her to take that away from him was also full circle.

But while Goddard was trying to blast them all to pieces, they were all trying to fly the heck out of there. But Jerico and Grayson decided to remain on the island and not go to space, which is cute because at least we know that there might also be a future for them.

Something I forgot to mention with these ships is the idea of Cirrus. Another reincarnation of the Thunderhead. Kind of like a Siri or an Alexa if you ask me, but in body form. It’s the all knowing guide as they make their trek across the universe. Again, it was kind of odd that the Thunderhead could embody a thing such as Cirrus or why Cirrus existed? It was just random to me and I didn’t really like the whole Cirrus thing, but I think all space movies have a Cirrus in some ways so maybe that’s why he was included. It also makes me wonder if that’s the Thunderhead’s way of reaching beyond just earth. Also in these ships, as mentioned earlier are these dead bodies and dead toll bodies because they are going to put them on these planets to try to live there. They’re more like deadish, and it kind of works in the way that Citra and Rowan were cold and deadish on the bottom of the ocean and then revived. So they’re cold on the ship and they can be revived on these planets to live. Kind of weird, but I guess so.

Along the way of trying to fly off, Citra gets blasted and this creates this whole dramatic scene where Rowan doesn’t want to go if Citra’s not there with him, but the whole fate of the ship lies with Rowan. Rowan goes naturally because he wants to be with Citra and I found it sweet that he would spend all those years in isolation (with Cirrus) just so he could arrive at this planet one day to be with Citra. The Rowan who landed on that planet is older and when Citra sees him, it’s backlit by a red light, which hinted that they arrived. But Rowan still loved her and that mattered a lot more to me.

Honestly, the ending wasn’t at all what I expected and I can’t say I fully liked it either. Not to say it was bad writing because it wasn’t, but a lot of things unresolved.

What happens to MidAmerica? What happens to the Sycthedom? Is the sycthedom dismantled because they figure that they can’t glean people in such a way? Are they going to start flying people more across the galaxy to live and control the population instead of gleaning? What happened to this new order and old order division?

What happened with Rowan’s family and Citra’s family in the plot? Not that they are completely relevant, but their families sure meant a lot to them and were mentioned a couple of times, so where were they? Also, what became of Xenocrates’ infamous daughter in the first book? She’s also not that relevant either, but I feel like there can be something there with the daughter that would be fun to explore.

Does the Thunderhead ever talk back to the people again or is he still labeling people unsavory? Or did the Thunderhead leave the chat because he went to space? What will happen to the tonsils?

As for Greyson, he stopped talking to the Thunderhead because of the way Greyson never truly forgave it for taking over Jerico’s body. Greyson also needed space to heal and to figure things out on his own without all that monoritization and coddling. I say good for Grayson to take his life and power back for himself.

Also, I didn’t really like how it was glazed over so quickly when Rowan and Citra gave up being scythes. I guess that’s feasible, but it just seemed like such a FAST PASS into leaving all their issues behind. Yea, I want them to be happy and not glean people because that’s morbid as heck, but it was again, anticlimactic and seemed too easy.

I don’t know.

Anyway, it was an interesting conclusion to this series, but not my favorite end to a series. That’s not to say I do not like Neal Shusterman or his writing, because he’s a gosh darn genius and a fabulous author. This book just wasn’t my favorite and that’s okay. Some books are your favorite and some are not. But I did enjoy the series as an overall whole because the plot line and the characters were interesting. Also, what an interesting idea in the first place. I will definitely read other Neal Shusterman books 😊.

Anyway, did you feel the same way I did about this book? Did you like the conclusion? What was your favorite part? Least favorite part? Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕

I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and wherever you might be reading this.

And as always, with love,

Rating

3.56 Full Bloom Flowers

Characters: So many new characters are introduced with this book and it can be a bit overwhelming with how much, but they all brought something interesting to the table. I also enjoyed seeing some of the backstories and arcs of the existing characters.

Plot: Not at all what I expected . . . some in a good way and some in a confusing way. I felt like some things could have been fleshed out more to be resolved. But I did enjoy the overall series .

Writing: Neal Shusterman has a distinct voice that can make any plot sound amazing.

Action: I would say there was not a lot of action per say, but lots of content.

Romance: Not a lot of romance, but it had its cute moments.