Rating: ★★★★★
Title: Thunderhead
Author: Neal Shusterman
Non-Spoiler Book Review
*** Please note, this book review is for the sequel to Scythe. If you have not read that book, please see my review for the first book in the series here.
Stunned.
My brain is reeling from the end of this book. I’m not sure I can even write a coherent review in its aftermath.
Foolishly, I did not purchase “The Toll” yet and now have to wait DAYS for it to arrive. Don’t be like me. Buy all three books at once and spare yourself this agony.
This book was insane. Did I binge read a 504 page book in two days? Yes. Yes, I did. It couldn’t be helped. It was THAT riveting.
This was a masterpiece of a book. Everything you could want in a sci-fi dystopia. I need to read the next book STAT.
I’m going to write a more in depth review that contains spoilers below…. scroll past the description if you want to read them. Otherwise, if you want no spoilers… you can just go ahead and get the book on Amazon by clicking the button below.
Book Description
Rowan has gone rogue, and has taken it upon himself to put the Scythedom through a trial by fire. Literally. In the year since Winter Conclave, he has gone off-grid, and has been striking out against corrupt scythes—not only in MidMerica, but across the entire continent. He is a dark folk hero now—“Scythe Lucifer”—a vigilante taking down corrupt scythes in flames.
Citra, now a junior scythe under Scythe Curie, sees the corruption and wants to help change it from the inside out, but is thwarted at every turn, and threatened by the “new order” scythes. Realizing she cannot do this alone—or even with the help of Scythe Curie and Faraday, she does the unthinkable, and risks being “deadish” so she can communicate with the Thunderhead—the only being on earth wise enough to solve the dire problems of a perfect world. But will it help solve those problems, or simply watch as perfection goes into decline?
BOOK REVIEW WITH SPOILERS
CAUTION TONS OF SPOILERS BELOW
— What I loved —-
The Thunderhead is now definitely one of my favorite characters in this world. Endearing and yet terrifying. The growth of all the characters (and the introduction of Greyson) were all awesome. I NEED MORE!!!
—What drove me INSANE —–
Insane in a good way – the whole book is really edge-of-your-seat. The fate of The Grandslayers was really nail-biting.
—- L’amour —–
I’ve been waiting for Rowan and Citra to get their chance to be together. BUT Agh, I wish it was under less horrific circumstances. But at least there was that one shred of happiness in an otherwise BRUTAL ending.
—– The ONE thing I didn’t Love —-
I’m supposed to believe that Rowan – the Scythe Lucifer who escaped an *entire conclave* of Scythes couldn’t manage to escape at any time during his two week training sessions where his only formidable captor was Scythe Rand? This didn’t seem plausible to me. He wasn’t injured enough to warrant not being able to escape. Two weeks is plenty of time for him to have found a way to knock out his friend, glean Rand and her thugs, and be on his merry way. All of this BEFORE Goddard was even revived. Then all that additional time with Goddard? Really? No trying to escape? The circumstances around this period of time didn’t fit with the rest of his character. There should have been some other explanation given. But, I will choose to suspend disbelief for the sake of the rest of the story… which was AH-MAZING!
—- Devastating Loss of a Beloved Character —-
WHYYYYYYYYY Scythe Curie’s end was foreshadowed but I refused to believe it. Her sacrifice to save Scythe Anastasia was on point with her character and made it so much harder to watch her go.