User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
um hello where is this book??????????
(y'all i posted this in january, i know when the book is coming out now lol)
Rating: really liked it
wow
Rating: really liked it
Am I... finally catching up?!
Update: No she wasn't. I've "been reading" this book since August 2020. Finishing it now for my "Pile of Shame" Challenge!
Rating: really liked it
I have read my way through 315 books to bring you my
Top 10 Books of the Year (video) .
Now you know that this one made the cut, check out
my video review to see the others!
ok. Looks like they are REALLY serious about no spoilers... so I'll just say -
this was everything. Literally blown away, socks knocked off.
Everything.
My Review- now that the book is out ...can’t see why I should concern myself with humankind at all.
Rowan and Citra were last seen three years ago, at the sinking of the Scythe island.
Nearly all of the scythes have passed away, and any witnesses know well enough what narrative they should follow.
Scythe Goddard is back (well, in a way) and despite the impulsiveness of his new body, he is bound and determined to expand the reaches of his power.
Meanwhile Grayson Tolliver is the only human on earth that the Thunderhead is willing to talk to and together they must combat Scythe Goddard's reach.
Except, the Thunderhead cannot work against a scythe, it must find a way to guide the unguideable.
And Scythe Farraday finds himself increasingly restless on an abandoned island (well, except for his assistant)...but that island won't be lonely for much longer.
There is a hint of change on the wind, and it's coming ever closer.
You can't expose a lie without first shattering the will to believe it. That is why leading people to truth is so much more effective than merely telling them.
Ahhh. This book was SO dang good.
I really love how Shusterman wove together all of these competing storylines in such a way that I never wanted to speed through one of them to "get to the good part" - they were ALL good parts.
I especially loved Citra's arc - her character started off so different from where it ended but it all happened so naturally that I was in absolute love with her "grown-up" self.
I definitely think Rowan should've gotten a bit more screen-time. He's one of my favorites, and I would've loved to see him in more scenes. But ah, well. Can't have everything!
I do wish that the time-frame was a little clearer in this one.
I did struggle a bit to follow at first because we start at one time, jump around a bit, and eventually all the characters end up together. (Note: I don't mean time travel, just the one set is at present, another storyline is telling us what happened a year ago, etc).
It made sense in the end, but wow was I surprised the first time that happened!
Overall, I am incredibly pleased with this series - and that ending! I definitely didn't see it coming!!
With many thinks to Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers and Neal Shusterman for sending me a free, ARC in exchange for an honest review. All quotes come from a published copy, NOT from my ARC.YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads
Rating: really liked it
Edited 10/10/19:
neal, why?
(full review to come)
-----------
The Toll?
......The [Greyson] Toll-iver.
SAVE MY CINNAMON ROLLS.
Rating: really liked it
the best thing about this book is the storytelling/writing. without a doubt.
shusterman is a genius with how he weaves each of the characters, old and new, having their paths flirt with each other until they finally intertwine. there are so many moving parts to the conclusion of this series that it feels like the reader is watching a puzzle being completed, with each piece slowing finding its home until the final result is realised. its just so masterfully done that i cant help but praise the writing and how the story is told (so much so that i want to round up my rating).
that being said, i have finally become tired of the story itself (luckily, its now over). i just think the novelty wore off after the second book and this installment is much longer and drawn-out than it needs to be, in my opinion. it also doesnt help that the reason i loved this story to begin with (citra and rowen and how they interact with each other) is not present for 95% of this novel. its a personal pet peeve when stories separate the main characters, so i just wasnt enjoying that aspect of the plot.
i do appreciate how everything is resolved and i think many fans of the series will like the conclusion but, unfortunately, i just felt a little less invested in this than i was at the beginning of the series.
↠ 3.5 stars
Rating: really liked it
I really ought to give this book 1 star for Jeri alone. If you don’t know what "tokenism" is, you will understand this term after reading The Toll.
But let me get to the novel in general first, before I start ranting about Jeri specifically.
When I finished rereading Thunderhead a couple of days ago, I did so with trepidation and excitement. What will come out of the thrilling cliff-hangers, I thought? Where will Goddard lead his New Order? What is the future of the Scythedom? How will humanity handle the absence of the Thunderhead in its lives? What will the roles of Rowan and Citra be, if they do indeed survive? Will humanity reform itself in any kind of profound way? How will people handle the impending overpopulation problem, if left to their own devices?
What Shusterman delivered in The Toll, was a messy, overlong, boring, meandering novel that also tried to be a commentary on the present day American political climate, or so it seemed. It culminated in the ending that was both neatly predictable and satisfying and at the same time a total copout.
The pacing and plot structure needed more work. There was a ton of characters introduced that ultimately had no bearing on the story arc. They lived, they did some inconsequential busy work, they died, or whatever. Easily, 200 pages could have been trimmed away. The whole Toll story line while it dabbled in an interesting idea of how religions are born, was long and sucked a lot of oxygen out of the narrative. Citra and Rowan had minimal, and mostly thankless, roles of star-crossed lovers to play in this novel, and not much else.
But the most massive disappointment for me was by far the development of Goddard. I truly couldn't understand how he managed to consolidate his power, being a nonsensical tantrum-y psycho mass-killing villain that he was in The Toll. Granted, there hadn’t been much to his agenda in either Scythe or Thunderhead, but here, in The Toll was an opportunity for Goddard to be explained. Goddard had such a strong following, but why? There is a paragraph in this novel that actually could have been a great motivator for following someone like Goddard. What IS an immortal humanity without scythes, without the threat of death, the only thing that stirs the blood of people, the only limitation and the only fear? This is the question at the a core of this series, IMO, but the way Shusterman answered it in the end, was no answer at all. In fact, the resolution obliterated any justification for ever considering creating the Scythedom with its violent methods in the first place.
Also not explained were changes in the rules of this world with Goddard suddenly able to run economies and have new administrative powers? I think Shusterman’s desire to bring current events and current president into the story to draw parallels changed his original world building to something that makes no sense at all.
Now, Jeri. Oh, Jeri. Jeri is the only gender-fluid person ever introduced in this series, and, the way I saw it, this character's main role was to be a mouthpiece for this particular “issue” Shusterman had become suddenly and inexplicably interested in, and be objectified and used. You could literally tell Jeri was grafted on top of the narrative to deliver "the message", because there was nothing else for this character to do! That in this futuristic world, where people don’t die, can rejuvenate and reinvent themselves, have multiple families and lives and have an ample opportunity to explore everyone and everything, anyone would need a lecture on gender-fluidity, was absurd! I literally cringed in embarrassment for Shusterman while reading Jeri’s TED talks on the subject of the “gender fluid people are people too” variety. This is not The Handmaid’s Tale, for goodness’ sake, we all have already understood that all social constructs like class, gender, race were a thing of the past in this series. Even though, it must be said, Shusterman himself never brought up any other sexual identity other than cis in the previous installments. Which makes Jeri's character even more questionable. I am going to assume that Shusterman came to creating Jeri from a well-meaning place, but it sure turned into an awkward, earnest, exploitative disaster, if you ask me.
A letdown.
Rating: really liked it
"The human heart is rarely practical." "The Toll doesn't like almonds."
A solid ending for one of the best fantasy series I've come across. Although I loved the first two books, before diving in to The Toll, I was little agitated about how this would end. Considering how things progressed up to now, where it was continuously implied that population growth was a problem without a solution in the age of immortality, I thought this could end only one of two ways: either with with a lot of death (which would be depressing) or getting rid of Scythdom (which would be unrealistic). Turns out Shusterman had other, and much more satisfying, alternatives in mind.
"No one cared about a fail-safe until something failed." If you loved the first two books, you're going to find everything that was good, are still here: interesting plotline, amazing characters, and the perfect pace. It does get substantially complex here, but when the complexity makes sense as it does with this, it transcends the reading experience. Even with the intended ending being implied around halfway, the author maintains enough variables to introduce odd turns right till the end. The number of parallel plot-lines have also being increased, and, all of them converges beautifully towards the ending. Shusterman has a perfect way of tying up loose ends.
"Important work often loses the spotlight to self-important people." However, this is the first book I've given a 4-star rating in this series. I was compelled to give five stars to the first, entirely based on the unique plot line and that ending. The second one improved a lot compared to the first, and it was deserving of a perfect rating. But with this one, I'm taking out a single star out for two main reasons. Maintaining the timeline was somewhat difficult with this one. The rotation of POVs caused going back and forth in times, even years at a time, which was a little difficult to keep up with at times. The second reason is the ending of the villains: it could've been a little more satisfying.
"Rumors are like rain through an old roof. The effort of finding the source is greater than the cost of a new roof." I still cannot believe how much I enjoyed this series. I was never a big fan of dystopia before, but I loved everything about this. Although this is the last book of Arc of a Scythe, I really hope there will be a spin-off series.
"Credit where credit is due."
Rating: really liked it
I can hear Door’s lyrics playing in my head. “ This is the end my beautiful friend, this is the end, my only friend”
All the good things need to end at someday. Even SPN after 15 freaking crazy ride seasons later has to end. This is the second emotional thing I had to endure. First one is saying goodbye to Winchester brothers and the second one is finishing this book, waving at those beautiful characters.
So I’m giving my full five gazillion shiny stars for the love of Scythedom, Rowan, Citra, Goddard, Anastasia, Jerico ( my favorite newcomer) and all those remarkable characters, fantastic word building, creatively visualized dystopian atmosphere, provocative political system criticism ( you may see all those reflections of The US’s political climate change which are intelligently inserted inside this book.)
I feel a little sad reading lesser parts about Rowan and Citra because they grow on me and they were easily likable characters. I feel like they were my nieces, slowly becoming mature, fighting against all those biggest challenges, obstacles and mostly defeating evil genius minds and their own securities. I wish the author may decide to write a new special sequel just for those lovely protagonists. But I found the decision not to see so much parts about them is necessary because I’m a big fan of apocalyptic stories that future of the entire world is depending only one person’s powers kind of heroism. It’s absurd, nonsense and only can be seen and turned into a box office hits at Michael Bay’s %0 rotten tomatoes pointed movies.
The ending was REMARKABLE, SO SATISFYING! I couldn’t think any better conclusion. That’s why Neal Shusterman is genius author who is always million steps ahead from the readers. You cannot walk to catch his brilliance. You have to run a marathon but it’s totally worth it!
I didn’t cry so much since Lost’s final episode ( not for missing the series, the ending was ridiculously absurd and painful, worse than GOT’s final)
I loved this series! I loved those characters! I loved every pieces of this author’s brain cells, his political ideas, his sarcastic criticism ( if he runs for presidency, I’ll definitely vote for him)
This series will be always on my mind like Georgia and they will be my all time favorite books!
Rating: really liked it
HANDS DOWN ONE OF MY FAVORITE SERIES EVER
I'm crying, I'm heartbroken and I can't believe that this is over. No more books about this wonderful world and about this amazing characters.
Go read this books everyone. Go read them because I assure you that it's an amazing series with a great story and plot twists that will leave you blown way.
Rating: really liked it
I'm underwhelmed.
And I'm glad that this is now finally over.
I think I would've DNF'd it had I not formed such an attachment to the previous two books, which were 5-star reads for me.
I'm being generous with the 3-star rating is what I'm saying.
So much of this felt so unnecessary, so detailed for the sake of having detail and so crammed with information that did not need to be there. I haven't felt like I gained anything with the added characters, the added ramblings, politics and world building. It didn't feel concise like
Scythe or
Thunderhead did.
It dragged. I wanted more of Scythe Faraday, Rowan and Citra. And though I enjoyed some of the other additions, and rather then spending some time with them and developing their characteristics, we had more characters who’s perspective we had to read from, and really I would've been okay had I not known about some of the rest.
All in all, I ploughed through and it wasn't worth much in the end.
—————————————————
Fear not, glean not. We have a cover and a blurb, all hail!
—————————————————
But why do we not have a release date for this? A cover? Any kind of info whatsoever?
Are they purposely leaving us in the dark to mess with our heads?
Well, it's working, now give me some damn details that I can hold on to. I beggo!
Rating: really liked it
my skin is clear, my crops are thriving, I have 20/20 vision, my grades are up, the sun is shining, I feel so alive, world order has been restored
Rating: really liked it
The saga is over!
This whole series is very good – 5 stars all the way and highly recommended to fans of YA Dystopian fiction. Book 2 (Thunderhead) is one of my favorite books of the last few years. So, I was very excited to get this ARC from Simon and Schuster to get a chance to finish this tell a bit ahead of time. I am pleased to get this review out on the eve of the book’s release and I hope it gets fans of the series excited to finish the journey.
I do have to say that book three was good but did not quite blow me away like the other two. While book 1 and 2 were both were easily 5 stars for me, The Toll is only 4 stars. Do not take this too hard if you have been looking forward to it - 4 stars is still very good! It is just that the first two built up so much and then hit me in the feels with such a powerful one-two punch that the third book needed to really bang the story home to get 5 stars. It ended up being a fine resolution, but had just slightly less urgency, emotion, shock, etc. etc. etc. than the first two books.
There is resolution for the characters we know. And, surprisingly enough in the last stages of this story, introduction of characters we don’t. Overall, it was a fun and interesting journey and I think in general people will be satisfied with where everyone ends up – even if it is not quite where you expected (and, for me, everything about this book ended up being totally unexpected, which is a very good thing!)
There is lots of commentary in this book on current social and political topics. Some of it is tongue in cheek, some of it is a bit more blatant. (i.e. at one point a character says something along the lines of “only idiots build walls to keep people out”) With Dystopian you expect this sort of commentary and I think throughout it has been fairly well balanced between commentary and story. But, if I had to give an opinion, the commentary was the heaviest in the third book.
Book three, as well as the whole series, has been unique and wonderful. It seems easy to get into a rut with a genre – especially the wildly popular YA Dystopia. Or, to make it so confusing that it isn’t even fun to read (I am looking at you Maze Runner series). But, nothing was wrong with this series – it was a delight and I am sad it is over. I have heard that Schusterman has some other great books out there and I will definitely be tracking them down!
Rating: really liked it
"It is our nature to surpass nature."
I have had really good luck with YA novels lately. And this one was no exception. In spite of the fact that I was slightly pouty for not getting an ARC, I loved this conclusion with my entire heart.
At this point, It's been an entire year and a half since I read
Scythe. That book holds a very special place in my heart. It marks the calm before the storm in my life. A week or two after reading
Scythe, I read
Thunderhead and then completely forgot about this series until a year later, this book came out.
So, what's this book about The Toll follows the main characters around three years after the ending of
Thunderhead. Goddard has taken over. Scythe Anastatia and Scythe Lucifer are dead. The Thunderhead has gone silent and marked everyone unsavory. Basically, everything is forked, as is the norm in YA conclusions. And now, the heroes and heroines and saviors of both genders must save the world!
It probably would have been a good idea to re-read or skim the previous two books before diving into this but I am not good at looking before leaping so...
Fortunately, I have a surprisingly good memory and was able to figure out what was going on and re-remember all the characters in record time.
Once I was into this book, I was forking into it. I couldn't put it down. I don't want to spoil but all I can say is that this book moves fast. It keeps the reader hooked and has a brilliant, satisfying ending.
I couldn't have asked for a better conclusion.
Bottom Line:
5 Stars
Age Rating - [ R ]
Content Screening (Spoilers)
Educational Value (2/5) - [Ways to kill people... yikes...]
Positive Messages (3/5) - [Perserverance, Justice, Kindness]
Sex (0/0)
Langauge (0/0)
Drinking/Drugs (3/5) - [Alcohol consumption, Sedative Drugs, Medicinal Drugs, Recreational Drugs]
Trigger and Content Warnings - Loss of a loved one, Claustrophobia, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Disease, Death, Murder, Fire
Reps - [Genderfluidity]
Publication Date: November 5th, 2019
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Genre: YA/Science Fiction
➵
Scythe (#1) - ★★★★☆
➵
Thunderhead (#2) - ★★★★★
➵
The Toll (#3) - ★★★★★
*************
IT WAS SOOOO GOOD
*************
AND SO IT BEGINSSSSSSSS
*************
Happy Pub Date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*************
my request has been declined
*************
THE ARCS ARE BEING MAILED OUT
GIMMEGIMMEGIMME
*************
It's nearly 600 Pages long!!
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I am so surprised (and disappointed?) that this cover isn't blue. This book did not follow the YA cover rule! (Red, Blue, Green)
*************
We have a cover and it's f**king gorgeous but that's not the matter at hand.
APPARENTLY... THERE WERE MANUSCRIPTS AT BOOKCON
DID YOU HEAR ME?
MAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNUUUUUUUUSCCCCCCCCCCRRRRRRRRRIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPPTTTTTTTTTTSSSSSSSSSSS
i will trade any book or limb i own for a manuscript. Need a kidney? Hit me up
*************
November of 2019..
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Rating: really liked it
Published 2019.
It better be after that cliffhanger!! I NEED TO KNOW!
