The Toll by Neal Shusterman

From Goodreads, 

"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 - The Toll 

Awards and Nominations:

• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2019)

After reading Scythe I was beyond excited to read the rest of the series.  Last week I wrote about Thunderhead getting stuck in the middle child situation where it was a bridge between the first opening book and the final book of the series that was trying to finish the series with a bang.  After finishing The Toll I feel that I can easily say that Scythe was by far the best book and the series went downhill after it. 

The Toll takes place after Endura sank.  The book alternates time frames and takes place from a year after the sinking to three years.  The book follows the path of the original characters Citra and Rowan.  It also follows Scythe Faraday and his quest with Munira.  We also learn more about Greyson Tolliver, or The Toll's, role that the Thunderhead has bestowed upon him.  We also meet a few new minor characters that will interact and play a roll in the grand finale.  The entire story is based around the question of will Scythe Goddard be stopped. 

I really wish that I liked this book more than I did.  Much like Thunderhead, I felt this book was written in a hurry and was thrown together.  I could never tell how many years out from the sinking of Endura the characters were because the book definitely jumped around on the timeline.  All of these books are written into parts.  It helps break the story into pieces in a way that makes it easier to read and digest.  However, I feel that the parts in this book should have stuck with one set of people per part.  For example, one part could have been following Scythe Faraday and Munira until their story was caught up to three years after the sinking.  The same should have happened for Citra, Rowan, and Greyson.  It would have made the book much easier to digest and less chaotic.  I felt like I was constantly wondering what year it was.  The book could have definitely been organized better so that it was a smoother read. 

I was also super upset that Citra and Rowan got lost in a way in this book.  The entire series started out following their story.  They were the main characters.  But in The Toll, they were lost in the shuffle of the many characters and I felt that their story was not properly told.  The entire reason I liked the book was the concept of scythes and that the two were in love, but unable to actually be together.  

My last griping point of this book is about Captain Jeri.  I didn't have a problem with the character until it was brought up about Jeri being Madagascan and being binary.  Under a cloudy sky Jeri was he, but under the sun Jeri was a she.  At one point Citra asks what Jeri's pronouns are.  I felt that this was forced into the book.  It didn't happen naturally, and the conversation between Citra and Jeri definitely felt forced.  I am all about diversity in books, but this felt like Shusterman was told he had to include a binary character and make characters have a conversation about pronouns.  This happened multiple times.  It was just very strange in a book where it really didn't matter and had no place.

I was extremely disappointed in the last two books of the series.  When I finished this book I closed the book and said, "Well that sucked."  The book took a wild venture and I felt there was never any real closure with Scythe Goddard and Earth.  It was also left very much open that another book could be written to continue the story.  Personally, I hope that doesn't happen.  I think this series needs to be done.  I recommend reading this to finish the series, and I hope that you like it more than I did.  Overall I have to give this 3 stars.  About halfway through the book I was definitely over it and it went downhill from there.  

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

From Goodreads, 

"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?"

Goodreads - Thunderhead

Awards and Nominations:

• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2018)
• Grand Prix de I'Imaginaire Nominee for Roman jeunesse etranger (2019)

Recently I have avoided books that are part of a series.  I haven't felt committed to sitting down and staying in the same fictional world for multiple books.  It feels like I have to dedicate an immense amount of time to reading the books close together as to not forget important parts of the overall story.  After reading Scythe I knew I was going to quickly jump in and start Thunderhead.  I just had to hope that the second book could beat the curse of the forgotten middle child and that I would power through quickly. 

Citra is now a scythe and known as Scythe Anastasia.  She is busy finding her pattern as a new junior scythe.  Her fellow apprentice Rowan did not make it as a scythe.  Instead, he escaped and is now gleaning scythes who aren't following the rules of the Scythedom.  Both find they are in danger.  Rowan is being hunted by the Scythedom and Citra is being targeted by an unknown person.  Both must figure out how to survive to help both the all-knowing Thunderhead and the Scythedom. 

I have this really strange thing with middle child books.  These are the second book in a trilogy (sometimes a quartet).  The first book usually knocks it out of the park and hooks you.  The final book is always the big finale and pulls out all the stops to make it magical and memorable.  The middle book though always gets stuck.  It has to be the bridge between fantastic and amazing.  I find that middle child books are always boring and lackluster due to their role in the overall series.  That being said, I struggled with this book.  It felt like Shusterman rushed to get it finished and just slammed everything together.  The first two-thirds of the book was an absolute snooze fest.  There was nothing happening and no progression in the plot.  It felt like Rowan, Citra, and newcomer Greyson Tolliver were all just roaming about MidMerica and nothing was happening.  Rowan was busy gleaning rogue scythes and then in hiding.  Citra was gleaning in her unique way, but also trying to hide because there were threats to her life and Scythe Curie.  Greyson Tolliver was undercover, but got lost in the undercover system and ended up at a Tonist colony.  It was only when everything happened at Endura that I really got excited about the book, which sucked because it all happened at the end.

I think the idea of having a "Thunderhead" or our cloud is unsettling the way it is written in the book.  It is ALWAYS watching and always listening.  I didn't feel that the idea of the Thunderhead was really relatable in the first book, but after reading insight from it and being present as it eavesdropped on conversations I realized that we are living in the same world.  I can just mention needing to buy a new pair of shoes and on all my social media I will start getting ads for shoes.  Just recently I searched for a virtual race website and purchased a race.  Shortly thereafter I started receiving ads for multiple virtual race sites.  It is unsettling that we are being monitored the way we are.  Because no matter what you say we are most definitely heading toward a world where an AI controls everything for us.  

Scythe was way better than Thunderhead.  I still have the final book The Toll to read.  I expect it to follow the pattern I mentioned above and it will be a big fireworks finale to conclude the series.  If you read Scythe I absolutely advise you to finish out the series like any true reader would.  I give this book 3 stars.  

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

From Goodreads,

"Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own."

Goodreads - Scythe

Awards and Nominations:

• Michael L. Printz Award Nominee (2017)
• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2017)
• Premio El Templo de las Mil Puertas Nominee for Mejor novela extranjera pertenceciente a saga (2017)
• Missouri Gateway Readers Award Nominee (2018)
• Rhode Island Teen Book Award (2018)
• Grand Prix de I'Imaginaire Nominee for Roman jeunesse etranger (2018, 2019)
• South Carolina Book Award Nominee for Young Adult (2019)
• Lincoln Award Nominee (2019)
• Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award Nominee (2020)

About a month ago my boyfriend and I decided to go on an outing because we were tired of being cooped up with all the restrictions.  We ended up at Books-A-Million so I could use a gift card I got for teacher appreciation week.  While shopping I spotted Scythe on the shelf as recommended reads for young adults.  I remembered it being on at least one of the award lists that I'm reading through.  Luckily, when I got home I found that it was on two lists, the Missouri Gateway Readers Award and the Arkansas Teen Award Level 1.  The fact that it was on two of my lists, moved it to the top of my TBR (To Be Read) list. 

Imagine a world where humans had access to everything and it made us immortal.  If you jumped off a building you would "splat" and be taken to a revival center to be revived.  In Scythe that is exactly what life is like.  No one can die unless it is at the hand of a scythe.  A scythe is the only person that can glean or kill another person.  Scythe Faraday decides to take on two apprentices, Citra and Rowan, to train them to become scythes.  Everything becomes complicated when they find out that only one can become a scythe, while the other must be gleaned by the victor. 

I am beyond glad that I am reading through these award lists because it really introduces me to books that I normally wouldn't read.  Just by glancing at the cover, I wouldn't normally want to read this.  But this book was really good.  So good in fact that just 40 pages in I stopped to order the other two books in the series.  The entire book in a way centers around "The Thunderhead" which is an advancement of what we call "The Cloud".  Humans have access to everything which makes them brilliant, and as a result, everyone is now in a way immortal.  If you start to look old you can "turn a corner" and reset your age back to a younger you.  This is resulting in people resetting multiple times and continuing to have multiple children.  The world is becoming overpopulated and no one can die.  But a scythe has the power to glean or kill someone.  They make the decision if your time is up and they choose the way that you will die.  This entire concept is completely wild.  Just think about what you would do with your life if you knew you couldn't die.  Would you be more daring because you couldn't die or would you continue living life as you always have?  I like to think that I would be more daring and try more things.  I'm a very cautious person and I consider every scenario that could happen.  But I like to think that I would "live my best life" and try different things because it wouldn't matter.  I wouldn't be able to die.  I would just be revived and in a few days would resume life as normal.  But even more, think about what life would be like if we had scythes running around.  It would be terrifying to see one because it could mean the death of you or someone else nearby.  Then it becomes a question of who is suitable to be a scythe.  I feel like no matter what "screening" process you had there would always be people who were in it just to kill people.  The entire concept of this book is so crazy to wrap your head around, but it is also amazingly intriguing.

Unfortunately, the content of this book makes it unsuitable for my 5th-grade classroom.  I suggested it to our librarian and she didn't think the content would be suitable for the library either.  I always hate to be that person that closely monitors what books go into my library, but it is also a fact of what will my students take away from this if they read it.  This is a very mature book and would be perfect in a high school library.  There were a few cuss words, but it didn't take away from the book.

This book was amazing and I'm so excited to share my review of the next two books Thunderhead and The Toll.  This book is a perfect book for high school-aged students.  I give it 5 stars.  I hope the other two books in this series live up to my expectations!

Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

From Goodreads,

"When the California drought escalates to catastrophic proportions, one teen is forced to make life and death decisions for her family in this harrowing story of survival from New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman.

The drought—or the Tap-Out, as everyone calls it—has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers.

Until the taps run dry.

Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbors and families turned against each other on the hunt for water. And when her parents don’t return and her life—and the life of her brother—is threatened, Alyssa has to make impossible choices if she’s going to survive."

Goodreads - Dry

I am guilty of not drinking nearly enough water.  My boyfriend is constantly telling me that I'm not drinking enough water and that I need to stop drinking Pepsi or apple juice or milk.  And I have to admit he's right.  I need to drink more water.  While reading this book I had a constant longing for a cold glass of water. 

This book takes place at the exact moment that the taps go dry in California.  Everything is fine until people start to panic and fight for every precious drop of water.  Over the course of the book we meet Alyssa and her brother Garrett, their next door neighbor Kelton, Jacqui the street smart girl, and the rich boy Henry.  The five stories intertwine quickly as they try to survive the great tap out.  The biggest question is if they will find water or if they will die trying.

This book was not what I was expecting, but it was honestly everything that I needed.  I live in Arkansas where running out of water is a foreign concept.  There has never been a time in my life where I have worried where my next sip of water would come from.  We don't have to conserve water by limiting showers, not filling swimming pools, or not watering our plants and yard.  This isn't a life I'm familiar with.  So naturally, this book was quite the eye opener.  I can't even imagine having to live like the residents of California during a drought or even worse, during a time where there is absolutely no water running through the tap.  I feel like this book definitely educated me on water crises.  You never imagine that a resource like water would disappear, but it clearly happened in this book.  Not only did this book paint a picture of drinkable water becoming scarce, but it showed the true human nature of people.  When it came down to it people were only worried about themselves and their immediate family.  People were not worried about their neighbors or their friends.  They were only worried about themselves.  I think this book gives a pretty accurate picture as to what would happen in a water crisis like this. 

One thing that I found interesting was the way the story was written.  The book was broken into parts, and in each part the story was told by alternating points of view from Alyssa, Kelton, Jacqui, or Henry.  There were also snapshots that showed what was happening elsewhere that would eventually come into play with the main characters.  I still don't know how to feel about this story structure.  I typically frown on books that have varying points of view because I feel the story is just incomplete and scattered.  This book didn't leave me with that feeling.  This book was written so that when one character concluded their part of the story the next person picked up where it was left off.  I didn't feel like I missed information or events because each character continued the story, just from their point of view.  I feel like the snapshots in the story were not needed.  They gave minor points of view from characters that would never have a large part in the story.  I felt like it was wasted information and that it could have easily been omitted.

Overall, this book was extremely well written and informative.  I got a different perspective of life in California and the challenges they can and do face.  This book is perfect for young adults.  After reading the acknowledgements I realized this book is to be turned into a movie.  I couldn't find much information about the movie, but I am definitely excited to see it.  I give this book a solid 5 stars.