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.