★★★★☆
February 29th – March 12th
The Toll is the final book in the Arc of a Scythe series by Neal Shusterman, which has become one of my favorite series in the past few years.
This dystopian world takes place in a future where death has been conquered, and the population boomed to the point of overcrowding. As a solution to the problem, Scythes were created: a group of people with the power, and permission to permanently kill people to control the population. This final chapter has the culmination of a long series of events, complicated plot lines, separated characters, and foreshadowing. Since this is the third book in the series, this review will have some spoilers. I did do a review of the first two books a few years ago.
At the end of Thunderhead, everything has gone nuts. The Thunderhead has stopped speaking. Citra and Rowan are buried in a vault at the bottom of the ocean. The entire island of Endura has sunk, and Scythe Goddard has declared himself the High Blade of MidMerica. In typical middle book fashion, the pieces of this puzzle are thrown to all corners of the map at the end, and the wait for this third installment was painful.
For most of the book, I had no idea how things were going to come together. The novel is over 600 pages, and it felt like it wasn’t until page 500 that everything started to piece back together. A lot of the pieces felt like they were made up for this book specifically, and I felt like those pieces could have been laid clearer in the first two books. That being said, it’s been several years since I read the first two, and it’s entirely possible that there are details that I’ve forgotten.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve stopped reading as much YA content. I’ve talked about this a few times, but I do really like YA series that I feel transcend their specific age-range, and can appeal to adults. Harry Potter is a great example of this, and I feel like the Arc of a Scythe series can be considered to do the same. Most of the characters in the final book are adults, and even the teenagers at the beginning have grown by the end. Series are some of my favorite YA to still consume, because of the growth that happens during the books.
I really enjoyed this series. This was the first series I’ve read by Neal Shusterman, though he has quite a few I’m interested in. I’m excited to see what he continues to write, and I hope that he goes more into the adult age-range in the future.
-Siobhan
Ghost Shark Reads 