Thunderhead, by Neal Shusterman (BOOK REVIEW)

 

“While freedom gives rise to growth and enlightenment, permission allows evil to flourish in a light of day that would otherwise destroy it.”

Summary─୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ

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?

Review──୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ

“That’s exactly what the scythedom is: high school with murder.”

Uh, "crazy" is the only word that comes to mind. I read this book back in May, so I'm trying to remember all of the little details in this book. First of all, I just love the entire world that Shusterman set up for this series. Maybe "love" is the wrong word. Obviously, it's a very dark world, but the complexity and detail of the world system is so satisfying. I really appreciated being completely transferred into a different time, leaving behind all values and becoming accustomed to a totally different way of life. 

I really like Rowan and Citra's characters. Shusterman did a really good job of making a plot-driven series with like-able and enagaging characters. Their personalities had very distinguishable differences, which is always very helpful. It also makes for a really enjoyable dynamic to read about. We also got some new characters in this book, which was cool. Greyson was pretty awesome. 

I have to face it, this book was slow. It just felt like there was so much that Shusterman had to build up for the plot, and it took a really long time. It even overflowed into the next book. There are so many details and specific factors that went into the plot-line of this series. I did appreciate it at some points. Sometimes, it's nice to use some brain power and read a book that is complicated. 

Was there romance? Ehhh yes and no. It was definitely not the main plot to this book, but there was some sprinkling of it. It wasn't a healthy kind of romance, more like lustful and manipulative. Nothing morally great, overall. 

I will say that Shusterman knows his plot-twists. He really, really does that well. The jaw-dropping kind. All throughout this book I was shocked, over and over again. Like someone kept slapping me in the face. It was diabolical. 

Even though it was slow at some points, this was a really solid middle-book to a trilogy. I feel like the middle book is always the one that authors really struggle with, but I enjoyed this one more than the third, I think. 

“An arrogant head of state gives permission to all nature of hate as long as it feeds his ambition. And the unfortunate truth is, people devour it. Society gorges itself, and rots. Permission is the bloated corpse of freedom.”

I give this book an 8 out of 10 and recommend it to ages 14 or 15+

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Happy Reading!

-Ariana :)