The Toll, by Neal Shusterman (BOOK REVIEW)

 

“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.”

Summary─୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ

Citra and Rowan have disappeared. Endura is gone. It seems like nothing stands between Scythe Goddard and absolute dominion over the world scythedom. With the silence of the Thunderhead and the reverberations of the Great Resonance still shaking the earth to its core, the question remains: Is there anyone left who can stop him?

The answer lies in the Tone, the Toll and the Thunder.

Review──୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ

"Be sure to always bake extra" the sous chef had advised him on his first day there. "The Toll gets the munchies during the night. And it's usually for something sweet."

This book was quite the roller-coaster. My initial thoughts when I think of this book, is that it was slow. As I was reading this book, I was really dragging through. I read the first two books in this series quite quickly, and maybe my brain needed a break because when I read this, I was just not in the mood. Although my brain wasn't really there, this was still a really solid ending to this (Arc of a Scythe) series. 

The plot in this book was all over the place. We had a lot of different POVs going on at once and all of them were at different locations.  So the plot was building up in different places, to all come together at the end. I think that may have been one of the reasons that I found this book so slow: Shusterman was taking a lot of time making sure every part of the book was building in suspense so that the ending could come together. I get that Shusterman had to do that, with the amount of POVs that he included. But I'm just saying that when you read this book, your brain really has to be turned on.

The sci-fi area that Shusterman added into this book, especially at the ending, was pretty cool. It was really interesting reading about all the technology and the Thunderhead. Man, the Thunderhead concept was so weird and creepy. But the scary thing, is that I honestly feel like we're not far off from the dystopian concepts in this book, in real time. 

The characters, like the rest of the series, didn't have a crazy amount of development. The plot, is the main show in this series, so the characters just bring forth that story. 

I actually found myself really intrigued with the way that Shusterman wrote the "villain" in this series. I won't say his name in case of spoiling, but he was such a fascinating character. Shusterman really dug into the psychology of this villain and it was really cool to read about. Not saying I like him for what he did, but I liked seeing his thought process and beliefs. 

There were also some other new characters in this book. I feel like I should mention that one of them was confused about his gender. I'm not really sure how to say, what the whole "thing" was with this person, but there was definitely a lot of agenda mixed into this book. This character was definitely not right in the mind. So yeah, you can deal with that and laugh at the absurdity of it all. It was really random for Shusterman to add it, and not at all necessary.

The tiny bit of romance that we got in this book was sweet. It wasn't the main thing at all, but the little bit that Shusterman added in, I held onto. The end-of-the-world drama type romance where the two characters cling to one another for hope of a future....*sigh*. Yeah, that's essentially what we got. 

All in all, this series was really good. The entire dystopian concept that Shusterman has brought to the genre is original, enticing and makes you think. I can confidently say that I really enjoyed this entire series. 

“We never know what choices will lead to defining moments in our lives. A glance to the left instead of right could define who we meet and who passes us by. Our life path can be determined by a single phone call we make, or neglect to make.”

I give this book a 7-10 and recommend it to ages 14 or 15 +

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Happy Reading!

-Ariana