Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Toll by Neal Shusterman

21 reviews

lilithreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Death, Murder, and Suicide

cepbreed's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I am in awe. I really thought this book was on track to be the worst in the series, but I couldn't have been further from correct. In fact I enjoyed it the most out of all three. The story is long and convoluted yet every single thing happens for a reason. Each little detail is brought back and explained in a way that makes Neal Shusterman seem like a human on another level of existence. The mind he has to weave all of these details together is amazing. The ending filled my heart. I had grown to love each character so much I wanted the best for each of them. I am so glad he gave his creations the ending they deserved. Such a masterful balance of world-building, character arcs, and romance. Never was there a moment where I felt bored even when details were introduced that we wouldn't be able to comprehend for another 20 chapters or more.

I was particularly moved by the cutting off of the Thunderhead. It was such a beautiful and melancholy moment. I never thought I could have grown so fond of an AI. Also, I am so glad to see Scythe Rand, who I despised, come into her own in a way that did not compromise her character. She is cold and calculating yet her act to fix the mistake that was her killing Tyger and bringing Goddard to life made me love her.

Ranking of the books: The Toll, Scythe, Thunderhead

Song: 

• Glory and Gore - Lorde 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Physical abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Confinement, and Torture

Minor: War and Sexual content

ozshark's review

challenging dark hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

 This is a truly amazing series - "All rejoice!"

As with all of Neal Shusterman's books that I have read so far, it is thought provoking as well as compelling reading. I found the time jumps in the early part of the story disconcerting and confusing, maybe partially because I was reading this via audiobook rather than a physical book. I think this volume was the most philosophical of the three, as Shusterman considers what it is to be human, and what it means to have a purpose. We even get an insight into Goddard's mind and a glimpse at the justification he gives to himself for his actions. He appears to genuinely believe he is doing the right thing, and not just for his own selfish gain.

The Toll focuses much more on the Tonists than the previous two volumes, and we see Shusterman's contempt for organised religion shining through. The way we see various Tonists respond to, distort and analyse the "teachings" of the Toll is a justified barb at some aspects of organised religion, but leaves no room for genuine response to truth.

Other issues are raised along the way. Through Goddard, he also pokes fun at despotic leaders...
“We're exploring the possibility of building a wall to stem the exodus."
"Don't be ridiculous," Goddard said. "Only idiots build walls.”

The corruption of wealth, power and greed. Pride. Gender and whether it is important. Euthansaia. I don't agree with all Shusterman's conclusions, but I appreciate their inclusion in the story 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Suicide

smiley_ari's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Suicide, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief

anaguana's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicide, and Genocide

Moderate: Torture and Transphobia

ishouldbereading's review

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

,,We are imperfect beings. How could we ever fit in a perfect world?"

THIS BOOK IS SUCH A MASTERPIECE. I wish I could give it 5 stars but, alas, I didn't like one thing so it's not possible. This book will make you feel every single emotion you have. It will make you cry. It will make you scream. It will make you laugh. It's the perfect ending to a perfect trilogy, where every subplot is explored and explained perfectly (except I still don't quite understand what happened on Mars) and just the way this book makes you feel is so amazing. I loved almost every single character (which says a lot, since this almost never happens).

AND ROWAN AND CITRA GOING TO SPACE AND ROWAN SCREAMING AT CIRRUS AND JUST THE LOVE HE HAS FOR THIS GIRL MY HEART CAN'T TAKE IT. I also loved what Rand did to Goddard/Tyger that was fantastic and I must say, in the first book I didn't like Rand but in this book I absolutely love her and Greyson's character development is just so *mwah*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Blood and Suicide

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

truffletree's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Murder, and Genocide

Moderate: Body horror and Cursing

Minor: Suicide

kate001's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Torture

its_van_vulpen's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Torture

Minor: Suicide

The first half of the novel was fairly confusing as the story was constantly skipping throughout the timeline. If you are not a fan of multiple perspectives, this is not the book for you as we are not only given the perspectives of the major characters, but also of random side-characters that are only minimally relevant to the story I did really enjoy the social commentary on real life politics and religion present throughout the novel.

The character of Greyson Tolliver as The Toll and the Tonists perception of him shows how supposed religious figures and miracles can, in reality, just be regular people and misunderstood events.

*Minor Spoiler Ahead* The main romance in the novel was a little unbelievable to me as the two characters spent relatively little time with each other not only in this book, but in the whole series. Despite that, I'm not a particularly picky person so it personally doesn't bother me and I liked the two characters together.

turningthepagesblog's review

Will hopefully pick this up again! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide