Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

24 reviews

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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: Complicated

Second books of a trilogy mostly struggle to keep the story going but I think Thunderhead was very well done. So many crazy things happened, really enjoyed the development of the characters and the plot as well. This trilogy is at least a 4/5, but I actually liked the 2nd book more than the first so I’m giving this one 4.25/5
Edit - I’m dumb. I changed it to 4.75

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adventurous dark funny slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark tense fast-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: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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challenging dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark mysterious 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

"Citra smiled. 'What's the point of living forever if you can't take a few risks?'"

Thunderhead is the second in the Arc of a Scythe trilogy. Trilogies are interesting in that sometimes (ok in more trilogies than I care to admit...) the second book drags. You have the excitement of the first book and the second book has to capitalize on those events while also gearing up for the final installment in the trilogy. With as much as I loved Scythe, I was really worried this book would also fall victim to second installment tragedy. I'm not sure why I worried because [a:Neal Shusterman|19564|Neal Shusterman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1246977170p2/19564.jpg] is a gift to young adult dystopian books. I should have known he would handle this series with care and make me fall even more in love with these characters and this world to the point my heart would break as various events transpired in Thunderhead.

Thunderhead is a remarkable sequel to Scythe. It's full of characters you've grown to love and admire while continuing to pack plenty of punches. Thunderhead is another one of those dystopian books that would be great to read slowly with a partner because there are so many aspects of the plot/world to break down and discuss. Why would Shusterman choose to establish his world in this sense? What part of our world isn't working that would require Shusterman to go this route? This book lends itself perfectly to deep conversations. And that ending?! Whoosh. You can best bet I immediately picked up [b:The Toll|43822024|The Toll (Arc of a Scythe, #3)|Neal Shusterman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1558117336l/43822024._SY75_.jpg|59222476] to find out how this story ends. I have so many questions but I'm excited to see how everything comes together in the final installment.

TW: Murder, death, violence, suicide, genocide, physical abuse, confinement, torture, gun violence, abandonment, car accident, emotional abuse, grief, hate crime, body shaming, fatphobia, dysphoria, kidnapping, drowning, suicide attempt, suicide, panic attacks/disorders, fire/fire injury, gaslighting, stalking, terminal illness, religious bigotry, injury/injury detail, toxic relationship, trafficking, slavery

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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: Complicated

I cannot put my finger on it, but this sequel lacked the bite of the first story. When a new dystopian world is introduced there is so much to uncover, so many mysteries, and this book dashed the opportunity to capitalize off of the excitement by droning on into the semantics. By that, I just mean it could have been much more straightforward. I can say that I absolutely adored the twist and it was very well done. I will be vague; this choice furthered the plot much more simply than a new introduction could. I am very impressed with how the Thunderhead was handled. It is hard to write an omniscient AI this compelling. However fun the world-building is, I was still missing a lot of interaction between Citra and Rowan.

Song:
  • Cinnamon Girl - Lana Del Rey
  • Everybody's Watching Me (Uh Oh) - The Neighborhood

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