Reviews with content warning for Murder - Thunderhead

The revival of Scythe Goddard. The Thunderhead's perspective on everything. Finding out how Scythe Anastasia gleans. The governing system of the scythedom. AWFul clubs for unsavories. The religious parallels.

My only gripe is the ending. Hear me out... sinking Endura was out of character for Goddard. I know he's the villain of this trilogy and enjoys killing people, but he's never above the law. He follows it and finds loopholes or tries to change it. That's what made him such an interesting character to me since book one: nobody could really lodge formal complaints against him and he could fool even himself into thinking that he was a good and honorable man. But maybe he's unraveling. I don't know.

Content Warnings

luluruzam's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

invaderlinz's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

caidyn's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I nearly started screaming into the void at the ending. Damn am I glad the third book comes out soon!

I’m going to spoil the first book for you, so don’t read any further if you haven’t read it and plan on it! (Keep reading if you have read it or you haven’t and you don’t care about being spoiled.)

This takes place a bit after Citra becomes Scythe Anastasia. She has a unique gleaning — aka killing — technique that is making her friends and enemies all around, plus just the hubbub around her appointment in the first place. She still works with her mentor, Scythe Curie, and they get along well. Everything’s going well for Scythe Anastasia, though.

Then, there’s Rowan. Rowan has months left of immunity thanks to Scythe Anastasia’s deft move to grant him that so she didn’t have to glean him. However, he’s doing something a bit more unique. He’s pretending to be a scythe to kill scythes who are a part of the new order.

And, lastly, there’s a new character. Greyson Tolliver. He’s more of a mystery about his character and his importance. Even after the ending, I’m still wondering how he was so important and why he was introduced.

Still, I loved the plot. It was so enthralling to read and gave me something to do on commutes back to the hotel and to random places in Portland. Also, it furthered characterization so well of the people I had become attached to in the first book.

What really stood out was the expansion of the world. In this book, you really get to know the Thunderhead — the AI system that controls their world but was made by humans — better. I loved reading the little sections between chapters and the Thunderhead’s commentary on different things.

You also get to see the innerworkings of scythedom better, along with a newer category of people called “unsavory”. Basically, they’re people who have done things so bad that they’re locked out of the regular world. Like scythes, they can’t contact the Thunderhead but because they are being forced out of the usual world.

At times, I wished that the story was more plot focused. Most of the time I was wondering to myself: Why is this important? Why is this character needed? What’s this working towards? But, I really enjoyed it when I realized what was happening. I still wish that the story had been more narrowed at times.

But, that ending slayed me. I’m deadish waiting to be revived by the final book!

Content Warnings

More...