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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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicide, and Genocide
Moderate: Torture and Transphobia
ozshark's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
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 than a physical volume. 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.
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 than a physical volume. 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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, and Genocide
ishouldbereading's review against another edition
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*
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).
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 against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Murder, and Genocide
Moderate: Body horror and Cursing
Minor: Suicide
emilycollins0910's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Genocide
Moderate: Blood and Physical abuse
hannahr's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Violence
honeybadger11492's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder
its_van_vulpen's review against another edition
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
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.booksthatburn's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Toll is the calm before an even nastier storm, the ringing in the ears after a cosmic shriek. A love letter to the best and worst in future humanity, built on death and drenched in blood.
Book three swims in blood, with a higher body count than ever before but fewer direct descriptions of death and violence. It helps to keep it from feeling like a bloody slog as the antagonist takes their goals of world domination through gleaning (read: culling, massacre, and genocide) as far as they can. It's about figuring out that even a world which was supposed to be perfect... isn't. Because people aren't perfect, and trying to live in someone else's idea of perfection chafes and cuts and breaks people down until they want to scream. This book rides the ripples of a pent up scream which was built into the fabric of its existence, waiting to be heard.
I love the MCs, including the couple of ones who are new in this book. For one character in particular I love their version of a kind of genderqueer identity which exists in the context of this book while being unequivocally queer. To me their identity feels like it fits in this world, including having this book's version of the kind of awkward conversations which happen between nonbinary and/or trans people and well-meaning but clueless cis people, all without using those contemporary words. It captures the feeling of those interactions while making them fit seamlessly within the story. I also love the returning MCs, they have full arcs of their own and everyone gets a resolution which is appropriate to what they want and what's actually possible in this world.
Now for my sequel check, here goes: It wraps up a lot of things left hanging from the previous books, just, so many. There's a storyline, complete with a new character, which isn't present in the previous book (and they're such a great character too!). Several things get introduced and resolved within this book which were not present in the first two (though the circumstances which lead to them might have been set up earlier). As the final entry in the trilogy it wrapped up a bunch of things, major and minor, some of which I'd given up on having a satisfying resolution for (because I thought that the tone of the series meant I'd have to be content with my unhappy and slightly unsatisfying resolution from earlier in the series). This is a pretty perfect end to a fantastic trilogy, and it feels finished. I'm very happy with where the various characters end up, it's a good mix between being messy in a semi-realistic way and being narratively satisfying. The POV characters who are new to this volume feel distinct from previous narrators, including in the interstitial sections. As for whether this could make sense if someone read this book without reading the first two, no, but, really, don't pick up the last book of a trilogy and try to read it by itself, it's not worth it. If this review intrigues you then read the trilogy, the whole thing is great.
I mentioned the series' handling of fatphobia in my first two reviews, and, as far as I can tell, that's not present in this third book, unless I just didn't notice some minor instance. My conclusion as far as the series goes is that the presence of bigotry such as fatphobia in the first and second books were hints that it wasn't a perfect world long before everything else went to shit due to the events in the main story.
Book three swims in blood, with a higher body count than ever before but fewer direct descriptions of death and violence. It helps to keep it from feeling like a bloody slog as the antagonist takes their goals of world domination through gleaning (read: culling, massacre, and genocide) as far as they can. It's about figuring out that even a world which was supposed to be perfect... isn't. Because people aren't perfect, and trying to live in someone else's idea of perfection chafes and cuts and breaks people down until they want to scream. This book rides the ripples of a pent up scream which was built into the fabric of its existence, waiting to be heard.
I love the MCs, including the couple of ones who are new in this book. For one character in particular I love their version of a kind of genderqueer identity which exists in the context of this book while being unequivocally queer. To me their identity feels like it fits in this world, including having this book's version of the kind of awkward conversations which happen between nonbinary and/or trans people and well-meaning but clueless cis people, all without using those contemporary words. It captures the feeling of those interactions while making them fit seamlessly within the story. I also love the returning MCs, they have full arcs of their own and everyone gets a resolution which is appropriate to what they want and what's actually possible in this world.
Now for my sequel check, here goes: It wraps up a lot of things left hanging from the previous books, just, so many. There's a storyline, complete with a new character, which isn't present in the previous book (and they're such a great character too!). Several things get introduced and resolved within this book which were not present in the first two (though the circumstances which lead to them might have been set up earlier). As the final entry in the trilogy it wrapped up a bunch of things, major and minor, some of which I'd given up on having a satisfying resolution for (because I thought that the tone of the series meant I'd have to be content with my unhappy and slightly unsatisfying resolution from earlier in the series). This is a pretty perfect end to a fantastic trilogy, and it feels finished. I'm very happy with where the various characters end up, it's a good mix between being messy in a semi-realistic way and being narratively satisfying. The POV characters who are new to this volume feel distinct from previous narrators, including in the interstitial sections. As for whether this could make sense if someone read this book without reading the first two, no, but, really, don't pick up the last book of a trilogy and try to read it by itself, it's not worth it. If this review intrigues you then read the trilogy, the whole thing is great.
I mentioned the series' handling of fatphobia in my first two reviews, and, as far as I can tell, that's not present in this third book, unless I just didn't notice some minor instance. My conclusion as far as the series goes is that the presence of bigotry such as fatphobia in the first and second books were hints that it wasn't a perfect world long before everything else went to shit due to the events in the main story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, and Violence
Moderate: Genocide
Minor: Self harm
CW for self-mutilation (not depicted), violence, massacre, religious persecution, genocide, major character death, death. This book contains references to the intentional massacre of people who are implied to be Indigenous or of Indigenous descent, as well as various unnamed subcultures. There's also massacre based on affiliation with a religion unique to the series. It's discussed but usually not directly depicted. It's unequivocally a bad thing within the book, but it's there, so please take care of yourselves.
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