10.9k reviews for:

The Toll

Neal Shusterman

4.15 AVERAGE

emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-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
adventurous dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Missed the mark. Characters and world lacked depth and dimension. More tell than show, and there was a lot of telling. I did enjoy the experimental ways some chapters and POVs were written.

A solid landing for this trilogy, nothing too surprising but a good execution. Still feel a little turned off by the continuing romance, but it's such a minor portion of the story.
adventurous 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
adventurous fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

3.5 stars. This series plays with really cool philosophical concepts while somehow lacking character depth. I feel like that turned around a bit in certain regards and with certain characters—and I generally valued the evolution of most characters across the story—but I generally felt detached. The last 3rd of the book was the most compelling for me and I really love how the whole series concluded plot wise. That being said, some big aspects of the plot seemed rushed or cast to the wayside. I love the Jeri/Jericho and Greyson ship. 

A disappointing finale to what was overall a wonderful trilogy.
adventurous medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
adventurous fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Kind of a let down tbh.

Y'all... I finished this around 3a and then just stared at the last page.

I loved it. The ending was incredibly satisfying. I adored the way every part of this story was done.

Also, current favorite quote just for giggles out of this book is:

“You wanted fear,” Ayn said. “Now you’ve got it.”

“We’re exploring the possibility of building a wall to stem the exodus.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Goddard said. “Only idiots build walls. ...”


I'm not marking that as a spoiler because I removed the last part of that quote that could maybe be a bit spoilery. But yeah. That made me laugh for a good five minutes when reading it. Haha!