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A review by killaria
Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I appreciate the second book much better as a sequel once I reached the last few chapters that easily set up the third book.
Unfortunately, I wasn't that fond of the slower pacing considering the story opened more perspective and storylines like Greyson Tolliver, Scythe Constantine, the Tonists, the Nimbus organization, the Bureau concerned with Scythe cases. I completely understand the need to flesh out the world building, atmosphere and the context of the story. But as a result, it focused more on introducing them than to pick up where they left off. Honestly, I would have preferred if there was more Rowan POV in the first few chapters, we could have gotten more out of his character as Scythe Lucifer since he is set up so well and interesting at the ending of the first book. But there's less of him and more of the newer characters, and so, the story to me doesn't pick up until two hundred pages later.
It gained momentum when Scythe Goddard makes his dramatic appearance. I think it's clever to make his character more apparently evil and sinister by using Tyger. Still, I have no sympathies for Scythe Rand as some pining woman for her master since I consider her a creep, descriptively. Once again, I find no compelling moments that were written to establish a building romantic development between Tyger and Scythe Rand, lust and sexual attraction is one thing, but the reveal of Scythe Rand being in love with Tyger was not entirely convincing as it did with Citra and Rowan from the first book, considering their relationship was descriptively between mentor and mentee. A bit of flirting doesn't necessarily convince me as a reader that she was in love with him to have taken revenge on her mentor. It should've been established better in my opinion.
But I do really enjoy that there's tension and rift between "Old Guard" and "New Order" Scythes in the organization. I think it makes the world more human this way because they show the characters having strengths (humility, selflessness, generosity...) from the Old Guards and flaws (selfishness, wrath, power, greed...) from New Order. It goes to show that while the rest of the world is pampered by an omnipotent AI, the Scythedom isn't, everything relies on humans and their clashing ideologies. Having said this, the politics behind the organization was really interesting to me.
I enjoyed Scythe Anastasia's compelling debate whether Goddard is fit to be reinstated for Scythehood or not. I enjoyed the hierarchal positions of power between the different characters that ultimately led to their demise. Scythe Curie became more fleshed out and she easily became my favorite character from this book.
While I'm still a hundred pages below book three, the story became much greater once the Thunderhead punished the whole humanity for Goddard's crimes and this way, the set-up of Greyson being the only person who could talk to the Thunderhead made his POV in this book much more rewarding. Greyson is sort of like a prophet and Thunderhead the god by definition.
The last 3-4 chapters generously redeemed the sluggish pace of the story. I think the author waited until Goddard is reintroduced because POV's like Scythe Faraday and Rowan had to be sidelined. Overall, I was set on giving this book a 3.5 rating but because of the compelling ending that greatly setup the third book, I'm giving it a satisfactory 4.0 stars.
Unfortunately, I wasn't that fond of the slower pacing considering the story opened more perspective and storylines like Greyson Tolliver, Scythe Constantine, the Tonists, the Nimbus organization, the Bureau concerned with Scythe cases. I completely understand the need to flesh out the world building, atmosphere and the context of the story. But as a result, it focused more on introducing them than to pick up where they left off. Honestly, I would have preferred if there was more Rowan POV in the first few chapters, we could have gotten more out of his character as Scythe Lucifer since he is set up so well and interesting at the ending of the first book. But there's less of him and more of the newer characters, and so, the story to me doesn't pick up until two hundred pages later.
It gained momentum when Scythe Goddard makes his dramatic appearance. I think it's clever to make his character more apparently evil and sinister by using Tyger. Still, I have no sympathies for Scythe Rand as some pining woman for her master since I consider her a creep, descriptively. Once again, I find no compelling moments that were written to establish a building romantic development between Tyger and Scythe Rand, lust and sexual attraction is one thing, but the reveal of Scythe Rand being in love with Tyger was not entirely convincing as it did with Citra and Rowan from the first book, considering their relationship was descriptively between mentor and mentee. A bit of flirting doesn't necessarily convince me as a reader that she was in love with him to have taken revenge on her mentor. It should've been established better in my opinion.
But I do really enjoy that there's tension and rift between "Old Guard" and "New Order" Scythes in the organization. I think it makes the world more human this way because they show the characters having strengths (humility, selflessness, generosity...) from the Old Guards and flaws (selfishness, wrath, power, greed...) from New Order. It goes to show that while the rest of the world is pampered by an omnipotent AI, the Scythedom isn't, everything relies on humans and their clashing ideologies. Having said this, the politics behind the organization was really interesting to me.
I enjoyed Scythe Anastasia's compelling debate whether Goddard is fit to be reinstated for Scythehood or not. I enjoyed the hierarchal positions of power between the different characters that ultimately led to their demise. Scythe Curie became more fleshed out and she easily became my favorite character from this book.
While I'm still a hundred pages below book three, the story became much greater once the Thunderhead punished the whole humanity for Goddard's crimes and this way, the set-up of Greyson being the only person who could talk to the Thunderhead made his POV in this book much more rewarding. Greyson is sort of like a prophet and Thunderhead the god by definition.
The last 3-4 chapters generously redeemed the sluggish pace of the story. I think the author waited until Goddard is reintroduced because POV's like Scythe Faraday and Rowan had to be sidelined. Overall, I was set on giving this book a 3.5 rating but because of the compelling ending that greatly setup the third book, I'm giving it a satisfactory 4.0 stars.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Murder