A review by mussa
The Toll by Neal Shusterman

4.0

Not an underwhelming ending to the trilogy. But also not an overwhelming one. Just whelming. These books had some of the best character arcs I’ve come across. However, a disappointing ending to what could have been my favorite fictional antagonist, Scythe Goddard, but I wont say more. No, actually I will: I can’t believe after 3 books of being the most unhinged, badass menace to society, he’s killed (or should i say gleaned?) by probably one of the least relevant major character in the story and then, to make matters worse (for me, a former fan of his character), he gets no last word nor a real conclusion for himself before disappearing from the story in the last few pages. I was expecting a final monologue or maybe a last glimpse at who he was before becoming a scythe. What made him the monster that he was. Anything. And if it were up to me I’d have had him self glean in a fit of built up rage or something. I don’t know. It’s probably for the best that it wasn’t up to me. But alas. Anyways that’s my only complaint and this was still an amazing book and and amazing trilogy, i hope I stumble across more of Shusterman’s books someday because he is a genius writer to say the least. Rowan is still my favorite and (almost) everything about this book’s plot, philosophies and it’s super fleshed out larger than life characters was near perfect in my humble opinion. 4.5 stars