Review by theshelfarchive - The Toll

theshelfarchive 's review for:

The Toll by Neal Shusterman

3.0

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

This one landed at three stars for me—not because it was a bad book, but because it didn’t quite live up to the momentum or impact of Thunderhead. The middle section dragged on more than I’d hoped, and by the time things finally kicked into gear, the ending felt oddly rushed. It was as if the story built up so many threads that there wasn’t enough space left to tie them off in a satisfying way.

There’s a lot happening here. With multiple character arcs, newly introduced yet crucial secondary players, and a storyline that jumps between timelines, it sometimes felt like a bit too much to wrap my head around. The shifts in time, especially, made it hard to feel grounded. I appreciate ambition, but the complexity occasionally got in the way of emotional investment.

And then there’s Goddard. I've rarely rooted so hard for a villain to face true consequences, so I was disappointed by how his downfall played out. Yes, he’s stabbed by Rand and effectively overwritten when Tyger is implanted (back) into his body—but for someone who ordered the mass murder of an entire stadium out of spite, it just didn’t hit as hard as it should have. It felt more like a convenient way to end his arc than actual justice.

On the brighter side, I was relieved to see all the main heroes survive. And while I didn’t get everything I hoped for, there were still some compelling ideas at play. The concept of the fail-safe and the revelations about how far the Thunderhead was willing to go to preserve humanity were fascinating. That alone has me genuinely intrigued about the upcoming prequel, which Shusterman recently announced. I’m really keen to explore how the scythedom came to exist, especially considering the other option—the fail-safe—was available at the time. The idea of removing human bias entirely from the act of gleaning, and leaving it to random through nanites, feels like the fairer choice, so I’m looking forward to learning why that became the fail-safe instead.

All up, even though it didn’t pack quite the punch I was hoping for, I'm still glad I read it. I’m definitely sticking around for the prequel.

Content Warnings