Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe Book 2)

This book is an ideal sequel to Scythe because it balances the amount of time with Rowan(Scythe Lucifer) and Citra(Scythe Anastasia) showing how they matured (this book takes time in about a year from the end of Scythe (the first book))and how they mature in this book and commences the journey of a new and important character whose name is Greyson and instead of giving Greyson the jobs of a Scythe, Neal Schusterman makes him the representation of the Thunderhead and sends him to do things the Thunderhead can't because of it's own laws. I utturley enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a book to read. SPOILER DON'T READ ON FROM THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT ANY SPOILERS. One thing I seriously had to ponder that was in this book was how Scythe Curie left Rowan and Citra in the vault and left because it says in the book "She and Rowan raced to the door, but by the time they got there it had already closed" which means that is they could run to the door their would undoubtedly be space for Scythe Curie. Please tell me why if you think you know.

Brilliant. I really enjoyed this and so did my 16-year-old son. He is the one who convinced me to read Scythe, though at first I didn’t want to because the subject matter seemed very dark. Once I tried it I was hooked. I love the unique premise. In this book the commentary by the Thunderhead is insightful and intriguing. I am sad to have to wait now for the next book.

I found this book to be even more compelling than the first one (which I gave five stars); there were plot twists that I would have never anticipated. I literally read the entire book within 24 hours of receiving it. However, I do have a major problem with the scenario that ends the book: a relatively small manmade island sinks into the sea, dooming (mostly through drowning, although predatory fish also play a role) the majority of the people present on the island. It seems very unlikely to me that water craft, or at least floatation devices would be at all difficult to find on a smallish manmade island. I say this based on my own life experience; I live about three houses in from the third largest, in acres, lake in Wisconsin. I have two kayaks, a paddle board, a primitive windsail, several inflatable inner tubes, and about 12 life jackets. Virtually all of my neighbors (more than twenty) who live directly on the lake have at least one power boat. One neighbor who lives directly across from me, and has a beach in their backyard, has at least two large boats, four jet ski, seven kayaks, a sailboat, and several of giant inner tubes that speed boats can tow. Within a square half mile around my home, watercraft may actually outnumber people. It seems unlikely to me that even in the future, there would not be enough power boats to evacuate a 2x2 mile ocean island, in a tropical environment (as a opposed to the relatively frigid inland environment that I live in), more less not enough catamarans, sailboats, jet skis, sea kayaks, canoes, paddle boards, and surf boards to get the job done.

Also, while I admit that the use of surf or paddle boards might still leave people vulnerable to attacks from small sharks, and aggressive fish (as happened in the book) hobby fishing often involves the use of spears, and large, sturdy, confusing nets. Most of my neighbors who fish also keep knife kits ready to immediately clean (gut and be-head) the fish they catch. I doubt that that humans, that kill other humans, would shun hobby fishing as barbaric.

Lastly, most power boats (and many jet skis) carry equipment that allow them to tow floating vessels behind them. One boat could drag a series of refugees to safety outside of the shark zone. Drop some off, go back, drop off, go back, ect.....

Wonderful series. I’m beyond pleased with where Mr. Shusterman is taking this series and I’m glad I picked Scythe up last year. I can’t reccomend this book enough. Also, this book is great on Audible. The voice actor is very talented and has a clear voice. I wish I could give this book more stars!

Book: Thunderhead
Author: Neal Shusterman
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

Well, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as Scythe. Since I enjoyed Scythe so much, I did come into this one with pretty high expectations. Now, when you tend to come into a book with very high expectations, you sometimes do end up getting burned. While Thunderhead wasn’t a bad read, it just didn’t have a lot of the same magic as Scythe, which is why I gave it a four star instead of a five star.

This is still a very well written second book and middle of the series. The world building is taken to the next level. We are taken to new worlds and things are really added onto the first book. With this newly expanded world, the conflict deepens. I’m talking really deepens. The Scythe divides itself even more and is at each other’s throats. This takes us into the political side of the world, which is something that we didn’t get to see a lot of in the first book.

We also get a new main character, Grayson. Now Grayson isn’t like the other characters in the books, whose storyline mostly focuses on the scythe. Grayson really takes us into the more rougher parts of the world. Now, I think that his part really didn’t add much to the overall story, but maybe in the next book, he will become a lot more important.

Rowen and Citra are also back. I love how their story has taken on a little bit of a darker role. They are still pretty much the same characters, but they seem to have grown and matured over the past couple of years. Deep down, we get to see that they are really decent characters. They really are the ones that make this series for me.

Once again, Neil gives us some really intense suspense. I found myself just simply going through most of the parts. Now, there were some parts that I did struggle to get through, but overall it was really good. I love how he makes us feel something for the characters. They are murderers and we really should hate them, but, yet, we keep on coming back to them. Neil just has a way of holding our attention and making us actually care about his books.

He also write really good cliff hangers and then makes us wait a year until we can find out what happens. So, if you don’t like cliff hangers, then don’t waste your time.

Overall, a good follow up, but I didn’t just think it was as strong of a book as the first one. I can’t wait for book three!

Last year, I finished Scythe feeling somewhat underwhelmed. While Shusterman's world-building drew me in and kept me engrossed, several of his key characters and general plot points were lacking. Since the series was originally billed as a duology, though, I found enough to enjoy in the first entry to justify picking up the sequel. Unfortunately much of what I didn't like in Scythe seemed to compound itself in Thunderhead; in addition I had some personal issues with his expanded world, which I'll detail at the very end of my review.

My favorite portions of Thunderhead, by far, were the glimpses into the consciousness of the eponymous artificial intelligence program. Shusterman captures an elaborate piece of programming on the verge of true sentience and independence, while simultaneously introducing a subtle commentary on whether there is such a thing as "benevolent" dictatorship. As much as I struggled with the rest of the novel, these interludes never failed to engage. Were the entire novel written from the Thunderhead' point of view, I doubtless would have devoured it happily.

Also improved were the characters of Rowan and Citra. Removed from the Hunger Games-esque 'only one may live' trope, they both find room to flourish. Their actions highlight the differences in approach, and subsequent results, when attempting to change a corrupt system from within or through more anarchic methods. In a welcome imbalance, Citra has much more influence over that change than Rowan, who spends much of the story reacting to circumstances rather than engineering them. Separating them for much of Thunderhead also rendered the romance awkwardly shoehorned into Scythe largely moot. While avid shippers might despair, I enjoyed not having to muddle through another unnecessary relationship.

What failed to improve for me was the overall plotting in Thunderhead. Several new concepts and places are introduced which become crucial to the story, yet despite their importance in this new world order, they never merited a mention during the extensive training detailed in the first book. This expansion comes across less as world-building and more like ret-conning, a cheat instead of growth. Then there are two twists so outlandish I laughed out loud when I read them. Well-developed characters and engaging prose are great assets to every story, but their power diminishes when the reader doesn't buy into the narrative path those tools trace.

Now onto the topic of my personal and, perhaps, not widely applicable complaint: Shusterman introduced the concept of Charter Regions, areas of the world whose administration in some way differs from the status quo. One of these regions is Texas, my home state. His characterization of (fictional) Texas and its inhabitants fails to rise above an off-putting mosaic of stereotypes. As one character reflects: "He'd once known a kid who had moved from Texas. He wore big boots and a big hat, and a belt buckle that could stop a mortar shell." Later on a child speaks in the distinct dialect of the region: "'My uncle's the Honorable Sath [Scythe] Howard Hughes,' he announced. 'So we got immunity! He's here givin' a symphonium on how to properly glean with a bowie naff [knife].'" It's a series of choices I struggled not to take personally, but I nearly quit reading Thunderhead because of them. Seeing your home turned into the butt of a joke is no fun, and that unquestionably colored my already unfavorable opinion.

Without the "Texas problem" I would still struggle to rate Thunderhead at an average three stars. Improvements in writing and character development don't adequately make up for an unengaging, and at times unbelievable, plot. It's clear to me now that this series and I simply don't get along, so I doubt I'll be following it through to the conclusion.

Title: Thunderhead

Author: Neal Shusterman

Age Group: Teen/Young Adult

Genre: Science Fiction

Series: Arc of a Scythe, book two

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

I borrowed this book from my local library and reviewed it.

Scythe was one of my favorite books of 2017; it was thought-provoking, fast-paced, and original, a whole new take on the futuristic science fiction genre. I was so excited when the sequel was finally announced, and I put it on hold at my library as soon as I had an opening in my number. (One of my primary goals for the year was to stop trying to bring the entire library home with me, lol.) Thunderhead sat in my library stack for a while, and I couldn’t renew it, as there were holds on it.

As soon as I finished Given to the Earth, I began it, and was immediately drawn into Shusterman’s dangerous, deceptively perfect world, where death and disease have been all but eradicated. As it was a sequel, it took me a bit to remember what was going on, but the book grabbed me by the throat and didn’t let go until the last pages; I was breathless throughout the book, but the ending was a total killer—I’m absolutely dying for the next book, and I only finished it yesterday! This series is one of my favorites from Shusterman, and I can’t wait to see what comes next! Because this is a sequel, I don’t want to say much about the plot; I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t read it yet.

Thunderhead picks up where Scythe left off, continuing the events from the previous book and going at high speed. Even though it took me a while for my memory of the last book to come back, the pace was so breakneck that I was immediately sucked in, following both Rowan and Citra on their journeys until the fateful moment when their paths diverge. The writing was gorgeous, captivating, even in its brutality. This being a sequel, I was really hoping that my anxiety would be relieved, and my questions answered, and they were—but I have so many more, especially after the killer ending! Characters from the last book return and are introduced, and new characters are brought in. I especially liked the way the worldbuilding was elaborated on, especially the people that don’t fit into the social norms of this beatific, mostly peaceful society; well, as peaceful a society can be where death is sanctioned by its people and government. The Thunderhead, too, was one of the reasons I loved this book; I loved the way Shusterman gave us a glimpse into the mind of the powerful technology that cares for the human race in this future. And that ending—I’m still reeling from the gravity of it, a day later. I’m in complete shock, and all I can say is that I can’t wait for the last book in the trilogy! Absolutely amazing! The bottom line: A satisfying, thought-provoking sequel that moves at light speed, I loved Thunderhead, and I can’t wait for what comes next—one of the best books of 2018 for me, hands down! Next on deck: Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu!

This book is an ideal sequel to Scythe because it balances the amount of time with Rowan(Scythe Lucifer) and Citra(Scythe Anastasia) showing how they matured (this book takes time in about a year from the end of Scythe (the first book))and how they mature in this book and commences the journey of a new and important character whose name is Greyson and instead of giving Greyson the jobs of a Scythe, Neal Schusterman makes him the representation of the Thunderhead and sends him to do things the Thunderhead can't because of it's own laws. I utturley enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a book to read. SPOILER DON'T READ ON FROM THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT ANY SPOILERS. One thing I seriously had to ponder that was in this book was how Scythe Curie left Rowan and Citra in the vault and left because it says in the book "She and Rowan raced to the door, but by the time they got there it had already closed" which means that is they could run to the door their would undoubtedly be space for Scythe Curie. Please tell me why if you think you know.

Brilliant. I really enjoyed this and so did my 16-year-old son. He is the one who convinced me to read Scythe, though at first I didn’t want to because the subject matter seemed very dark. Once I tried it I was hooked. I love the unique premise. In this book the commentary by the Thunderhead is insightful and intriguing. I am sad to have to wait now for the next book.

I found this book to be even more compelling than the first one (which I gave five stars); there were plot twists that I would have never anticipated. I literally read the entire book within 24 hours of receiving it. However, I do have a major problem with the scenario that ends the book: a relatively small manmade island sinks into the sea, dooming (mostly through drowning, although predatory fish also play a role) the majority of the people present on the island. It seems very unlikely to me that water craft, or at least floatation devices would be at all difficult to find on a smallish manmade island. I say this based on my own life experience; I live about three houses in from the third largest, in acres, lake in Wisconsin. I have two kayaks, a paddle board, a primitive windsail, several inflatable inner tubes, and about 12 life jackets. Virtually all of my neighbors (more than twenty) who live directly on the lake have at least one power boat. One neighbor who lives directly across from me, and has a beach in their backyard, has at least two large boats, four jet ski, seven kayaks, a sailboat, and several of giant inner tubes that speed boats can tow. Within a square half mile around my home, watercraft may actually outnumber people. It seems unlikely to me that even in the future, there would not be enough power boats to evacuate a 2x2 mile ocean island, in a tropical environment (as a opposed to the relatively frigid inland environment that I live in), more less not enough catamarans, sailboats, jet skis, sea kayaks, canoes, paddle boards, and surf boards to get the job done.

Also, while I admit that the use of surf or paddle boards might still leave people vulnerable to attacks from small sharks, and aggressive fish (as happened in the book) hobby fishing often involves the use of spears, and large, sturdy, confusing nets. Most of my neighbors who fish also keep knife kits ready to immediately clean (gut and be-head) the fish they catch. I doubt that that humans, that kill other humans, would shun hobby fishing as barbaric.

Lastly, most power boats (and many jet skis) carry equipment that allow them to tow floating vessels behind them. One boat could drag a series of refugees to safety outside of the shark zone. Drop some off, go back, drop off, go back, ect.....

Wonderful series. I’m beyond pleased with where Mr. Shusterman is taking this series and I’m glad I picked Scythe up last year. I can’t reccomend this book enough. Also, this book is great on Audible. The voice actor is very talented and has a clear voice. I wish I could give this book more stars!