Book Review
Title: Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe Book 2) by Neal Shusterman
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romance
Rating: 4.25 Stars
After finally finishing Scythe after putting it down years ago and loving it I couldn’t wait to get into Thunderhead and see what happened to Rowan and Citra after the events of the first book and where the mystery of the Thunderhead would lead the characters. We re-join Rowan and Citra although they are better known as Scythe Lucifer and Scythe Anastasia respectively and seeing where they are now a year on from the events of the first book was interesting. Citra is already making waves as the junior Scythe under Scythe Curie as she gives everyone she gleans one month to put their affairs in order, prepare their families and choose their method of dying which seems to be making a difference to the people she is gleaning. Rowan has become a darker entity since he has made it his mission to kill the Scythes that are corrupt through various methods but always burning them so they can’t be revived and word about him is spreading through the Scythedom. There are Scythes wanting to do something about him but the Thunderhead ignores him since it views Rowan as a Scythe despite what the Scythedom is saying. The first time we see them together is it a secret meeting and Citra warns Rowan about who they have sent after him since he only has two month of immunity left and she explains how the Thunderhead spoke to her when she was deadish and how she feels he is just as important as her and to not get caught. This is broken up by segment from the Thunderhead itself which was interesting and I am eager to see where this goes.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, I will admit that the pace is fast but not a lot seems to be happening yet. Tyger makes a reappearance although it seems that this time he is being taken as a Scythe’s apprentice but I don’t know who the Scythe is that hired him. We are also introduced to Greyson Tolliver who was essentially raised by the Thunderhead and wants to become a Nimbus agent working for the Authority Interface, the human face of the Thunderhead. However, he is called in for a meeting with Agent Traxler covertly relaying a message from the Thunderhead, telling Greyson about a plot to kill Scythe Curie and Scythe Anastasia and to not let it happen and to warn them. Greyson does this even though it gets him expelled permanently from the Nimbus Academy and he doesn’t understand why the Thunderhead has also marked him as unsavoury as it means he can’t access the Thunderhead’s consciousness now. He is also questioned by the Academy over whether he was involved in the plot and he is also questioned by Scythe Constantine, who is also looking for Rowan. Citra interrupted this interrogation and helps out Greyson even though it means Scythe Constantine is now against her. Afterwards Greyson meets with his probation officer, which turns out to be Agent Traxler and he explains it is a way for them to meet without arousing suspicion and that the Thunderhead wishes for Greyson to accept his new status as unsavoury as it will allow him access to information he wouldn’t have otherwise and he accepts this as it gives him a purpose. Citra and Scythe Curie also go mobile after the attempt on their live so that they are harder to target again but the question is who is behind the attack and who were they targeting.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, we get to see Rowan kill Scythe Renoir but he is soon tracked down and confronted by Scythe Faraday who knew Renoir and fills in the gaps in Rowan’s knowledge but even he admits that what Rowan is doing is necessary but he won’t turn the tide in attitude. Faraday explains that is what Citra will do and what she is already doing but it is putting her in danger and he among other Scythes are protecting her the best they can without arousing suspicion but it might not be enough so he is looking for the fail safe that the first Scythes apparently build into the system and he is looking for a place called Nod but it is believed to just be a nursery rhyme with unknown origins but Faraday believes it is real and he is going to try and find it. Through the Thunderhead we learn about the Charter Regions which are Regions in the world where it implements different laws to experiment with them before introducing them on a global scale and some have worked but Texas remains a place where it doesn’t really interfere to see what the humans would do and it is undecided whether it could work or still fail. We also learn that Tyger was taken in by Scythe Rand who is supposed to be dead and she might be one of many behind the attacks on Citra because of what Rowan did in the first book. We are bouncing around all over the place as Faraday meets Munira at the Great Library of Alexandria where the scythe journals are kept looking for information and she agrees to keep his identity hidden for the time being. Meanwhile, Greyson has become a true unsavoury and taken the name Slayd, at an AWFul club he realises that the Thunderhead has set up places where these unsavoury people can be violent without impacting the larger world but he doesn’t know what his true role is yet. Citra and Scythe Curie are also tracked down by Scythe Constantine who explains that they should take a break from gleaning and go on vacation to somewhere like Endura in order to maintain a low profile but Citra doesn’t want to leave. Instead she decides to use herself a bait in order to draw out the people attacking them but this might end badly if Scythe Constantine isn’t smart enough to figure out the plot before it is carried out.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, we don’t see much of Scythe Faraday, Scythe Curie or Citra but do we see a lot of Rowan and Greyson. Greyson at Traxler’s request has gone deep undercover in the Unsavoury culture even getting involved with a girl named Purity and this isn’t going well for him. He learns that Purity and some others are planning to kill some scythes and at his next meeting he plans to inform Traxler but he also wants to protect Purity but he learns from his new parole officer that Traxler was gleaned and he is stuck with Agent Kreel who doesn’t believe him when he tries to explain what he is doing. Greyson realises he is completely alone as no one other than Traxler, himself and the Thunderhead knew what they were doing and the Thunderhead can’t speak to Greyson so he has to try and stop the killing while protecting Purity and himself. Meanwhile, Rowan takes a huge risk going to see High Blade Xenocrates as he wants to protect Citra but learns that Scythe Constantine is already on the case but he also learns that Scythe Brahms was the one who gleaned his father. After Rowan didn’t kill him at the beginning of the book, he is obviously furious and wants to deal with the man but Citra comes first. However, Rowan can’t find her with the resources he has so he turns his attention to Brahms only to be captured and delivered to Scythe Rand until the disguise of being a sparring partner for Tyger who has no idea of the history between Rowan and Rand and doesn’t listen when Rowan tries to explain because he is spellbound by the Scythe and the promises she is making him. It seems like Rowan is at the beginning again like he was with Goddard and I don’t know if Rowan will survive going through this again especially when facing one of his best friends in Tyger. We can see through the Thunderhead that because it can’t interfere that sometimes the Scythedom messes up its plans like with Greyson but it has to adapt to try and prevent what is to come. It is also burdened with the knowledge that in the next century the Earth will reach its limit and since it can’t control the birth rate or send people to other planets the only thing it can do is allow more scythes and more gleanings which it doesn’t want to reach but it seems inevitable.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, the political intrigue and one plot comes to a head. Greyson learns that Purity and the gang of Unsavoury are going to kill scythes including Citra and Scythe Curie and the final bait gleaning that they planned but they don’t know how many or the methods they are going to use and neither does Greyson. In the end he has no choice but to be a part of the plot in order to stop it and things get dangerous when he learns they are planning to put acid in the sprinklers which would kill the Scythes and prevent them coming back but it will also kill everyone else in the theatre and Greyson can’t allow that. Purity learns of his betrayal and they try to stop him but he manages to warn Constantine before it happens, Greyson also plays a large role in saving people and he busts one of the pipes leading to the sprinkler system which kills one of the Scythes on Constantine’s team and injuries both Constantine and Greyson but they both survive. Now everyone is aware that a Scythe is definitely behind the plot as only they have the resources and means for them to be carried out in the way it was but it kept hushed up for now since they don’t know who is behind it but we soon learn that through Rowan. Rowan has been training Tyger but he is nowhere near Rowan’s level yet but still he is being taken for his ring but this is all false and Rowan soon learns the truth of who is behind everything and what he wants. It turns out that Rand saved Goddard’s head from the burning Tonist church and they have been training Tyger to implant Goddard’s head on his body which is a crushing blow for Rowan. Now he has lost his best friend to Goddard who is set on revenge and Rowan’s suffering and he lost his father to one of Goddard’s supporters which means the most dangerous Scythe in the area has returned and he is going to be more lethal than ever but I don’t think Rowan will survive Goddard a second time as he barely survived the first time and he was deeply changed by his experiences. When Citra and Marie attend Conclave they also learn that the High Blade has been promoted to a Grandblade and a new High Blade must be voted on and obviously one candidate is Scythe Curie for the old guard and one is nominated from the new order meaning it is going to be popularity contest for the new High Blade and I am not sure who is going to win.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, things are really moving towards the climax of the novel and a lot of political moves are being made. With the vote commencing for the new High Blade, Citra gains allies for Marie but they aren’t sure it is going to be enough. So when the voting is done but before the result can be announced Citra calls for an inquest which is granted delaying the results by several months allowing time for them to strengthen their position. However, we know that Goddard is still blackmailing Xenocrates although he can’t use Esme now but he can use his new position against him as he has to earn the respect of the Grandslayers which Goddard can destroy. Goddard also has plans to kill Rowan at the inquest and he is doing something to the technology on Endura so it isn’t working right and I can’t wait to see what all this come to in the end. I don’t know if Rowan is going to survive Goddard a second time but I can say that Citra will oppose him even if he is made High Blade but there is still the question of the role Scythe Faraday is going to play since no one knows he is still alive and is he going to find the fail safe from the founders. At this point there are so many questions that I don’t think are going to be answered in the last 100 pages of the novel but I am eager to see what happens.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, we get to see what Goddard’s truly capable of. While Scythe Curie is made High Blade because Goddard is sentenced to a year as an apprentice to make sure he is fully a scythe he was planning for this outcome and has been for a while. Watching everything unfold from the deaths of the Grandslayers, to Scythe Curie’s final actions and the sinking of Endura was heart-breaking yet we know what Scythe Curie had a plan. She made sure to put Rowan and Citra in the one place where they would die but not end and where they would eventually be found potentially by Munira and Scythe Faraday but all she can do for the others is gift them a compassionate death before gleaning herself. The Thunderhead obviously bears witness to all of this and decides that humanity created the issue and they need to deal with it alone in order to grow as a species so it marks everyone on Earth as Unsavoury and therefore it can’t speak to them except Greyson Tolliver. Overall, Thunderhead did suffer a little for middle book syndrome as it dragged in places but it really made up for it with the ending and I can’t wait to read The Toll in April and complete the series.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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