Liber-Rate

Following the events on Endura, the Thunderhead has marked all humans’ unsavory, shunning them from communication with it, and seemingly disconnecting from the world entirely. Meanwhile, the worldwide scythe regions have chosen sides, and within the greatly diminishing ‘Old Guard’ only a small number of regions stand against the ‘New Order’. This has led to ‘Overscythe’ Goddard having ample space to extend his influence and control, especially throughout North ‘Merica’. Ironically, the ‘Tonists’, despite their varied beliefs and rituals, form the largest resistance against Goddard, who harbors a deep hatred for them. However, without a Global Scythe Council, there is nothing preventing Scythes from lashing out, causing chaos and disarray in many regions. As many stories simultaneously unfold, the world must find a solution to the scythedom’s problems, or get crushed between the scythedom’s spiraling downfall and the Thunderhead’s own innate, supposed helplessness against scythe activity.

‘The Toll’ is a well-paced and ingeniously developed ending to the trilogy, offering depth and themes that resonate with our world and history. The book is an amalgam of seemingly disparate and incohesive stories that are developed into a unified conclusion, while still maintaining interest, and developing characters’ personalities and traits for us to connect with. By using speeches, letters between scythes and iterations of the Thunderhead’s conversations with itself, Neal Shusterman offers a way to develop events while maintaining reader interest through the variation in writing style. In particular, the Thunderhead’s conversations with various other simulated A.I’s conveys themes of human nature and personalities, as each iteration has different thoughts and ‘feelings’, reflecting the diversity within everyone. Overall, Shusterman evokes emotion and interest with various conflicts, while still maintaining the flow and development of the story, which led to a well-paced and enjoyable book. Although the ending left me feeling unsatisfied and curious about the outcome of each space trip, it also created a bittersweetness that conluded the story in a emotional manner.