Hey there,
I’m finally done with reading the Arc of the Scythe series! It’s been nearly a whole year since I first began reading the first installment. I still vividly remember toting the book along to Gillman Barracks, waiting in the sweltering humid weather for a shoot to start.
With that said, I have never actually done a review for the first two books in this series so I’ll just do a round-up of the trilogy here.
Plot summary
In a distant future, man has conquered everything, including death. However, due to Earth’s rampant population growth, beings known as Scythes came into being to mimic natural death in “Mortal days”. The series addresses the ills of power and politics, as well as pondering about life’s bigger purpose.
World building
I really enjoy the world that Neal Schusterman created. I found all aspects of it fascinating, from the notion of the Thunderhead to the Scythedom. He used the unique set up to pose some philosophical questions which are startlingly relevant to us in the real world.
Characters
The main characters Rowan and Citra were well-developed. I liked their story arc, though I think I was caught off-guard in the last book maybe because I had forgotten certain details in the first. The villains and heroes were all fairly well fleshed out and none were neglected in favour of the others.
Plot
Each book had its own story arc and I personally don’t think Thunderhead suffered from middle book syndrome. While I don’t remember the first two books clearly, The Toll was fairly well paced. I must admit the start of this The Toll was a little draggy, but thankfully the paced picked up towards the second half and ended with a bang!
Overall rating
I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who needs something addictive and easy to read. I think the book is suitable for 15 years old and up, depending on their maturity level. While there is violence in this novel, it was not graphic and did not serve to glorify violence.
Happy reading
❤
! Spoilers Ahead !
Here are some highlights from the last installment, The Toll.
“Sometimes death leads to public oblivion. Other times it can make you larger than life”
Dmn.
“Was this what life was like in the mortal age? Feeling the finality of one’s own flesh at every turn? What a terrible way to exist.”
Indeed it is. I remember when I was first confronted with my own mortality. For a few years, I would occasionally stand in front of a mirror, thinking that this is me in the flesh, this is what I look like. This mirror this sink is real, and so am I. If my parents never met, if my parents decided not to have kids, if I had not survived up to this point, I would not be here. I would be nothing. All I could imagine of “nothing” was my consciousness hurtling endlessly through space. It was dark, quiet and lonely. It always gave me a shudder to think about it. Perhaps this is why I found the film Gravity absolutely terrifying.
I don’t really do that so much anymore, because I’m usually caught up in work, school or other life matters. I guess I prefer taking my mind off of my own mortality. But once in a while, reflecting on it certainly helps me to appreciate everything that I’ve been so privileged to have and experience in this short life we all get to live out on Earth.
“I have found that building a sandbox around a domineering child, then allowing that child to preside over it, frees the adults to do the real work.”
I’m sure quite a lot of people would relate to this quote.
“…but the more she read, the more she came to understand the fears and the dreams of mortals. The trouble they all had living in the moment, in spite of the fact that the moment was all they had.”
This one really made me stop and think. I have tried to enjoy moments in my life, to just “be” in the moment and enjoy whatever is in front of me. And I do enjoy them. But somehow those moments are so fleeting that I eventually find myself back in the grind. It’s hard to slow down during these times and appreciate the little things that make life worth it. But as a comfort, life isn’t always a bed of roses, so sometimes it helps to keep looking forward to the good times and hold onto hope.
“Greyson supposed that if the Toll proclaimed they must travel by mule, the Thunderhead would somehow supply them with racing mules.”
I did not laugh much throughout the series but this was just golden.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Goddard said. “Only idiots build walls.”
This was another chuckle worthy moment.
“Tonists were officially forbidden from traveling to SubSahara, and all commercial flights were monitored by the scythedom in a way they hadn’t been monitored since mortal days.”
Made me think about the post 9-11 restrictions on air travel.
“You are a terrible person,” the Thunderhead said. “You are a wonderful person.”
“Well, which is it?” Greyson demanded.
And the response, as faint as faint could be, came back to him – not as an answer, but as another question.
“Why can’t you see that the answer is both?”
Ah Thunderhead how you see through us.
Random note: The author said tonkatsu broth instead of tonkotsu broth. Very minor but there is a difference.
Shusterman sugested that Cirrus was “slurping on his Tonkatsu broth”… not sure if Cirrus was still backing up his knowledge on Japanese cuisine but it was quite funny.
“Of course you can do that if you wish, but I don’t think you’re hearing me,” the Thunderhead said, and suddenly got louder. Much louder. “I’m thinking that a journey for everyone on the atoll would be a good idea. I’m thinking it would be an extremely good idea…right… NOW.”
This part scared the sh*t out of me.
“If it could break its own rules, it wouldn’t be the Thunderhead,” he said. “It would just be a scary AI.”
That’s true! Artificial Intelligence really isn’t about developing consciousness, it’s about mimicking the ability to learn? I’m not sure, I’m still half-reading 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari and he talks about this quite a bit.
“We are imperfect beings,”Munira said. “How could we ever fit in a perfect world?”
Indeed we are and thus life is about trying, failing and trying again.
Jaime reads 