Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

Summary This is the 2nd book in the Arc of a Scythe serries. Rowan has gone rogue, and has taken it upon himself to put the Scythedom through a trial by fire. Literally. In the year since Winter Conclave, he has gone off-grid, and has been striking out against corrupt scythes—not only in MidMerica, but across the entire continent. He is a dark folk hero now—“Scythe Lucifer”—a vigilante taking down corrupt scythes in flames.

Citra, now a junior scythe under Scythe Curie, sees the corruption and wants to help change it from the inside out, but is thwarted at every turn, and threatened by the “new order” scythes. Realizing she cannot do this alone—or even with the help of Scythe Curie and Faraday, she does the unthinkable, and risks being “deadish” so she can communicate with the Thunderhead—the only being on earth wise enough to solve the dire problems of a perfect world. But will it help solve those problems, or simply watch as perfection goes into decline?

My Verdict

The book started pretty slow; I think this is mostly due to the development of the Thunderhead as a character. Shusterman did a thorough job of developing how the Thunderhead operates and thinks. We see in this book the personal journal entries of Thunderhead and for an entity that’s supposed to be omniscient and impartial it sure as hell seems to have its favourites.

Another thing that was intriguing to follow were not only the internal conflicts in the scythedom, but also the different ways to live under the watchful eye of the Thunderhead. This time around we got a better glimpse at the Tonist cult and an insider view of the people that don’t fit into the norm of the Thunderhead’s perfect world: The “Unsavories”!

This book is far deeper and more thought-provoking than the last. Just like in the first book, the story moves about between Citra and Rowan while also concentrating, for the first time, on another young person, Greyson Tolliver. This new character has a completely different tale, separate from the other two but I felt for him right away and as his story deepens I found myself invested in what would happen to him. The Thunderhead has a bigger role in this book too; we hear its thoughts at the end of every chapter, rather than the thoughts of Scythes, like in the first book. The Thunderhead’s own thoughts are interesting and for the first time we really get to know this sentient being and how it thinks. I enjoyed this new angle to the trilogy as the Thunderhead’s own personality seems to evolve from something that didn’t seem to have much of one to a character with deep thoughts and feelings into a central player. I enjoyed the book and I give this one 4 stars.