Skip to main content

A Re-read of THUNDERHEAD By Neal Shusterman | Book Review


Back in 2018, when I first read Scythe by Neal Shusterman, I was blown out of my mind by its cool concept. I read the second book THUNDERHEAD almost immediately after that. Unfortunately, I found it underwhelming and to the extent that I decided not to go ahead with the series. But with the release of the third and final  book “ The Toll” ,  I wanted to give  it a try and for once finish a book series.. LOL ..!!   However, as I was about to start it, I realized how little I remember of the story of Thunderhead. That's how I got around to re-reading this book.  Surprisingly, it was an absolute joy to read the second time around.

Also, lately  I am having so much trouble finding the motivation to read. So, in a way this re-read has turned out to be quite a life saver for me reading-wise.

The first book, Scythe is based on a cool concept of a utopian/dystopian world where the world is so advanced that human race has conquered everything – even death. People no longer die of natural causes or accidents. In order to control the crisis of population explosion, there are these Scythes (these are basically humans) who are in charge of gleaning(killing) people. Every year, they have to fulfill this duty of killing a particular number of people using their own methods. The  two  main characters Rowan and Citra are apprentices to a scythe Faraday. The story essentially revolves around these two.
The story of Thunderhead starts a little after the climax of ScytheRowan has gone rogue and taken upon himself to do justice and put Scythedom through a trial by fire . Citra is a junior scythe who wants to rid this world of corruption. A few new characters are introduced but I can't reveal further than that because SPOILERS.

What I Liked?
1.       The cool concept with a riveting plot that kept me on the edge of my seat. The plot twists were plenty and provided the required shock value.  I was shocked at some of the twists even during my re-read.
2.       The easy writing style with a fast paced plot made the reading an enjoyable experience.
3.       I also loved the social commentary within the story. It explored some relevant themes without making it sound preachy.
4.       The thing that didn't work for me the first time was the new character Greyson which at that time I found totally insignificant and unnecessary. But this time around, I realized how much of an important character is he to the overall story.
5.        It was a well done sequel which had me excited about The Toll which btw I have already started.
The only let down for me was the villain which at times felt a bit cartoonish .But this issue didn't in any way deter me from reading.

RATING- 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 ( 5/5 )


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon | BOOK REVIEW

TITLE: The Angel’s Game (Book 2 Of   Cemetery of Forgotten Books series) AUTHOR: Carlos Ruiz Zafon ( Spanish) TRANSLATOR : Lucia Graves PUBLICATION YEAR: 2008 GENRE: Literary Fiction (Mystery, Thriller) PAGE COUNT: 504 FORMAT: Paperback AVAILABLE   AT : amazon   The Shadow of the Wind ( see review here )  by Carlos Ruiz Zafon featured in my favourite books list of last year. I remember buying the next book in the series The Angel’s Game almost immediately after finishing it. I was so impressed by the writing and plot that I had to read all the books from this author- translator duo. Considering this being a part of series called Cemetery of Forgotten Books , I was under the impression that this book was either a prequel or sequel to The Shadow of the Wind . But after reading a few chapters , I realised that although the story was set in Barcelona and features the infamous Cemetery of Forgotten Books (which was also a

RADIO SILENCE by Alice Oseman | Book Review

TITLE: Radio Silence AUTHOR: Alice Oseman PUBLICATION YEAR: 2016 GENRE: Young Adult Contemporary + LGBT Fiction PAGE COUNT: 403 FORMAT: Paperback AVAILABLE   AT : amazon   I came to know about this book through booktube . There was a booktuber who in one of her   videos started crying while talking about it. I was really taken aback by that. It was really heartening to see how a certain book can bring out such overwhelming emotions . I checked out   a few more reviews- all of which were positive   before buying this one. It was unanimously rated as a 5 star book . Obviously my expectations going into this book were super high. The story is about a girl named Frances who is extremely studious . She calls herself a study machine. Other than academics, the only thing she is obsessed with is a YouTube show UNIVERSE CITY /RADIO SILENCE . Her happiness knew no bounds   when one day, the mystery creator   impressed by her fan art   asked her to create some ar

CHENNAI BOOK FAIR 2019 | The Books I Bought

In my New Year Resolution tag ( see here ) , I kinda promised myself to finish my TBR pile before going on my next book shopping spree. As expected I managed to break my resolution even before 2 weeks of setting it. The reason – CHENNAI BOOK FAIR 2019 . I went to the book fair yesterday and bought a couple of books.   I know...   I have absolutely no SELF CONTROL whatsoever. But in my defence, these books were available at really cheap prices . Also , might I add this book fair was the best I have ever been to.   I ended up straining my leg muscles due to all the walking around and checking out each and every stall . By the time I reached my house , I had severe headaches and leg pains – but all of this was totally WORTH IT...!! 😊 Following are the books I bought – 1.        The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga – I heard about this book back when I was preparing for my competitive exams . I was memorising the current affairs and that is when I learnt that this book had won