Thunderhead

by Neal Shusterman ★★★★☆

Like with previous reviews of books in a series, I will start with a warning:

If you have not yet read Scythe, STOP READING THIS NOW! 

My review below is of its sequel, Thunderhead, which will contain major spoilers for Scythe, but not for Thunderhead. If this is the first you're hearing of Scythe, my review of the excellent first book in the series is here.

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Thunderhead continues author Neal Shusterman's captivating series, picking up shortly after the events of Scythe. Citra has been made a junior scythe under Scythe Curie, choosing the name Scythe Anastasia. Rowan escaped the death that was promised for whichever of the pair was not chose, and is now prowling MidMerica as self-dubbed "Scythe Lucifer", finding and gleaning corrupt scythes who abuse their power and burning the bodies to ensure they can never return.

The scythedom has become increasingly divided on nearly every issue between the Old Guard and the New Order. Tensions abound, not least of which because they can't seem to catch Scythe Lucifer. As the New Order continues to gain traction, and the foundational tenants of the scythedom continue to drift toward an untenable state, Scythe Faraday—still in hiding and presumed dead—takes it upon himself to search for a solution. He seeks out Rowan to chastise his actions as Scythe Lucifer, but also to commiserate on the current state of the scythedom. “I am not old enough to have known Supreme Blade Prometheus and the founding scythes, but I do know the lore they left behind. If this experiment of ours fails, we have embedded a way to escape it...They planned a failsafe against a scythedom that falls to evil—but that plan has been lost to time. My hope is that it is not lost, but merely misplaced.” Scythe Faraday embarks on a mission to find that failsafe before its too late.

Meanwhile, Citra is swiftly making a name for herself as Scythe Anastasia. Between the high visibility of her apprenticeship and her choice to take a different approach to gleaning, she has emerged as a bit of a celebrity and a sort of de facto (albeit reluctant) leader among the junior scythes. That attention combined with Scythe Curie ruffling some new order feathers, has put a target on both of their backs. When they narrowly avoid an assassination attempt, presumably orchestrated by someone in the New Order, they're forced to abandon Fallingwater and live on the run.

Many of the same elements that made Scythe such a strong start to the series carry through in this sequel. An action-forward, unpredictable plot paired with some weighty moral questions throughout keep the series compelling. However, Thunderhead fell a bit short of Scythe for me for a few reasons. First, the plot twists in Scythe felt believable and natural; conversely, a few surprises in Thunderhead generated more of an "oh, come on!" reaction from me. Secondly, I had a hard time buying that Rowan, fresh off his apprenticeship, could somehow repeatedly get the upper hand on scythes with literally hundreds of years more experience. Shusterman takes a few too many liberties for my taste with the plot, and the novel suffers slightly for it.

But only slightly! It's still quite good...but it's not 5-star good. That being said, its few shortcomings do nothing to deter me from finishing the series, and I look forward to re-immersing myself in the world of the scythedom when I read The Toll sometime in the very near future.