Thunderhead by Neil Shusterman (review, probably extremely spoiler-y, probably extremely explicit)
Dear Reader,
Holllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly Shizan.
What the actual fork.
THAT BOOK.
Have you read it? You should read it. You should definitely go and read it right this second. You should go on Amazon, order this:
Spend 24 hours getting hyped, and then read this book.
Now all those people who haven’t read this book (lol where you been) are off contributing to the bank account of world-renowned GENIUS Neil Shusterman, we may begin.
First, let’s discuss my boy Rowan, Oh- I’m sorry I meant Scythe Lucifer. Pahahahaha. I didn’t even care if his little stunts changed absolutely nothing, it was still fantastic. The whole time I was just screaming ‘I’m sorry the old Rowan can’t come to the phone right now, why? OH cause he’s dead BITCH. Mentally picturing rowan just cat walking out of Brahms house, flame thrower over his shoulder, house going down in flames *look what you made me do, look what you made me do*. I LOVE THAT SMUG BASTARD <3
Too bad he’s DOOMED TO CENTURIES FROZEN MID-SNOG WITH CITRA AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ATLANTIC. Okay, maybe not centuries but who the fork knows. (*clears throat* anyone who’s read the Toll) Yeah, okay I know I am late to this party, good news- so is my friend Lizz, who I have since convinced her to start this series - can’t wait for her to read thunderhead so we can just cry about Curie on the phone for hours and hours. -THE TEARS.
That scene broke me, actually no this whole book broke me but that scene definitely did most of the work. That speech! ‘Are we rats? *silence* Or are we Scythes.’ Sobbing. On that note, I need that novella right now. Scythe Curie’s early years- the Grand Dame of death. Featuring her romance with Faraday, which I have yet to comprehend. Anyway, link to the petition below.
Since we’re on the topic of things that chopped my soul into little tiny pieces- Let’s discuss!
So, in thunderhead, we meet a new character who is obviously extremely important to the plot as we see by THAT ENDING (don’t worry, we will discuss), Greyson. I loved this kid right from the very beginning, and now he’s JESUS I like him even more (deep breaths, we will discuss). His and the thunderhead’s moment in the Tonist church where he wants a sign from the thunderhead, but he has his eyes shut and doesn't see the lights flicker. Ahhhhhh *sobs* I don’t know why that made me so emotional, probably because I’d already fallen for Greyson by this point. Also, who else thought for like a second that Purity was gonna be another secret double agent and also like Hanna Donnelly 2.0? Just me with my high hopes and illuminae obsession? Right, I’ll go. Turns out she was just a super annoying unsavoury, who I did nothing but turn the page when she got gleaned in that theatre- what an impactful scene, by the way, such a fascinating complex surrounding these immortal emotions, but I won’t delve into that because I don’t want my brain to explode.
Another storyline that brought little whimpers of sorrow out of me every time we read from Rand’s 3rd Person POV, Her and Tyger. Completely melted me. Oh, Rand, I love that crazy psycho bitch. I was actually pretty devastated when Tyger died, he was a really complex character and he’d been woven into the storyline from the start, it was tough to see him go and so suddenly. Oh yeah, especially when it meant GODDARD’S ALIVE. Excuse my consistent use of capitals but valid, no? I remember the shock at the moment but afterwards, I was just like, Oh *snort* of course, this fucking bastard.
That man is quite literally a scypho. Shut up, I’m proud of it. When he comes out of winter conclave and just starts gleaning pedestrians- it’s so inhuman! God, and when Rowan and he did these dramatic battles to the death and he would just kill him every single time he didn’t win, as much as it made me giggle- HE IS METAL. I’m sort of disappointed at myself for not seeing what he was doing with all the engineers and marine biologists, I should have called that. Even in the titanic scene of it all, I was just like- Thundddeyy what you up to hmm? Thundey being the thunderhead. I honestly thought as soon as all the grand slayers went deadish he could clean everything up, save everyone. Everyone being the only two people I was concerned about, Citra and Rowan.
Those last moments in each other’s arms- soooo moving. ‘Hey,’ he said, ‘how about you be Cleopatra, and I’ll be Prometheus? AHHHHHHH *Sobs* NOPE. I am not okay with this arrangement. I tell you, these two. They’ve got some serious Sarah. J. Mass mate shit going on. They barely converse the entire book and yet they are so intertwined, I love them so much. They need to be found like now, like yesterday.
Okay, we can talk about the ending now. I think I’m ready. Sike, WHAT THE FUCK. It took me watching Christine’s book talk for this (link actually below, sadly not the petition) to realise the full implications of what went on and -oh my goodness, all the religious parallels. Greyson is now the only one (I think) that can converse with the thunderhead and therefor literally the Jesus of the postmortal world. And it happened in a fricking TONIST CHURCH, which honestly has seemed so irrelevant up to this point other than world-building. And how the thunderhead predicted it and told Greyson, like a prophecy. My mind was blown.
An exalted excellency honourable mention to the star of this whole show- The Thunderhead. And I thought AIDEN was lit, pfft. Step down, respect your elders. The thunderhead continued to fascinate me and baffle me with its multi complexity throughout this book. Leading on from the religious parallels, when it questions if a God is real and if he is that God. WHAT??!! “Man created god and god created man.”
WffrkgrknesfjeterfiddcbsgbrgkedndsriM <ERROR>jfeaiefehbvioinfihnionsfneoribnsaabfewigie
Holy cow. Chicken and the egg, but extreme.
And when he let’s loose and screams through the all the speakers in the world which the Tonist then recognise as the resonance?- Who the hell thought of that? What brilliance this entire book is.
I think it’s time to ponder the Toll. My guess is we reemerge in the century the thunderhead talks about where the earth can’t sustain life anymore. I vaguely remember this but I think it was something around 300,000 scythes and they would have to kill 100 people per day just to continue life on earth. Or just some sort of time jump, where Goddard has been supreme blade or high blade at least for any years and Citra and Rowan get found, I’m guessing the hope in this novel would be whatever Faraday found on Nord and Greyson being the messiah- Anyway, that’s my guess. Can my already damaged soul take that shit right now? Definitely not. Do I give a shit? Bitch, give me the toll.
I am so pleased with past me right now. Sometime back in 2019, past me used the last £8 in my bank account to buy the Waterstones annotated chapter version of the toll even though past me had not even started Scythe. Go me.
Gosh, that took a lot of energy, so much to discuss!
I’m currently reading a court of wings and ruin and I’ve just finished talking as fast as I can by Lauren Graham. What are you guys reading?
Until next time,
Issy.
X
