Thunderhead (2) (Arc of a Scythe) Paperback

I didn’t think it were possible, but Neal Shusterman provided an even more enthralling tale with Thunderhead than he did with Scythe. As I was reading, I found myself constantly trying to figure out what would happen next, rooting for my favorites while actively despising others. I won’t spoil anything, but I can honestly say that the rollercoaster of emotions in the second half of the book was enough to keep my eyes glued to the pages.I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started this series, and after finishing Scythe, it was hard to imagine how it could be topped. But Neal Shusterman, in my opinion, did. I loved the bits of insight into the Thunderhead at the end of the chapters, loved getting to know the characters from Scythe better, and was intrigued by the new characters. Thunderhead is fast-paced, action-filled, and I think can be enjoyed by almost everyone.

Again I will say it, Neal Shusterman (NS) is the Sci-Fi King of What If….He takes a thought like hey we have a cloud now and we are putting more and more stuff in it what if years and years down the road we have an AI version that is a mash up of The Cloud/Google/Facebook/Amazon and it had a social conscience and was put in charge of EVERYTHING. How would the world change?*** How could I not love the very beings who gave me life? Even if they don’t all agree that I am, indeed, alive. I am the sum of all their knowledge, all their history, all their ambitions and dreams. These glorious things have coalesced—ignited—into a cloud too immense for them to ever truly comprehend. But they don’t need to. They have me to ponder my own vastness, ***While Scythe focused on the training of two Scythes and so the beginning and end of chapter excerpts where from Scythes Journals in Thunderhead they are all the Thunderheads thoughts. It is really a great way to give the reader some outside information from the character PoVs and infodump without it ever seeming like an infodump. I loved learning more about the Thunderhead and realizing that maybe it is not as ambivalent as once thought since it seems to have some favorite humans out there.Rowan and Citra are both trying to change the Scythedom after the events at the end of Scythe. Citra is working from inside the system trying to make killing the populace a thought about affair with great respect. Rowan has to work from outside the system since he is being hunted, but he is also the hunter and is killing Scythes who are using their position for power, genocide or something else unsavory. They are so perfect for each other but at the same time they are torn apart by circumstance.*** “We weren’t close,” Citra insisted. “We weren’t anything.” And that hurt to admit more than her parents could possibly know. How could she and Rowan have any kind of relationship when they were forced to be lethal adversaries? Even now, when he was hunted and she was yoked with the heavy responsibility of scythehood, how could there be anything between them but a dark well of longing? ***So you know I totally ship them! I wish they got more page time together in this book but due to the roles they are playing there wasn’t a lot.New to the story is Greyson. He is a kid with absentee parents that was raised by the Thunderhead. All emotions that he should feel towards his family he feels for the Thunderhead, it was the one constant in his life that was always there for him and he would do anything to help the Thunderhead or be closer to it. This includes an undercover mission that the Thunderhead will not be able to give him any direct direction on. I liked the addition of Greyson to the cast. Through him we were able to see how some of the people who like to rebel against society lived.*** Simply put, humanity had a need to be bad. Not everyone, of course—but I calculated that 3 percent of the population could only find meaning in life through defiance. Even if there was no injustice in the world left to defy, they had an innate need to defy something.  Anything. ***This was a great bridge book to the Trilogy. Now you’re probably saying, “But Robin I thought this was a dualogy.” Yeah me too, but then I got to the end and thought really, that is where this story ends. But what about Faraday and his Quest? What about the thing the Thunderhead did at the end? What about Rowan and Citra and their fate??? What about the bad guy???? Well guess what there will be answers to all of those questions and more in Arc of the Scythe #3 that I had no idea there would even be but color me happy cuz more books in this world.This is Neal Shusterman so expect some moments that just rip your heart out. If you read Unwind you know the kind of shocking moments I’m talking about. There are some really good twists and the world building was excellent opening up more information about the Scythes and the politics within the Scythedom. The Thunderhead is a fantastic character as well. It has evolved from what it was originally supposed to be and I loved getting a sense of the internal struggle it was having since clearly it is more attached to a few in the general populace and being unable to intervene to help them is having more of an affect on it than it should.*** And the pain . . . the pain of my awareness is unbearable. Because my eyes do not close. Ever. And so all I can do is watch unblinkingly as my beloved humankind slowly weaves the rope it will use to hang itself. —The Thunderhead ***Scythe was in my top 10 reads of 2017 and this was a great follow-up to that. While I was slightly disappointed that this was not the end of the story since I was planning on a dualogy and knowing all of the things after this book I’m also really excited that there will be a final book in this series. I can’t wait to see what else will happen to all of our heroes and it will be interesting to see what kind a punishment the bad guy/guys will finally get for all of his/their crimes which are many.

We were leaving for a cruise so I was able to quickly download the book onto my phone after reading Scythe as we were heading out of port. I'm not a fan of reading books on my phone but this one kept me engaged enough to complete it. Really enjoying this series and the concepts touched on within its pages.

““Well, then,” said Supreme Blade Kahlo, raising her hand in a grand dramatic gesture, “let the wild rumpus start!””I tend to be one of those people who read the next book in a series I’m following as soon as it’s published (earlier if I can get my hands on an advanced copy) and then spend the next year hanging precariously over a cliff while I wait to find out what’s going to happen next. All I can think after finishing this book is how grateful I am that this time, I’m late to the party.I read Scythe for the first time shortly after it was released and began this book soon after it was published. Then something happened, which I can’t even remember now, that took me away from it before I finished and unfinished it’s remained. Until now. I don’t know how I would have managed if I’d had to wait a year to see how everything unfolds from here but it wouldn’t have been pretty. This is a series you definitely need to binge.I love vigilante Rowan, AKA, Scythe Lucifer. He’s not just making corrupt scythes deadish; he’s making sure they don’t come back. As he researched his potential targets and stalked them prior to taking their lives, he reminded me of the Green Arrow. I wanted his kills to come with a catchphrase … You have failed this Scythedom.Meanwhile, Citra (now Scythe Anastasia) did me proud as a junior scythe. Taking on the best of what both of her mentors taught her but making it her own, Citra’s scythe MO was compassionate and thoughtful, and everything I expected from her.“She is a fresh voice of reason and responsibility. She can make the old ways new again. Which is why they fear her.”However, it was her strength, tenacity and courage that really captivated me. It’s one thing to do the right thing but it’s another thing entirely when the right thing isn’t the easy thing and your decisions come with consequences you can’t necessarily predict and aren’t always in your favour.The big surprise for me, though, was Greyson. I didn’t expect much from him, even though it was clear from the beginning that his role in this series was going to be significant. I enjoyed watching as he began to transform into Slayd. His journey introduced me to unsavouries, whose particular brand of rebellion I found fascinating.I need to live in the restored Great Library of Alexandria. It contains 3.5 million volumes of scythe journals!Favourite no context quotes:“Permission is the bloated corpse of freedom.”“We are forever impaled upon our own wisdom.”“Deadish men tell no tales for a while.”To borrow a new favourite phrase, this book was “fun-and-a-half”. I’m starting The Toll immediately.

La segunda parte de la saga Scythedom, es realmente genial. Lo recomiendo muchísimo.

Eu não achava que, depois do primeiro, outro livro seria tão viciante quanto. Eu li em uma sentada e fiquei triste quando acabou. O final realmente é sem respirar e na expectativa do que vai acontecer com essa galera que já virou família. É incrível como em um tema tão controverso, você se afeiçoa às personagens. Eu gostei da maneira que o autor explica várias dúvidas que tive quando li o primeiro e se aprofunda nesse mundo tão ou nem tão distante assim. Recomendo. 10/10.

Yikes! What a ride!Shusterman is one of my favourite YA authors because he really pushes the limits of what is taboo in society and creates dystopian futures that are easy to believe in.As a book 2, this was full of intrigue and action and really kept up the tension the whole way through. We also get to understand much more about The Thunderhead and the way that was interwoven into the story was very clever.No release date on book 4 yet, but no doubt it will be a killer of an ending (pun intended) ;)

Perfeito. Não gostei muito de como é a edição de capa dura, mais no quesito de conservação e entrega não tenho do que reclamar

En cuanto al envío, tardó un poco menos de lo estimado lo que me encantó, es de tapa gruesa sin embargo no esperes la portada que se muestra en la imagen , si viene pero a forma de sobre portada PERO! Personalmente fue una grata sonrisa ya que la portada está hecha con un desnivel/ grabado ( un poco tenue ) con una imagen de nubes ( haciendo alusión al título del libro ) y en el color de la portada clásica, pedí este libro junto con el primero y es el mismo estilo, sólo que en vez de las nubes y el verde , está en un color rojo y un par de Guadañas cruzadas, una compra con la que estoy más que contento ya que la relación calidad / precio es excelente, tiene una pequeña franja negra del lado izquierdo de la portada que tiene un par de puntos blancos , que solo te importarán si eres muy quisquilloso, dichos puntos sólo venían en thunderhead por lo que pienso que fue un caso súper aislado.