Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Toll by Neal Shusterman

16 reviews

cepbreed's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I am in awe. I really thought this book was on track to be the worst in the series, but I couldn't have been further from correct. In fact I enjoyed it the most out of all three. The story is long and convoluted yet every single thing happens for a reason. Each little detail is brought back and explained in a way that makes Neal Shusterman seem like a human on another level of existence. The mind he has to weave all of these details together is amazing. The ending filled my heart. I had grown to love each character so much I wanted the best for each of them. I am so glad he gave his creations the ending they deserved. Such a masterful balance of world-building, character arcs, and romance. Never was there a moment where I felt bored even when details were introduced that we wouldn't be able to comprehend for another 20 chapters or more.

I was particularly moved by the cutting off of the Thunderhead. It was such a beautiful and melancholy moment. I never thought I could have grown so fond of an AI. Also, I am so glad to see Scythe Rand, who I despised, come into her own in a way that did not compromise her character. She is cold and calculating yet her act to fix the mistake that was her killing Tyger and bringing Goddard to life made me love her.

Ranking of the books: The Toll, Scythe, Thunderhead

Song: 

• Glory and Gore - Lorde 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual content and War

thejuliette's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Murder

ishouldbereading's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

,,We are imperfect beings. How could we ever fit in a perfect world?"

THIS BOOK IS SUCH A MASTERPIECE. I wish I could give it 5 stars but, alas, I didn't like one thing so it's not possible. This book will make you feel every single emotion you have. It will make you cry. It will make you scream. It will make you laugh. It's the perfect ending to a perfect trilogy, where every subplot is explored and explained perfectly (except I still don't quite understand what happened on Mars) and just the way this book makes you feel is so amazing. I loved almost every single character (which says a lot, since this almost never happens).

AND ROWAN AND CITRA GOING TO SPACE AND ROWAN SCREAMING AT CIRRUS AND JUST THE LOVE HE HAS FOR THIS GIRL MY HEART CAN'T TAKE IT. I also loved what Rand did to Goddard/Tyger that was fantastic and I must say, in the first book I didn't like Rand but in this book I absolutely love her and Greyson's character development is just so *mwah*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide and Blood

Minor: Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

aviery's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Kidnapping

hannahr's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Murder

its_van_vulpen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Torture and Religious bigotry

Minor: Suicide

The first half of the novel was fairly confusing as the story was constantly skipping throughout the timeline. If you are not a fan of multiple perspectives, this is not the book for you as we are not only given the perspectives of the major characters, but also of random side-characters that are only minimally relevant to the story I did really enjoy the social commentary on real life politics and religion present throughout the novel.

The character of Greyson Tolliver as The Toll and the Tonists perception of him shows how supposed religious figures and miracles can, in reality, just be regular people and misunderstood events.

*Minor Spoiler Ahead* The main romance in the novel was a little unbelievable to me as the two characters spent relatively little time with each other not only in this book, but in the whole series. Despite that, I'm not a particularly picky person so it personally doesn't bother me and I liked the two characters together.