Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Toll by Neal Shusterman

26 reviews

seren's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and War

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-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 and Grief

marareading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

3.5

I enjoyed this third book more than book two. The twists were more intense. I am not sure how I feel about the ending yet. The plot of this particular book is so random, I. Not sure if I love it or not. It is definitely going to sit with me, and on that basis alone it gets high marks. It is original, and very well thought out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

emilysreadingbooks's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

4.0

**includes spoilers for the first two books in the series**

Endura has sunk, Citra and Rowan are assumed dead, Scythe Goddard has set himself up to wield unlimited power, and the Thunderhead has gone silent for everyone except Greyson Tolliver. With Goddard’s biggest opponents dead, and the Thunderhead unable to interfere in scythe business, is there anything that can stop him?

The writing style in this book is unique, but made the book much more interesting to read. There are a variety of plots and subplots in this novel, but they are all woven together to push the main plot foreword. While this is a long book, there isn’t a moment of lull in the action; everything Shusterman wrote has a purpose to the plot.

The limited amount of romance in this entire series was refreshing. I love romance, but it is often included with no real benefit to the plot. I was actually surprised that this book includes the romance, considering that the first two books in the trilogy contained essentially none, but in this book it added to the plot, and created a bigger emotional response.

The ending is teetering on the edge of being either brilliant, or literally dues ex machina. But I’m not mad about it? The more I think about it and the more time it’s been since I finished, the more I think this book is brilliant. Very few authors could successfully write a plot twist like this, but Neal Shusterman pulls it off beautifully.

Overall, I gave this book 4 stars. It was a well-written, interesting novel, but I found the plot twists at the end to be a big leap, even though it was pulled off.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, and Classism

Moderate: Genocide, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Minor: Drug use

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective 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, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, and Grief

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

ciao_potatoes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

smiley_ari's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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, Hate crime, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief

anaguana's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Torture and Transphobia

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