Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

Summary from Goodreads:

Rowan and Citra take opposite stances on the morality of the Scythedom, putting them at odds, in the second novel of the chilling New York Times bestselling series from Neal Shusterman, author of the Unwind dystology.

Rowan has gone rogue, and has taken it upon himself to put the Scythedom through a trial by fire. Literally. In the year since Winter Conclave, he has gone off-grid, and has been striking out against corrupt scythes—not only in MidMerica, but across the entire continent. He is a dark folk hero now—“Scythe Lucifer”—a vigilante taking down corrupt scythes in flames.

Citra, now a junior scythe under Scythe Curie, sees the corruption and wants to help change it from the inside out, but is thwarted at every turn, and threatened by the “new order” scythes. Realizing she cannot do this alone—or even with the help of Scythe Curie and Faraday, she does the unthinkable, and risks being “deadish” so she can communicate with the Thunderhead—the only being on earth wise enough to solve the dire problems of a perfect world. But will it help solve those problems, or simply watch as perfection goes into decline?

Review:

Wow! That ending! In the span of 10 minutes, I was outraged, I shed one tear, I laughed out loud, and then my jaw dropped. Neal Shusterman is a genius for coming up with this, and he expertly manipulates all my emotions. I need the next book now!

Above the ending, this was just a purely fun, adrenaline rushing kind of read. It’s a rare occasion that my boyfriend and I will read the same book, let alone love the same book. It’s even rarer that he will read a YA book before me. He beat me to this one. We were both super excited for this second installment. And thankfully, it did no disappoint.

It was basically one plot twist after another, and there was never one truly good moment to put the book down. It’s one of those books that made me dread going to work, not because there was anything to dread there, but because I wished I could devote all my time to reading. 

The story moved along super fast. I loved getting to know the Thunderhead, and through the Thunderhead, the world. A lot of plot holes and important questions were answered from this point of view. It was also super fascinating. It was like continually getting the point of view of God (if God were actually a super computer). Needless to say, there was never a dull moment.

I did continue to feel worse and worse for Rowan. He never seems able to catch a break. Between the events of the last book and this one, it’s shocking to see that he still has so much hope. Also, in true Shusterman fashion, there was one element to the story where I was just appalled that something happened. It reminded me of Unwind, and I couldn’t get it out of my head. It had me second guessing things, and wondering where the ethical line was. 

All in all, this was a fast-paced, intense, plot-twisty book.  Lots of plot holes and questions from book 1 were answered. The ending was one crazy, finale of action. The politics and Thunderhead character were super interesting. It was well worth the wait. I give it a 9/10.