Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“If we were judged by the things we most regret, no human being would be worthy to sweep the floor.”- Thunderhead, Neal Shusterman 

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?

Everyone has their blind-spot writer. You know, the guy (or gal) that you just can't not read or not like no matter what he (or she) puts out? This is usually because one thing that author wrote has had such a huge impact on your life that he is all but untouchable. 

And for me, that man is Neal Shusterman. Because he wrote the Unwind series.

For those who don't know, the Unwind series was my Harry Potter/Mortal Instruments/whatever book series that consumed your life for years at a time. It is the only series I have ever hardcore fangirled over, hardcore shipped, wrote fanfics and drew fanart of. I consider myself to be, for the most part, an impartial bookworm, but because Neal Shusterman's Unwind world had such a big impact on my life, this is not going to be the most impartial review in the world. 

And yet, I had a hard time with the first Scythe. I still really liked it and it did make my 2016 best books of the year list, but we've already established I am not the best judge when it comes to Shusterman's work. But at the same time, I went in with too high expectations and found it difficult to connect with any of the characters and lacking a certain... warmth or humor to it that Shusterman works usually have. Thunderhead is not any different from its predecessor in that aspect. Expect that it's managed to be even more dark and gritty and humorless. 

Now, I don't demand my books to be funny, and especially not dark and violent books. But it's just not typical of a Shusterman work to be so devoid of laughs. Challenger Deep, his serious National Book Award winner got more laughs out of me than this, and that's a deep contemporary about a teenage boy's struggles with schizophrenia. That's not to say Shusterman can't do serious well, he can, he's created some of the most bone-chilling "I have no mouth and I must scream" moments in YA literature, and quite a few are in this book. And yet, that hasn't kept him from putting in comic relief before. I guess what I'm saying is, I want Hayden back.

But Shusterman's characters are still good, which is one of his best assets as a writers. Citra and Rowan are a great couple, and if I was still in the shipping phase of my life you know I'd go for them hard. There's a new character that debuted in this novel, Greyson, whom I also liked. In fact, the three- Citra, Rowan, and Greyson- are forming a very Connor-Risa-Lev team which I liked because, again, I love those characters and seeing another iteration of them makes me smile. Of those, I think Greyson being Lev is the most obvious line one can draw, since the two had similar arcs and a similar theme of a life-changing event causing religious abandonment (metaphorically in Greyson's case) and rebellion only to come back around to it in the end. The difference between them is that Greyson is a consistently tolerable character while Lev had a tendency to get stuck between my teeth. But other than that, Citra and Rowan are consistently good, and my only complaint character-wise is that I had a hard time connecting to anyone that wasn't Citra or Rowan or Greyson.

Which brings me to Shusterman's other biggest asset as a writer- he is a damn good plot-maker. He has a wonderful imagination- with a lot of wonderfully fucked up ideas- and the chops to bring those ideas to life. With the Arc of a Scythe books, he is at the top of his world-building game and it is a joy to read. While it is true that Shusterman's idea of a utopia is, for me, more along the same lines as a dystopia, his worlds are still a lot of fun for me to let my mind wander in. His main talent lies in creating absolutely messed up violent scenes that engross me completely. I also admire his courage in killing off any and all characters at any point in his books, no matter how major or minor they may be, and I think Shusterman's great at inserting subtle musings on human nature and culture, though in this book I admit he's not on his best game. My only complaint plot-wise is the addition of election commentary that was a bit too heavy-handed for my tastes, though I may be hyper-sensitive about shit like that thanks to post-election burnout. Yes, even almost two years after the election I still get flashbacks about the Hillary vs Trump nightmare of 2015-2016.

I mean, Thunderhead didn't completely hold my attention all the way through, but it was still a good book from a guy who basically owns my soul at this point. The Arc of a Scythe isn't a new favorite series of mine, not in the way Unwind was, but it's a solid science-fiction/dystopian series that feels refreshingly new, something that few YA speculative fiction novels can claim. This isn't Neal Shusterman's best series, in my eyes, but it's one that I look forward to seeing the conclusion of and I hope to God it blows me away. I want so badly to love these books more than I do.

8-8.5 out of 10

If you liked this book, then you may also like:

The Unwind series, because of course. If the Arc of a Scythe is Neal Shusterman at his most optimistic, wait 'till you see him at his most pessimistic...

Five Favorites- Speculative Fiction

Yes, here I am posting about speculative fiction, a gathering of genres I am not shy about admitting I stay away from, if you can't tell by my general lack of enthusiasm about it. I mean, the whole reason why I grouped them all together under the label of speculative fiction is because I didn't have enough material to draw it out and have a science fiction, a fantasy, a paranormal, a dystopian, and a horror list. I admit though, even with my drawing it out I am a bit embarrassed to say I had a hard time reaching five, since really only three were definites. But I need more time with my historical fiction and thriller lists, and fall is literally the only time I voluntarily bother with speculative fiction so I thought it would be nice to talk about it.

So, without further ado, here are my top five speculative fiction novels! In no particular order, of course.

1. The Unwind Dystology

  Originally, this list had a lot of nostalgic favorites such as The Girl Who Could Fly and the Percy Jackson series, but I haven't revisited those in a long time and while they both had a big impact on my life, I don't feel the need to go back to them like I did to the Unwind series. This is one of my favorite series of all time. Don't be put off by the dystopian genre classification. In fact, the first book came out three years before The Hunger Games swept onto the scene. So, what is this book about? Basically, it's set some undetermined time in the future after the Second Civil War, which was fought over abortion and resolved by the Unwind Accord, a law passed saying that 13-18 (later 17) year olds could be "unwound", retroactively aborted with all their parts used for transplants, which was a scientific discovery by then. We follow three teens, the typical YA trio of two-guys-and-a-girl, Lev Calder (he goes through like a million last name changes over the course of the series) who is a tithe which means he is going to be unwound willingly at the age of thirteen, Risa Ward, a state ward unwound because of budget cuts, and Connor Lassiter, a troubled teen whose parents unwound him as a last resort and also my biggest fictional crush. Him and Risa are also my number one OTP. There's also a lot more going on and that's just the first book. One interesting thing about the series is that the first book, Unwind, can be read as sort of a standalone, and then the other three books- UnWholly, UnSouled, and UnDivided are kind of like the actual series. It's a really great, really fucked up, and really underrated series, and has been reigning as one of my favorite books ever ever since I first read it back in middle school. It's basically my Harry Potter.

2. Marina

  Are you sick of hearing about this book yet? Well, you're probably going to hear about this book a lot more in the upcoming months. Because Marina is the current holder of my favorite book of the year, ever since reading it all the way back in March, and almost instantly became one of my favorite books of all time. This is a Spanish YA horror novel with heavy Gothic influences. It's about a boy, Oscar, who goes to this boarding school in Barcelona. As he wanders around the old part of town, he meets a man named German Blau and his daughter Marina who he becomes close to. From there, they find themselves getting involved in the dark and twisted world of Mijail Kolvenik, an inventor in postwar Barcelona. It's a very complex, complicated plot to describe, so normally I just tell people that it's basically a mix of Phantom of the Opera, Bioshock, Frankenstein, Edgar Allen Poe, and the science fiction-y parts of The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue. It's just really damn good.  

3. The Road

  Cormac McCarthy's The Road is a post apocalyptic nightmare of a book that hits you hard in the feelings. The prose is a thing of beige beauty, simplistic with almost every sentence perfectly formed. It's bleak and depressing and even horrific, but it has an almost hopeful undertone about finding something from nothing. I could tell you that this book is about a man and his son trying to not just survive but retain their humanity in a ruined world, but that's almost too simple a summary. Reading this book is an experience, one best gone through without any prior expectations. It was my favorite book of last year and has become one of my favorite books ever.

4. Six of Crows Duology

  You can tell how much I read speculative fiction because every book on this list except one I read either last year or this year. The answer for that is simple, until last year I read almost all contemporary, historical fiction, and thrillers, as well as a lot of nonfiction. I didn't start develing into fantasy until I started getting into Booktube and that made me want to try really hard to read fantasy but alas, I couldn't do it. That being said, Six of Crows was a really great discovery, one that even I was able to really get into. Mostly because I loved the Amsterdam inspired setting and the interesting blend of 16th-17th century Netherlands with late 19th-early 20th technology and clothing all in one fantasy world. This book captured me with its atmosphere and cast of characters, a group that reminded me so much of the Unwind crew. This is one of the biggest fantasy duologies out there, so I won't waste your time talking about the plot. My favorite characters were Jesper, Kaz, and Inez, I hated both Nina and Matthias, and I felt very little towards Wylan except in relation to Jesper, in which case I was all over him. I was less invested in the second book, which disappointed me in a lot of ways, but it is still a really great book duology, even for someone not into fantasy at all.

5. The Illuminae Files

  So, we had a horror novel, 2 dystopians, and a fantasy. What about science-fiction? And well paranormal, but most people including me have kind of stopped taking those books seriously since the rise and fall of the paranormal empire. So science fiction. More specifically, space science fiction. I mentally refer to it as hi-sci-fi because I like the way that sounds. I reach for those books even less than I do fantasy because I can't stand space and have little patience for endless musings on the universe. With the exception of The End from The Tsar of Love and Techno because that last story is beautiful and you know it. But yeah, the Illuminae Files. Also known as, why the hell did I like this book. It's just a ton of fun to read, that's why. It's no great literature or anything, it's just a quick, funny, and violent read, with a great first novel, a less great but still strong second book, and hopefully a third book that will round out the series nicely, even though the second book did not feel like a middle novel at all. This is another book that I think is fairly hyped up, so I also won't bore you with plot. My favorite characters are Ella, Kady, Grant, and the AI. This book was just fun escapism, and really, what else do you need from science fiction?

What are some of your favorite speculative fiction books? Have you read any of these books? What do you think about them? Leave your thoughts below!

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“Things Happen and once they start happening you pretty much just to hold on for dear life and see where they drop you when they stop.”- How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff

“Every war has turning points and every person too.”

Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.

As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary.

But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way. 

Meg Rosoff lives in the same corner of my mind that several other American expat British writers live in. You'd be surprised how many there are, including Patrick Ness and Elizabeth Wein. My vague, sort of interest in her writing started when my old high school librarian mentioned that she was one of his favorite authors, and was recently renewed after reading Life: An Exploded Diagram, when I discovered while researching Mal Peet that she finished one of his books for him, kind of like how Patrick Ness wrote A Monster Calls. 

Oddly, for a tiny little book it took me forever to read. Kind of like how it took me forever to read On the Jellicoe Road. I had such a hard time getting into it that I was ready to dnf it and cut my losses, but I'm in a slump and don't want to admit it by not finishing books. 

Her writing reminds me of Elizabeth Wein's, likely because Wein has clearly been heavily influenced by her. As I've gotten older I've found myself growing out of that style of writing. Not necessarily stream-of-consciousness, per se, it can be done very well- after all, I consider the Modernists some of the best writers and they were the ones to start that type of narrative. No, I'm talking about the ALL CAPS, Certain Things Capitalized to Sound Quirky, crossed out words, and more. I mean, sure, I could forgive it if the book was meant to be written like a journal entry, but when it's presented as a typical novel, it grates on me. Kind of like how The Pearl Thief grated on me, come to think of it. I think authors maybe do things like that because it gives their characters the illusion of having a personality- if they write with all caps and no quotation marks when someone is speaking and capitalize things to make them sound like official titles, then the main character is automatically Spunky and Lovably Rebellious. 

Rosoff probably did this to make Daisy endearing, maybe because she realized that Daisy had to have some endearing, relatable qualities. Because Daisy's a pretty shitty human. She's anorexic (I'll come back to the poor treatment of her anorexia later) for attention, she hates people without any real reason to, like her stepmother, she's shitty to her father, and her lack of detachment as to what's going on makes me think of sociopaths. I mean, I get having a hard time emphasizing about an attack that happened a half a world away, but when you live in England, a small country, and the attack was in London, you still have to feel something for the people that died instead of dismissing it. I like to think I'm not alone in thinking this, and I don't think I am evidenced by all the people who reached out to Paris or Manchester or Orlando. Her detachment doesn't make her seem relatable, the way Rosoff probably intended for her to seem, it makes her seem cold, unfeeling. Again, sociopathic. 

The love story in this was kind of horrible. It wasn't that I was particularly bothered by cousin-cousin incest, since I knew that it would be about this and if I was extremely against that stuff being in fiction I wouldn't have picked this up in the first place. Besides, after enjoying Forbidden as much as I did I don't think I could get on a soap box about it, and frankly anyone who loves history as much as I do can't be that bothered by cousins kissing. 

No, my problem with Daisy and Edmond's relationship more had to do with the fact it was chemistry-less. I felt nothing for either of them, because they were just kind of smashed together. I mean, she mentioned feeling a few feelings, Edmond could read her mind, and then they kissed and I guess started screwing, but honestly they could have been playing Monopoly for all I knew. Sure, there were some references to how much they loved each other and snarky references on her part to Underage Sex, but that's all I got from their relationship. 

In fact, I had a hard time caring about anyone. I think that had something to do with Daisy's horrible narrative, how focused she was on herself, so much so I couldn't connect with Piper or Edmond or Isaac or Osbert, and I couldn't feel bad about Aunt Penn because I didn't know her very well. 

Look, okay, detachment can work really well in some cases. In fact, I thought about The Road a lot while reading this book. I wonder if Rosoff read The Road and decided she wanted to do a YA version of that book, but, needless to say, The Road blows her out of the water. In that book, the detached narrative worked well in showing how people can become so used to a horrible situation that atrocities don't phase them. In this book, I can't even argue for that interpretation because she wrote that way right from the very beginning, so Daisy came off as unfeeling instead of jaded like the Man in The Road.

Daisy's anorexia was as horribly done as the love story. It's treated casually, dismissed, and never really brought up. It's not a flaw, it's just something about her. This is approach is fine when it comes to a disability, like when a character is in a wheelchair or has one arm, but not with a serious mental illness like anorexia, that does in fact kill people. She makes remarks about how she likes doing it for attention, how she's getting fat and should start losing again, and how much she hates shrinks, and it seems like we should cheer her on for it, because of how endearing she makes it sound instead of serious. It just left a bad taste in my mouth.

With all this being said, How I Live Now had a really great idea behind it. I've always been fascinated by the effect war has on the everyman, especially total war like in both world wars. Some of my favorite WWII books focus on that, like My Family For the War, or City of Thieves or even the bits in The Diary of a Young Girl when Frank writes about rations and the black market. I was interested to see how Rosoff takes the idea and turns it into a contemporary seeming book, and I think she did it mostly successfully. She created a timeless story, which I always love. I mean, sure, there were references to gas cars and cell phones and email, but the first has been around for years now and the second and third aren't going away anytime soon, so I could see this book sticking around for a long time.

It also had a vague 1940s feel, which I did like, since I have a soft spot for the 40s- when I first started getting into YA historical fiction all I wanted to read about was WWII era fiction.

So, do I recommend this book? If you love Elizabeth Wein, go for it. In this book's credit, it does have some very pretty writing and I suppose to the right person endearing characters, but if you're annoyed by any of the stuff above, I wouldn't go for this book. Read The Road instead.

4.5 out of 10