Title: The Toll
Author: Neal Shusterman
Series: Arc of a Scythe #3
Previous Reviews: Scythe || Thunderhead
Publication Date: November 5, 2019
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Format: Hardcover

I waited a very long, agonizingly slow year for this to release, so obviously the burning question is: was it worth it?

Well, yes and no. This was definitely the book three I was hoping for. It has a little bit of everything, and where there were spots in the first two books that I felt dragged and lost my interest, I zipped right through this one without that problem. But on the other hand … this is the last book, guys. What will I do with myself now?! Is that level of anguish and existential torture ever worth it?!

The Toll is rife with the big, hard-hitting philosophical questions like what happens after we die, how human can an AI actually become, and how do you stop a megalomaniac who has no boundaries?

You know, the important questions. There was a lot of depth in this book, which I really appreciated, but there was also action and comedy and heartfelt moments, and in the end, I thought it was a satisfying conclusion that I never expected.

If you want some more of my knee-jerk, immediate thoughts, I did a reaction thread (no spoilers) on Twitter as I read the book.

Look what just came in. The Toll by @NealShusterman. This will be a reaction thread as I read this because I’ve waited long enough and it’s worth it. NO SPOILERS. Just reactions. Maybe a few quotes, so maybe avoid those if you want to be surprised on that front. #amreading pic.twitter.com/lh2LRoIGTq

— Sammie (@srbetler) November 5, 2019

❧ This book tackles that really pivotal moment when the members of a utopia actually realize they’re living in a dystopia.

We readers knew it all along. We were just waiting for them to catch up. And they did! Which I imagine might be a teensy bit traumatic, but boy did I love it. Regardless of what it says about me, I love watching that moment where a utopia dissolves and almost becomes something greater. Because let’s face it … utopias are never actually good at anything more than the surface level. There’s always a dark underbelly hidden just beneath the surface that fuels the lie of “perfection”.

❧ All the old favorites were in this book, but we got to meet some pretty awesome new characters, too.

First things first: Jeri. Big highlight of this book for me, but also an interesting case study. Jeri is genderfluid: she when it’s a clear sky and he when it’s overcast. Which is … interesting. Definitely different. I loved Jeri’s personality so much, though, and felt like they were a pretty solid addition to the already magnificent cast.

Scythe Alighieri also makes an appearance, and for anyone who’s as much of a literature nerd as I am … can you say Divine Comedy?! It’s exciting because, one, Dante deserves to have a scythe named after him for obvious reasons, but two, this guy is clearly my spirit animal, and I’m so okay with this.

❧ Continuing the theme of the two previous books, The Toll raises some really good philosophical, ethical, and moral questions.

It’s one of the things I really love about this series. It doesn’t promise or even pretend to have all the answers, but it still asks the questions anyway. There were some really hard-hitting ideas brought up. I’d never be able to, or would want to, broach them all here, but one of my favorites was the reliance on the Thunderhead and how quickly something you took for granted can be taken away from you. What do you do when the servant becomes the master? Another favorite, which we take for granted: mortality! In a post-Age of Mortality world, where being rendered deadish is little more than an inconvenience, they’re just starting to have to tackle the same sorts of questions that had previously plagued humanity. News flash: turns out humans aren’t above death, after all.

❧ The Thunderhead has always been one of my favorite characters, but this book really tests just how far an AI can grow as a character.

I laughed. I cried. Mostly, my heart broke for the Thunderhead, time and time again, because an AI shouldn’t have to deal with human problems. What kind of cheap crap is that? Yet, it did, and being human is hard. The Thunderhead deserves better than that.

In this book, the Thunderhead definitely morphs into something greater than “just” an AI.

As if being an AI isn’t enough. It has its own arc and struggles and story, and I just really need to be give it a hug, okay? It’s ending was as heartbreaking as it was beautiful, but the Thunderhead really becomes something less robotic and just a teensy bit more human and relatable.

❧ However bad you think Goddard would be as a leader … multiply that by ten.

I went in thinking I was prepared for Goddard, based on his actions in the other books, but nope. He was somehow worse than I imagined, and I’m not sure how that’s possible?

I mean, I’m delighted by how deliciously dramatic and self-serving he is, because … well, I don’t have to live there, so it’s fun to watch. Also, it serves them right for not seeing it common.

More than anything else, though, Goddard follows a very predictable and familiar path that a lot of zealots take in amassing a following and gaining control.

Perhaps the most breathtaking part of his journey wasn’t how far into deprivation he was willing to sink (hint: really far), it was how similar it was to other real-life leaders and how easy it seemed once the ball was rolling. I love just how cold and calculating Goddard could be and the way it was juxtapositioned against the moments when his sanity was clearly slipping, because they’re such different personalities, yet also two sides to the same coin.

❧ I feel like Greyson deserves a bit of love here, because he really comes into his own as a character and also religious leader.

One day, you’re a normal teenager doing normal teenage things, like rebelling and raging at not being able to speak to the Thunderhead. The next, you’re the only one who can speak to the Thunderhead and suddenly the messiah of a religion. You know, like you do.

I really, really, really wanted more about Greyson’s coming up through the Tonists and his reaction to suddenly having to be the one with all the answers (whether he has them or not). I understand that it couldn’t be explored in this book, but I just really wanted a peek at what his journals would have been like as he realized what was required of him.

Oh, how hilarious it would have been, I’m sure. Though, Greyson isn’t just playing a figurehead leader (although, he is doing that, too), but he becomes an actual leader over the course of the book as he grows into his role. It was really nice to see his evolution and for him to have a bit of a bigger role.

❧ Shusterman must have been in some kind of inspired mood, because there are all sorts of little Easter eggs related to names, and I loved every one of them.

There’s a good chance I missed some, but I won’t call them out, regardless. Half of the fun is being able to spot them for yourself. I will call out Ayn Rand’s little nod, because I loved Atlas Shrugged, and you absolutely should not miss this one, for my sake.

❧ The timeline in this book is a little wonky and hard to follow at first, until all the different parts align in the same time.

This book tries to explain everything that happened from the end of the last book, but it does so by jumping between different characters at different points in the story, from Faraday just before the end of the last book to characters three years later. It does this back and forth, and I sometimes found it hard to ground myself and figure out when in the timeline certain events were supposed to be taking place.

❧ Rowan is a treasure and was sorely underutilized in this book.

In Thunderhead, he really came into himself as Scythe Lucifer and deciding what he wanted to stand for and what he was willing to do. I love his character and the growth it’s taken (as unexpected as it was at first). But for this book? He’s sort of just … there. Sometimes. Squeezes in a few witty barbs that we all know and love him for, and that’s … it.

This book fits in one final arc for almost every character, but somehow glances over Rowan.

Maybe it’s because there just wasn’t room for him? I don’t know. I would’ve gladly traded a few other arcs for more of him, though. But he felt like a puzzle piece that just didn’t quite belong in this puzzle and never did.

❧ The overall solution to the Goddard problem was a bit underwhelming for me.

Okay, I admit it, I even rolled my eyes. There were actually two solutions, and one I absolutely loved, almost as much as I disliked the other, because it seemed like a cop-out. Instead of wrapping things up, the conclusion felt like opening a new chapter. Which, hey, I am all for. If you tell me there’s a spin-off of this based on the ending, I will retract my gripe here. Until then, I wasn’t a huge fan of it.

Have you read The Toll yet? What are some of your thoughts? Who’s your favorite character?