Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe, #2)

by Neal Shusterman

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I actually attempted to read this book shortly after it came out, but had to put it down because of lack of interest and more important things to read. Now that I have read it however, I’m looking at it with a very unfavorable disappointed opinion.

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If I take the plot in Thunderhead, unlike Scythe, it’s not very straightforward but instead more of a jumbled mess of intersecting smaller plot lines that eventually merges into the bigger one which might not have been that bad of an idea, but it still makes it feel like a mess. The only one I can safely gloss over without spoilers would be the stupidity with Scythe Lucifer’s plot line. I really really hoped that this book will be about why Citra is very important according to the Thunderhead and more importantly, seeing how the Scythedom deals with Rowan without anything else happening, but unfortunately we branch out into so many things that it felt like a way longer book than it should’ve been and the book manages to do what it does best, show how completely incompetent the Scythedom truly is.

Thankfully the Thunderhead had a much bigger presence in this book, because it would’ve been a very difficult (and most likely a dnf) one to finish if it just focused on the other add-ons without the AI. That being said, this AI, while definitely more interesting than everything else in the book, unfortunately makes exceptions to some things that make it a little too convenient for the plot line. And not only that, this book in particular shows that it’s separation from the Scythedom is one of the dumbest decisions ever to come out of the Thunderhead, with their incompetence, they need something like it, but I guess that would’ve made things way too easy with the way the book went.

The characters in themselves were alright, I absolutely loved Scythe Curie and wished to see so much more about her and only her. If there is ever a branch to this series down the line about her, I’ll read it in a heartbeat. Citra developed more than the first book, but that’s not saying much when she’s still following her misplaced emotions more than anything else. Rowan was the worst thing in this book, I hate the anti-hero persona of his when it take that disgusting self righteous path of trying to shove my own views and whatever else on an ancient system, regardless if I’m barely considered a novice or even accepted in said order. The new characters ranged from interesting to forgettable, but I’m sure the sequel and supposed conclusion will have a bigger focus on some of them.

World building in this book remains good in one spot and severely lacking in another. For instance, the functions of the world’s various entities alongside the Scythedom and the Thunderhead were explained pretty well, especially since the book gives us a bigger view into the conscious of the Thunderhead in the beginning for the six parts of this book and at the end of the chapters. However, the world’s divisions and the induction of the charter regions is such a glossed over topic that I find myself disheartened that I can’t actually paint a bigger image in my mind on what country fits into what and such. What about the countries we haven’t seen? What about the other charter regions? It sucks that it’s the second book in a trilogy without definitive answers.

There are a few things I want to discuss in this book, but I’ll be leaving it in the comments section to avoid adding spoilers here and ruining the point of these spoiler free thoughts. I liked some of the possible plot lines in the book, but there are way too many things that annoyed me in it for me to simply ignore. Would I be reading the sequel? I most likely will just because of the Thunderhead.

Final rating: 2.5