The Thunderhead, by Neal Shusterman, is a prequel to the book Scythe, also by Neal Shusterman. The Thunderhead is mainly about two teenagers who are basically living opposite lives, one of them is thrust into an unfortunate situation while the other is basically living the perfect life. This book is a sci-fi novel taking place in a dystopian world where humans are basically immortal which talks about the people in power abusing that power and about bringing them to justice. The book mainly follows two teenagers, Rowan and Citra. Rowan and Citra were both apprentice scythes who were split up when the first Scythe died. In the end only one of them could become a Scythe and the other had to die. Citra became a Scythe and Rowan was fated to die. Citra ‘accidentally’ gave Rowan immunity and he made his escape and went on the run. As they continue to live and pursue their own goals an enemy from their past comes to haunt them again.
This book was a great read. The multitude of characters was portrayed masterfully. The author did a great job of building tension and describing the intense emotions of the character. Each of the characters had such unique experiences and situations which the author did a great job of connecting. The plot twists were also executed very well, they made sense and were built up in a way that no one could have known that would happen. This book also brings up many moral issues, the main one is the system of Scythes. Since they live in a world where it is almost impossible for someone to die naturally they have people who act as death. The Scythes must kill a certain number of people but there is no limit to how many they could kill. The problem is that there are Scythes who enjoy killing and do so rampantly. This made me wonder if would this be right because things like natural disasters take many lives and the scythes are supposed to be a substitute for things that kill people so would this be morally right?
I believe that this is a great book. The characters were written very well it day interesting lore, and multiple characters each on their own adventures which right now seem unrelated but will ultimately connect in some way. The book is about how those in power abuse that same power and suffer no consequences and how they are brought to justice
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