Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman. Arc of a Scythe #2. Unabridged audiobook on one MP3 CD, hours, minutes. Read by Greg Tremblay. Brilliance Audio, April, 2018. 9781978614307. (Review from purchased audiobook.)
Happy Tuesday and first day of school for me, TMS Readers! Enjoy your lovely day off while we teachers prepare to welcome you back on Thursday! Teen Tuesday features Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman. Thunderhead is book two in the Arc of a Scythe series and you definitely should read book one, Scythe, first.
The series is set in the future when death and disease have been eradicated. Not only can one live several hundred years, but should one desire, he or she may "reset" their body to a younger age. Governments and most countries as we know it no longer exist. Crime is nearly non-existent. Life is good, if a bit boring. Everything is watched over and controlled by the Thunderhead. But the planet cannot support an unlimited population so Scythes are tasked with culling the population. Unlike the Thunderhead, Scythes are all too human, and being above the law, a faction has split off and seems to take pleasure in the killing.
The series centers around two teens, Citra and Rowan as they are chosen to become scythe apprentices but eventually end up as political pawns. Neal Shusterman is a master worldbuilder and storyteller. He keeps the reader off-balance and guessing. The ending of Thunderhead will leave the reader panting for the next installment, The Toll, which as yet, has neither a cover nor an expected due date!
I read both books in this series with my ears and thoroughly enjoyed Greg Tremblay's narration. While his pacing occasionally lags, he manages to maintain distinct voices for the large cast of characters. I especially like that his female voices are not breathy caricatures that many male narrators tend toward.
If you are a science fiction fan, you should definitely check this series out as well as Neal Shusterman's Unwind Dystology!
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