The Toll
2019
- death--fiction.
- murder--fiction.
- science fiction.
- nyt:series-books=2019-11-24
- children's fiction
- death, fiction
- murder, fiction
- science fiction
- immortality
- juvenile fiction
The story
I DO NOT SPEAK WITH THE VOICE OF THE THUNDER. **BUT THE THUNDER DOES SPEAK THROUGH ME.** Citra and Rowan have disappeared. Endura is gone. It seems like nothing stands between Scythe Goddard and absolute dominion over the world scythedom. With the silence of the Thunderhead and the reverberations of the Great Resonance still shaking the earth to its core, the question remains: Is there anyone left who can stop him? The answer lies in the Tone, the Toll, and the Thunder. In the highly anticipated finale to the *New York Times* bestselling trilogy, dictators, prophets, and tensions rise. In a world that's conquered death, will humanity finally be torn asunder by the immortal beings it created? This description comes from the publisher. *The Toll* is the third book in the Arc of the Scythe series, the first of which is *Scythe*.
What it’s like
Sharp, austere prose with a cool, formal voice, the kind that reads like official documents and sermons broken by sudden flashes of intimate dread. The world it builds is clean and sterile at the surface, all polished chrome cities, quiet monorails, and ornate ceremonial robes, with violence arriving as stark, deliberate interruptions rather than a constant hum. The reading mood is grand and ominous: tense political chess, a church-like hush over every chapter, and a steady undertow of foreboding. Chapters often open on proclamations, sermons, or sealed records, so the rhythm alternates between long, measured stretches of ideology and sudden jolts of brutality. Its people carry heavy moral arcs, drifting between faith, fear, and reluctant resolve as they confront what power does to the powerful. The violence is significant: executions and killings are described with unflinching directness, sometimes gruesome, though not lingered on for shock. It suits a late-night read with the lights low, for readers who enjoy dystopian politics, philosophical unease, and a serious, unsentimental young-adult register. Not gentle, and not a comfort read.
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