The Toll

by Neal Shusterman
Hennepin County Library hardcover 625 pages
genre: YA dystopian
(Book 3 of the Scythe series)

I should have blogged this promptly after reading it . . . but life is strange right now.

Shusterman crafts incredible stories and this is no exception. I had to wait a while to get it and really wanted to know what happened after Endura sank. I found out!

One interesting aspect of this story was the inclusion of a gender fluid character. On page 28 the character explains:
"I feel like a woman beneath the sun and the stars. I feel like a man under the cover of clouds," Jericho had explained to the crew when assuming command. "A simple glance at the skies will let you know how to address me at any given time."
On page 286, Anastasia is talking with Jeri about her identity.
"I've often wondered what it would have been like to have been born in the Madagascan region . . . Not that I'm really interested in being a man - but I wonder what it would have been like to explore both sides when I was too young to know the difference."
There was quite a bit more exposition about this topic and it came up several more times in the book.

I wonder why this was so important to Shusterman to include and emphasize. It almost seems . . . like a cause.

I'm not sure why I put a post-it note in this spot, but perhaps because it also seems to be a sign of our times:
Page 301 - "Anastasia supposed it was because there was very little private about Tenkamenin. He lived his life like he were in a window display."
A lot of people do seem to live their lives very, very publicly nowadays.

This book also had a lot of religious overtones, mostly to do with the Toll.

On page 361, "As for Astrid, she had her work cut out for her keeping them all on the proper spiritual path. She stayed with the Toll because deep down, she believed that Greyson Tolliver was the real thing. That he was divinely moved by the Tone, and that his humility about it was understandable. A humble nature was, after all, the hallmark of a true holy man. It made perfect sense that he would refuse to believe he was part of the Holy Triad, but just because he didn't believe it himself, didn't make it any less true."

And at the end of a chapter on page 417 - "Because, as it would turn out, he'd need to lead them into darkness before he could lead them into light."

There was also a lot about forgiveness, awe, reverence, godlike qualities, etc.

There were definite twists and turns in the story! I was almost yelling when the harbormaster used the tracking beacon and contacted Goddard.

On page 587, I was surprised to find sympathy for Sykora who had been such a detestable character to me . . . "Allow me to be useful, Loriana. Please." His humility was surprising and timely. (But I was a tiny bit suspicious, too . . . I was honestly not sure how this would end.)

Overall, I enjoyed this entire series. It's pretty violent, though, and has some complex themes. I would have loved doing this with my eighth grade book club! (Back when I HAD a student book club.)