Last night I finished “The Toll” by Neal Shusterman – the third and last book in the Arc of the Scythe series.

I first started this series when Goodreads recommended Scythe back in the beginning of this year. Little did I know how fun and thought-provoking this series would be. The first book (Scythe) was incredible, the second book (Thunderhead) superseded the first one by miles, but unfortunately, the third book (The Toll) fell short for me. I don’t want to spoil any of the books, but the social justice warrior was strong in the third one and there were several times that this agenda was so forced down my gullet that I wanted to throw up. I get that not everyone is going to share my point of view on things, but Shusterman’s obvious bias against Christians, gender and weapons was evident ad nauseum. It wasn’t even subtle.

This doesn’t take away from the story line. It was good, the ending was well done. What happened to the villain was satisfyingly different. The main characters Rowan and Citra were deep and well thought out. Citra, did get on my nerves a little towards the end though.

My teenage son loves this series and is still finishing up the third book. I really want to hear his take on it.

If you love dystopians, this is a very rewarding book series. There is so much in it that makes you think about absolutes, about Deity and about what the purpose of life really is. The books are delightfully provocative, but the last one really made up your mind for you. Don’t mind-screw me, and I felt that is what The Toll tried to do.

If you are interested in this series, you can buy it here. This last book was 627 pages long.