Review: Game Changer by Neal Shusterman

Game Changer
By Neal Shusterman
Publisher: Quill Tree Books
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Publication Date: February 9, 2021

To Sum It Up: Ash Bowman is a high school football player with a seemingly normal life until a hard hit during a game leaves him with the feeling that things aren’t quite right—and they aren’t. Ash, however, appears to be the only person who fully realizes that the world has changed, and not necessarily for the better. Whatever is happening around him also awakens Ash to the fact that he truly hasn’t been seeing what life is like for people who aren’t as privileged as he is. As the world continues to shift, Ash discovers that he may be able to bring about positive change, but even the smallest slip could create a new, bleak reality that is permanent.

Review: Neal Shusterman’s Arc of a Scythe trilogy blew me away with its unique premise and brilliant writing, and so I was thrilled to dive into his newest release, Game Changer. One of my favorite things about the Arc of a Scythe series was its deft, multilayered storytelling, and Shusterman doesn’t disappoint in that department here with Game Changer.

At first Game Changer appears to be a novel about an archetypal All-American high school football player named Ash Bowman. But when Ash takes a particularly hard hit on a play during a game, it literally shakes his entire world. Blue stop signs are now the norm. Ash knows something is amiss, but most of his family and friends do not. As he maneuvers this seemingly new world, Ash begins to discover that blue stop signs are the least alarming aspect.

Finding out the impact of that single event during the football game as Ash does makes for compelling reading. What exactly is going here to cause these shifts in the world? The answer involves a sci-fi twist that I thought was well done, and I’m not much of a sci-fi reader. This book reminded me a bit of David Levithan’s excellent Every Day. As he did with Arc of a Scythe, Shusterman is so great at immersing you in a world that, sometimes very eerily, isn’t too farfetched from what we know.

The heart of this book, though, lies in its timely exploration of some of the most pressing social issues we face, including racism, homophobia, and sexism. At the beginning of the novel, the extent of Ash’s social awareness is his diverse circle of friends. As he finds himself thrown into alternate universes, his white, heterosexual male privilege becomes more and more glaringly apparent to him.

While some readers may feel that the novel tries to take on too many weighty topics at once, and granted, each of them individually could absolutely be the subject of their own book, for me the takeaway here was the overall development of Ash’s realization of just how privileged and comfortable his life was back in his original world. And although his attempts to effect sweeping change and correct the injustices he can now see more clearly are sincere, they can come off seeming a bit of a simplistic approach to extremely complex problems. On the whole, though, this is a thought-provoking read that challenges how we often view the world only through the lens of our own experiences and demonstrates the need to continue the work of truly seeing and listening to the multitude of perspectives that exist.

All in All: This is the fourth Neal Shusterman book that I’ve read, and I love how he blends an impactful look at societal issues with a sci-fi/alternate universe twist. I find that his books leave me thinking about them for some time after I’ve read the last page, and Game Changer will definitely be staying with me for a while.

Review: Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

* This review may contain spoilers for the previous book, Scythe. *

Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe #2)
By Neal Shusterman
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: Although they began their journey together as scythe’s apprentices, Citra and Rowan’s lives could not be any more different now. Citra has become Scythe Anastasia, an increasingly rare junior scythe who seems to adhere to the principles of the old guard amidst a growing new order that wants to glean without boundaries. Rowan, meanwhile, is now the notorious Scythe Lucifer, the self-appointed deliverer of justice to dishonorable scythes. As Rowan tries to evade capture by the Scythedom, Citra finds herself targeted by a yet unknown enemy. It seems that conflict within the Scythedom is inevitable, and the Thunderhead, the sentient artificial intelligence that benevolently rules over humanity, is powerless to do anything about it because it cannot intervene in scythe affairs.

Review: After the genius that was Scythe, I couldn’t wait to dive into the sequel, Thunderhead. Scythe was such a thrilling, exhilaratingly unpredictable read with a note perfect ending that I was a bit about nervous how Thunderhead would measure up to its predecessor. It turns out that I need not have worried for a second.

When we catch up with Scythe’s two protagonists, Citra and Rowan, we find them on rather opposite sides of scythe law. As Scythe Anastasia, Citra is following in the footsteps of her mentor, Scythe Curie, and doing her best to perform her duties with honor. This is even as the so-called new order within the Scythedom that wants to loosen restrictions on gleaning continues to gain traction. Citra and her mentor’s adherence to the old ways appears to come at a price when they become the targets of an unknown adversary.

As for Rowan, his path has detoured down a much darker road. He has taken it upon himself to mete out justice to nefarious scythes by gleaning them. Rowan’s vigilantism is not without consequences. In addition to being the Scythedom’s most wanted criminal, AKA “Scythe” Lucifer, his deeds cost him in ways he couldn’t have imagined.

While Citra and Rowan remain central to the series, we gain the perspectives of additional characters in Thunderhead, including the titular . . . entity? The Thunderhead is such a unique character. It’s essentially a highly evolved version of the cloud (as in cloud computing) that governs humanity except for the Scythedom. Not only is the Thunderhead an authority figure, but it also literally takes care of the people it rules. In the case of new character Greyson Tolliver, the Thunderhead has basically parented him.

As we see inside the Thunderhead’s thoughts, its concern over what is happening within the Scythedom grows significantly. A shift in political climate doesn’t affect just scythes; it inevitably ripples to affect every single human being. Although the Thunderhead cannot take direct action to protect its charges, it is more than clever enough to find ways to circumvent the separation between scythe and state. And Greyson Tolliver becomes a key figure in the Thunderhead’s plans.

At the beginning of the novel, Greyson is a nondescript student at the Nimbus Academy, training to become an agent under the Thunderhead’s authority. Having essentially been raised by the Thunderhead, Greyson is quite content with his career path. The Thunderhead, however, has other ideas in store for him, and by the end of the book, Greyson Tolliver has experienced quite the adventure.

One of the things I loved most about Scythe was its seemingly never-ending supply of surprises. Thunderhead ups the twists and turns exponentially. I’m not joking. When I finished the book, I needed a bit to process all that had happened between page one and the final page. It. Is. Insane.

The ending also makes you wonder where the story can go from there. Seriously—this ending changes EVERYTHING. Whatever follows, though, is sure to be just as brilliant as everything about Thunderhead.

All in All: This is no lightweight middle book! I loved reading from the Thunderhead’s POV, and I’m still in awe over how Neal Shusterman pulled off shocker after shocker.

Review: Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Scythe (Arc of a Scythe #1)
By Neal Shusterman
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: In a future where disease has been eradicated, the only way to die is to be gleaned by a scythe—those officially charged with delivering death. Scythes are supposed to respect the gravity of their role in society and adhere to a set of rules, but as newly selected apprentices Citra Terranova and Rowan Damisch quickly learn, not all scythes are honorable. As division grows within the Scythedom, Citra and Rowan find themselves caught up in some deadly politics that test them as much as, if not more than, their training.

Review: I’d wanted to read Scythe ever since I spotted the epic cover, but as usual, it took me forever to get to it. And once again, I was late to the “This book is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G” party.

I’m not sure what I expected from a book that features what are essentially grim reapers—maybe a tone that was mostly gloom and doom and, you know, grim? But Scythe is so, so many layers deeper than that. Yes, death is a major component here, but we also have an extremely thought-provoking dystopian novel sprinkled with wit.

I absolutely loved Neal Shusterman’s world-building. On the surface, the world of Scythe looks like a utopia. There is no disease. In the event of injury, the body’s nanites dull pain until healing is complete. Hunger and war do not exist anymore. The Thunderhead, an evolved, sentient version of the cloud, watches over humanity and administers to its needs. The watching part sounds rather Big Brother-esque, and as Facebook, Google, etc. track everything we do more and more, the idea of technology ruling over all of us doesn’t seem too far-fetched.

And then there’s the Scythedom. Since humans no longer die from disease or injury, scythes are charged with controlling population growth by taking lives, or gleaning. Scythes are supposed to approach their duty with reverence and have ten commandments to follow. As the book unfolds, however, we learn that some scythes interpret those commandments more loosely than others, to the point where they’re almost flouting scythe laws. There’s a growing division between the old guard scythes, who keenly feel the weight of their role in society, and the new order scythes, who think the rules are antiquated and restrictive. A lot of political maneuvering goes on in the Scythedom, and it is this tense climate that main characters Citra Terranova and Rowan Damisch find themselves thrown into.

Citra and Rowan are both chosen to be the apprentices of Scythe Faraday, and at first the outcome is simple: only one of them can earn a scythe’s ring. The other will resume his or her life once the selection is made. A cruel twist, however, raises the stakes and puts Citra and Rowan on paths they never envisioned. This book was full of surprises, and I loved how it kept me guessing. I also loved the ending—sometimes I get frustrated when the first book in a series leaves you with nothing but a scream-inducing cliffhanger. Scythe nails the ending, though.

This is a fantastic series opener with a gripping story, deft world-building, and stellar writing. I am officially a Neal Shusterman fan now and can’t wait to see what else he has in store for this series.

All in All: A 5-star read from beginning to end. Just brilliant storytelling.