Review: Thunderhead by Neil Shusterman

4.5/5 stars

“An arrogant head of state gives permission to all nature of hate as long as it feeds his ambition. And the unfortunate truth is, people devour it. Society gorges itself, and rots. Permission is the bloated corpse of freedom.”

​I think I've found another favorite author. I had a feeling after I've read Scythe, but I wanted to read his second book to make sure that it wasn't a fluke, and it wasn't. 
I love Shusterman's writing style, I applaud his ability to twist and turn a story and I admire his ideas and thoughts that he puts out in his books. 

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If I may recommend, I would definitely advise that you purchase the Barnes and Noble exclusive edition (if you are able) because Shusrteman's commentary made the book even better. We got to go behind every chapter and see the logic and the heart behind his creations. I love how he lets his characters drive his show, and I loved how honest he was in his commentary. 

I think I liked Scythe just a tiny bit  better than I did Thunderhead. Not because Thunderhead was weaker or anything, but because Scythe literally blew my mind with its turns and twists. I was able to guess some of them in Thunderhead, which I was quite proud of. 

“It’s my pleasure to be your displeasure.”

​Thunderhead managed to seamlessly introduce new characters, and while I didn't care much for Munira, although I am sure she will be much more important in the next book, I loved Greyson from the very first pages. His story arc was the most interesting and the most tragic in the book, I even found myself wanting Greyson to have more page time, because I grew to like him so much. 

Just as in Scythe I found myself enjoying "journal entries" between chapters very much. This time we got to be inside of Thunderhead's "head" and see it get progressively more and more human in its thoughts and later in its actions. 
The ending was both action packed and epic, and normally I really dislike cliffhangers, but this time I didn't mind. I just cannot wait for the next book to come out.