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Thunderhead is the second book in the Arc of a Scythe series by Neal Shusterman.
Blurb[]
- From the book jacket
"Humans learn from their mistakes. I cannot. I make no mistakes."
The Thunderhead is the perfect ruler of a perfect world, but it has no control over the Scythedom. A year has passed since Rowan has gone off grid. Since then he has become an urban legend, a vigilante snuffing out corrupt scythes in a trial by fire. His story is told in whispers across the continent.
As Scythe Anastasia, Citra gleans with compassion and openly challenges the ideals of the "new order." But when her life is threatened and her methods questioned, it becomes clear that not everyone is open to change.
In the thrilling sequel to the Printz Honor Book Scythe, old foes and new enemies converge. And as corruption within the Scythedom spreads, Rowan and Citra begin to lose hope. Will the Thunderhead intervene?
Or will it simply watch as this perfect world behind to unravel?[1]
Rowan has gone rogue, and has taken it upon himself to put the Scythedom through a trial by fire. Literally. In the year since Winter Conclave, he has gone off-grid, and has been striking out against corrupt scythes—not only in MidMerica, but across the entire continent. He is a dark folk hero now—“Scythe Lucifer”—a vigilante taking down corrupt scythes in flames.
Citra, now a junior scythe under Scythe Curie, sees the corruption and wants to help change it from the inside out, but is thwarted at every turn, and threatened by the “new order” scythes. Realizing she cannot do this alone—or even with the help of Scythe Curie and Faraday, she does the unthinkable, and risks being “deadish” so she can communicate with the Thunderhead—the only being on earth wise enough to solve the dire problems of a perfect world. But will it help solve those problems, or simply watch as perfection goes into decline?[2]
Plot[]
In the Year of the Capybara, Rowan Damisch assumes the persona of Scythe Lucifer, and begins to hunt down corrupt scythes.
Scythe Brahms, a corrupt scythe, is almost gleaned by Scythe Lucifer but in the end, Lucifer gives him second chance. Meanwhile, Citra Terranova establishes an unconventional gleaning method as the newly ordained Scythe Anastasia. She gives her gleaning subjects a month to get their affairs in order and allows them to choose the way they wish to die.
On November 10, Year of the Capybara, Citra gets a note from Scythe Lucifer, disguises herself by taking off her scythe’s robes, and meets Rowan in secret in the Mortality Memorial. Later, when Rowan returns to his apartment, he finds his old friend Tyger Salazar there. Tyger tells Rowan that his father has been gleaned, and also that Tyger was moving to the Charter Region of Texas for a new job. When Tyger arrives in Texas, he finds out the person who hired him is Scythe Rand, who wants him to be her scythe apprentice.
Greyson Tolliver, a boy who has grown up being raised by the Thunderhead, wishes to attend the Nimbus Academy to become a Nimbus agent. However, once he goes to the Academy, he finds an irregularity in his schedule. Later, at a meeting, Agent Traxler persuades Greyson to interfere in Scythedom affairs, and he ends up saving Scythe Anastasia and Scythe Curie from an attempt on their lives, in which the Thunderhead could not interfere itself. Greyson is expelled from the Nimbus Academy as a result, and the Thunderhead marks Greyson as an unsavory. Agent Traxler encourages Greyson to embrace the unsavory lifestyle. Meanwhile, Scythe Rand begins Tyger's physical training in Texas.
Scythe Faraday enlists the help of Munira Atrushi, a student, former scythe apprentice, and librarian at the Library of Alexandria. Faraday plans to research the history of the founding scythes and learn about the Land of Nod.
Meanwhile, Scythe Constantine heads the investigation on Scythe Anastasia and Scythe Curie’s attackers. He encourages them to stop gleaning in the meantime. Citra plans to follow up with three of her gleaning subjects to try to trap the attacker. Greyson adopts the unsavory lifestyle and changes his identity to Slayd Bridger. He goes to AWFul clubs, where he meets Purity, a career unsavory with whom he falls in love. Agent Traxler changes Greyson’s records in the backbrain to match his new, fabricated identity.
Greyson agrees to help Purity with a job that would aim to kill several scythes, even though he does not want to do it, and warns the Scythedom anonymously of the attack. Purity rigs the sprinkler system in the theater with acid, so that once her cohorts lit a fire in the theater, everyone in the theater, including Scythe Anastasia and Scythe Curie, would die permanently. Citra’s first two attempts to draw out her attacker with scheduled gleanings are unsuccessful, but at her third try in a public gleaning during a performance of Julius Caesar, in which she would glean the lead actor on stage an attempt occurs. During the performance, Greyson sabotages Purity’s attack. Scythe Constantine gleans Purity. Citra helps Greyson flee. She instructs him to go to a Tonist monastery, where they would offer him sanctuary from the Scythedom.
Meanwhile, Rowan learns that Scythe Brahms had gleaned his father, so he goes to the scythe’s home to seek vengeance. He is careless in his rage and Brahms’ guards capture him. Rowan wakes in Texas, where Tyger tells him about his training with Scythe Rand. Rowan thought he had killed Rand during the mass gleaning at the Tonist monastery, so he worries about her true intentions with Tyger. Rowan spars with Tyger to aid in his training, but Rowan always wins. Then, one day, Rand brings a man into Rowan’s room, who has Tyger’s body and the head of Scythe Goddard, whom Rowan had killed during the mass gleaning at the Tonist monastery. Rand had gleaned Tyger and attached Goddard’s head to his body so that Goddard could lead the new order in the Scythedom once more.
Citra and Scythe Curie attend Winter Conclave in Fulcrum City. High Blade Xenocrates announces that he is stepping down as High Blade of MidMerica to become a Grandslayer on the World Scythe Council. The old guard scythes nominate Scythe Curie as their candidate for High Blade. The new order scythes nominate the newly returned Scythe Goddard. After the candidates give their speeches and the scythes vote, Citra voices an inquest about Goddard’s legitimacy, since only his head, meaning 7% of his body, has been trained and ordained as a scythe. This inquest postpones the results of the election until the World Scythe Council considers it. Goddard leaves the conclave in a rage. He gleans several people. Then, he returns to Texas and kills Rowan many times, making Rand bring Rowan to an off-grid revival center. Then, Goddard and Rand depart for Endura, with Rowan in tow as their captive.
Citra and Scythe Curie arrive on Endura for the inquest. Meanwhile, Scythe Faraday and Munira go to the Library of Congress and discover a blind spot in the Thunderhead’s programming, accidentally revealing it to the Thunderhead, which has a camera in the room.
Scythe Rand attempts to seduce Goddard the night before the inquest, but Goddard rejects her. Rand frees Rowan from his captivity in Scythe Brahm's vacation home and tells him to leave the island. Goddard is outraged when he notices Rowan’s absence the following morning and gleans Brahms.
In the World Council chamber, Citra and Goddard both speak their cases. The Grandslayers decide that Goddard must complete an apprenticeship before becoming a true scythe again. This disqualifies Goddard from his candidacy, so Scythe Curie becomes High Blade of MidMerica.
Meanwhile, Endura experiences many technology failures, resulting in the buoyancy control of the island to crash. The island begins to sink, but the alarm to warn the Grandslayers in the council chamber had been disconnected. The chamber fills with water and sharks. Goddard flies overhead in a helicopter and pretends to come to save the Grandslayers, but abandons them to drown and be eaten by the sharks.
Scythe Curie locks Citra and Rowan in the Vault of Relics and Futures, so that their bodies would be preserved and they could be revived later on. Then, she leads the other scythes to glean themselves with honor. The Thunderhead begins screaming around the world, which the Tonists view as the Great Resonance they always worshipped. Every human is marked unsavory and lose their connection to the Thunderhead, other than Greyson Tolliver, whom the Thunderhead has chosen to trust.
Chapters[]
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Part One: Nothing If Not Powerful
Part Two: Harm's Way
Part Three: Enemies within Enemies
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Part Four: Cry Havoc
Part Five: Circumstances Beyond
Part Six: Endura and Nod
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Characters[]
- Citra Terranova — Scythe Anastasia, a junior scythe.
- Rowan Damisch — An ex-scythe apprentice.
- Scythe Faraday — A scythe who is in hiding.
- Scythe Curie — A famous scythe from the old guard.
- Scythe Goddard — A powerful scythe from the new order.
- Greyson Tolliver — A Nimbus agent trainee.
Special content[]
- B&N Exclusive Edition includes 52 pages of chapter by chapter notes from the author.
- The Fairyloot exclusive set is a limited hardcover edition with a exclusive cover, reversible dust jacket featuring Scythe Lucifer's artwork by phantomrin, foil on hardcover – front and back, and comes with Neal Shusterman's digital signature.
Gallery[]
Covers[]
