The Toll

I really enjoyed this trilogy. Honestly, I did. The whole world was interesting and the way everything played out - it was brilliant. The one thing I really like the Shusterman does is how he titled every book in the series. The importance of the title was really the importance of that specific book. So as this one is titled The Toll - then that was its main focus. I thought it was really interesting how the Toll came to be - how Greyson used this role as this person to help in the end. Each progression was amazing and calculated. Shusterman's writing was absolutely mind blowing. How each event was planned out and how each character reacted to it. However, this book didn't quite get there for me as the first two. I think my main issue was that the first two books were so epic and this one didn't quite met what happened in the others. The ending, while an ending, didn't really feel satisfying. It was epic in its own way but I think I just wanted more. Another thing was the time jump. I felt so confused because I wasn't sure when things were taking place. I understood how they did years but a lot of it wasn't told when the story was taking place. There was a lot of jumping around and it made some parts a little hard to follow.

These characters have really grown on me. I love Citra, Rowen, and Greyson so much. These three honestly make this series. Without these amazing characters; I really don't know how good these books would have been. And I just have to say, thank goodness there was not a lot of scenes with Goddard - I hate his character so much and Shusterman did a fantastic job creating the villain. The characters definitely had changed a lot from the first book but in such a way that I really felt like I grew with these characters. I'm so glad that I picked up these books and read their stories.

Final Thoughts

Overall, The Toll by Neal Shusterman was a fantastic close to this trilogy. While I was expecting something a little more epic like the last two books, I was given closure and that I can be happy with. It wasn't an ending I was expecting but our heroes should be happy and I hope they are. After going through all these events with Citra, Rowen, and Greyson, I've truly come to care for them. I highly recommend this whole series if you are interested. This was such a great adventure, as frustrating as it was sometimes - but the best stories always are.