BookBunnies

Marshmallow reviews The Toll by Neal Shusterman

Marshmallow has already read and reviewed Scythe and Thunderhead, the first two books in Neal Shusterman’s Arc of a Scythe series. Today she reviews the third book, The Toll, first published in 2019.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you liked the previous books in the Arc of a Scythe series, then this is the book for you! But if you haven’t read those yet, then Scythe and Thunderhead are the books for you!

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Ever since every human was marked as unsavory, the Thunderhead went silent. The Thunderhead is the benevolent, all-knowing AI consciousness that runs the world, serving as a parent to those without, a therapist to those in need, a friend to those lonely … the list goes on. Without the Thunderhead, humanity feels a bit lost. Of course, all the physical things (revival centers, publicars, etc.) directed by the Thunderhead continue to run smoothly, perfectly. But the question of why the Thunderhead went silent seems answered by the recent sinking of Endura, which was essentially the man-made island serving as the capital of the global Scythedom. Rowan Damisch (dubbed Scythe Lucifer), who ended several corrupt scythes to serve vigilante justice, is blamed and the general consensus is that the Thunderhead marked all of humanity as ‘unsavory’ (which means the Thunderhead no longer speaks to them) to collectively punish them for Rowan’s crimes.

Unfortunately, this is not the real reason. Rowan sank with Endura, along with Citra Terranova–who you may know better as Scythe Anastasia. The Thunderhead was mourning their loss, too, along with all others lost in Endura. Rowan and Citra were actually trying to stop the destruction caused by Scythe Goddard, but instead Goddard seizes power afterwards and appoints himself the Overblade of North Merica. Goddard also begins changing the way the entire Scythedom works, eliminating the gleaning quotas so that scythes can glean as much or as little as they want to; he encourages other regional Scythedoms to do the same and soon the world is divided between scythes who align themselves with Goddard and those who are brave enough to resist his growing influence.

The Tonists, the main (perhaps only) religious cult that remains in a time of immortality, are another group against Goddard’s reign and scythes in general. Their religion always foretold of the Great Resonance, and the Thunderhead did release a technical wail (it made all alarms, beeps, and other sounds in the world go off for a brief couple of seconds) before it went silent. This reinvigorates their faith and legitimizes them slightly, especially now that they have the Toll.

Grayson Tolliver was raised by the Thunderhead and, in the last book, he saved Scythe Anastasia and her mentor Scythe Curie. The Thunderhead’s coding forbids it from interfering with scythe business, and the murder attempt targeting Scythe Anastasia and Curie’s lives fit that category; thus the Thunderhead wasn’t allowed to intervene to save them, but it could tell Grayson and it could predict that he would likely try to save them himself. Due to this interference, the Thunderhead was forced to mark Grayson ‘unsavory’ for a while, but after the Great Resonance (and everyone else being marked ‘unsavory’) he is clean and the only human on the planet who is able to talk to the Thunderhead. Living amongst the Tonists, he becomes their leader and the third part of their holy trinity—the Toll (the other two are the Thunder and the Tone).

While this is all happening, Scythe Faraday (Scythe Anastasia and Lucifer’s mentor) begins searching for the mythical fail-safe left by the founding Scythes in case the scythedom ever went in the wrong direction. This is because, unfortunately, the scythedom has gone astray and it seems like there aren’t enough people left to stand in Goddard’s way. Little does he know though that secrets lost to the sea and to space are not so lost after all.

Marshmallow is reading The Toll by Neal Shusterman. — Marshmallow is reading *The Toll* by Neal Shusterman.

Marshmallow’s Review: I really enjoyed The Toll! I was extremely excited to read another book in this series and this book did not disappoint. I had loved the first two books and felt that ending the series in a satisfying way would be a very difficult challenge. However, Shusterman did a very good job and I think he made the best decisions possible. The ways the characters developed were nuanced, and I think he avoided certain stereotypical, simplistic arcs. The breakdown of one of the strongest characters was heartbreaking to read about, yet it was much more realistic than the unrealistic continual suppression of his emotional struggles.

The way the characters in this series grapple with mortality and the idea of gleaning (the ceremonial taking of lives executed by scythes) makes these books all very advanced and philosophical. They point towards what might lie ahead for humanity and how humanity both strives for and self-sabotages its improvement. I also find Shusterman’s imaginary world a bit comforting. While there is undoubtedly trouble in The Toll, there is also significant advancement for humans. Seeing and reading about a world where humans are still struggling to advance yet have already come so far is very inspiring and thought-provoking.

Despite the stark differences between our world and the world of The Toll, the characters are all incredibly well-written and I thought the relationship between (SPOILER) Citra and Rowan was very cute. Shusterman’s execution of their romance was very mature, I thought, because it seems that they do have some sort of physical interactions but we luckily don’t have to read about them. This omission actually helps strengthen the emotional legitimacy of their connection as that is what the author chose to highlight, rather than raw attraction.

I also thought the plot was amazing! The Toll was, like the previous books, a story that was so enveloping and compelling that I did not feel the need to slow down and try to predict what would happen next. I would just have to keep reading. I loved the final scene and I am very excited to read the additional books that Shusterman has written about this same story universe and is writing currently.

I would highly recommend reading all three of the books in the Arc of a Scythe series because they really do make you think about how differences between our world and the world of the series reflect on humanity as a whole and how mortality truly affects us. They are also just very entertaining. I am very excited for any new books set in the world of this series; I hope you read about it too!

Marshmallow’s Rating: 110%.

Marshmallow rates The Toll by Neal Shusterman 110%. — Marshmallow rates *The Toll* by Neal Shusterman 110%.

Caramel reviews Talons of Power: The Graphic Novel (Book Nine of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland and Mike Holmes

Caramel reviews the graphic novel version of Talons of Power, the ninth book of the Wings of Fire series, by Tui Sutherland and Mike Holmes.

After waiting for it for over three years, Caramel was able to read and review book sixteen of Tui Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series last week. This made him realize that he had not yet reviewed the graphic novel adaptation of book nine, Talons of Power, which had come out in December 2025. He now talks to Sprinkles about this book below.

Caramel reviews Talons of Power: The Graphic Novel (Book Nine of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes. — Caramel reviews *Talons of Power: The Graphic Novel* (Book Nine of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes.

Sprinkles: Today we are talking about the graphic novel version of Book Nine of the Wings of Fire series. Right, Caramel?

Caramel: Yes, technically we could have talked about this before the sixteenth book, but we forgot to review, but I’m happy I got my paws on this book.

S: Yes, this came out at the end of 2025, and you read it all the way back then, but then we had a couple other books you were planning to review, and then we took January off, and then we basically forgot.

C: Yeah, we should have reviewed it earlier, but at least we remembered.

S: You had read and reviewed the original version of the ninth book before. And you loved that book.

C: Yeah, and I love this one too, it’s awesome.

S: So if I recall correctly this one has Turtle as the main character.

C: Yeah, Turtle is a self-proclaimed coward, but he’s also among the strongest characters in Wings of Fire, because he’s an animus, just like his sister, Anemone. That means he has magic.

S: Ooh, cool! I think you had mentioned that in your review of the original book. You also had used “treacherous”, “revelation”, and “reluctant hero” to describe the book and its themes.

C: Yeah, so he sort of has to save the day from Darkstalker, but he’s a scaredy cat so he sort of doesn’t want to.

S: So there is a lot of his internal struggle in the original book, I think. How does all that internal struggle work out in the graphic novel format?

C: Well. It works out well.

S: So you enjoyed reading this book, then.

C: Yeah, it was very fun to read, and like the other graphic novels, the art was very cool and colorful.

S: It is after all the same art team, led by Mike Holmes who drew them and Maarta Laiho who worked on the colors. I am glad you liked the art.

C: Well, that explains why it was so good.

S: Yes. And looking through the book I am quite impressed by how the faces of the dragons are so expressive, I mean dragons are lizard-like creatures, it is hard to create expressions for them without making them look too human- or bunny-like. The artist does a great job with that.

C: Yeah, the art is very expressive.

Caramel is reading Talons of Power: The Graphic Novel (Book Nine of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes. — Caramel is reading *Talons of Power: The Graphic Novel* (Book Nine of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes.

S: Did reading this graphic novel make you want to go back to the original book and read that one again?

C: Yeah, so I did, though I probably would have done that anyways.

S: That’s true. I know how you like to go back and reread your favorites over and over again. That is something I never do with my books, but I know both you and Marshmallow love doing it.

C: Yeah, you’re weird for not rereading. I know Midnight also likes to reread.

S: Yeah, I mean I can see the appeal of reading a good book, you know it is good, and sometimes it is like you are reconnecting with old friends, and sometimes you probably catch things you might have missed in your first reading, and so on. Do you think you like rereading because of any of these reasons?

C: No, I just like rereading my favorite books.

S: And I like discovering new books, and there are so many books out there! I know I won’t be able to read all the books I want to read in one lifetime, so I often do not want to reread. I guess we are kind of different that way.

C: True, I guess we like different things about books, but let’s get back to this book.

S: Good idea Caramel. Thanks for redirecting us and getting us to focus. So what do you wish to add about the book?

C: It contains all the important things from the original book. You always want to know if the graphic novel version of a book is missing anything. So no, the graphic novel version has pretty much everything one needs to move to the next book.

S: That is neat. And good to know. So this might be a good time to wrap up this review.

C: Sure. Sounds good.

S: What would you like to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel loved reading Talons of Power: The Graphic Novel (Book Nine of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes and is excited to have many more Wings of Fire books to read these days. — Caramel loved reading *Talons of Power: The Graphic Novel* (Book Nine of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes and is excited to have many more Wings of Fire books to read these days.

Marshmallow reviews The Color of Water by James McBride

Today Marshmallow is writing about The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother, written by James McBride and first published in 1995.

Marshmallow reviews The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride. — Marshmallow reviews *The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother* by James McBride.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like biographies that reveal nuanced stories about race, family, identity, and love, then this is the book for you!

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): James McBride is a Black man with a White mother. Today, this would likely not be considered much of a big deal. After all, mixed race marriages are something relatively commonplace in the United States today and are the simple result of the fact that love generally does not see color. However, back in the 1960s, such relationships were demonized and the pair separated by all means possible; Loving v. Virginia, the landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on interracial marriage was only passed in 1967.

For James’ mother Ruth, this was yet another struggle in a long, seemingly endless line of strife. She was born in America to two Polish Jews and, due to the fact that her father was a “lousy rabbi,” her family had to keep moving to find new places of work for him. Eventually, they settled down in Suffolk, Virginia. There, Ruth felt discrimination firsthand constantly, with classmates calling her “Jew baby” or worse. But she also witnessed the overt racism directed towards Black people around her. Her first boyfriend, Peter, was a Black man and the young couple kept their relationship a secret out of fear of the KKK. Ruth also faced consistent abuse at home from a father that emotionally, physically, and sexually tormented her; yet, despite all of this, she persevered quietly and eventually built a family. She then kept rebuilding every time she was torn down.

In The Color of Water, the author James McBride tells the story of Ruth’s life intertwined with segments of his own autobiography in between. McBride describes his chaotic environment growing up as the eighth child out of twelve total. While he knew he was loved, there was unending pressure from Ruth to be academically successful, and within such a large family, there was not enough attention to go around. As James grew older, he started recognizing that his mother’s race was different from his own and that race was a construct that society unfortunately valued in countless ways. In seeking to uncover the details of his mother’s life, James simultaneously searches for his own identity and the role that race has in America. This likely won’t come as a surprise to anyone, but the answer is nuanced and riddled with mystery—much like Ruth herself.

Marshmallow is reading The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride. — Marshmallow is reading *The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother* by James McBride.

Marshmallow’s Review: I found The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother to be a very interesting book. As a mixed race bunny growing up in a quite mixed neighborhood and school district, I have never really felt any need to ‘discover myself’ because I already knew what I was. However, James’ identity quest is understandable, especially because race was even more central to society in those times. Today, of course, race is still an issue, but seeing the way our nation was back then gives you a better sense of the role of race over time.

The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother examines race on a national scale by specifically analyzing its role within a family setting. James’ story is rather unique, but the themes throughout the book (abuse, race, search for security, selflessness, grief, etc) are representative of the general human experience in certain ways. I think the fact that his life is sort of a more extreme version of general experiences helps highlight how remarkable the people in his life—and most people in general—are.

The book is relatively easy to read and I think the author wrote it for a broad audience. There are mentions of sexual abuse, drug use, and violence, so some parts might make this better for older readers (maybe twelve and older?) But overall, The Color of Water is a very important book that reveals simple truths about love, humanity, and America—such as the obvious fact that race should never dictate anything, especially love.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.

Marshmallow rates The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride 100%. — Marshmallow rates *The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother* by James McBride 100%.

Caramel reviews The Hybrid Prince (Book Sixteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland

Caramel was delighted to finally get his paws on the sixteenth book of Tui Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series: The Hybrid Prince was published on March 3, 2026. Below you will find him discussing this long-awaited novel with Sprinkles who is taking notes and asking questions.

In case you are wondering, Caramel has read and reviewed almost every book in this series. Here are his reviews of the books of the original series: The Dragonet Prophecy (book 1), Moon Rising (book 6), Winter Turning (book 7), Escaping Peril (book 8), Talons of Power (book 9), Darkness of Dragons (book 10), The Lost Continent (book 11), The Hive Queen (book 12), The Poison Jungle (book 13), The Dangerous Gift (book 14), and The Flames of Hope (book 15).

He also reviewed the graphic novelizations of the first eight books: The Dragonet Prophecy (book 1), The Lost Heir (book 2), The Hidden Kingdom (book 3), The Dark Secret (book 4), The Brightest Night (book 5), Moon Rising (book 6), Winter Turning (book 7), and Escaping Peril (book 8).

He has also read and reviewed the two books in the Legends series (Darkstalker –also see its graphic novelization, and Dragonslayer) as well as the first book in the Winglets series (The Winglets Quartet: The First Four Stories).

Besides all these, he has also reviewed Wings of Fire: A Guide to the Dragon World.

Caramel reviews The Hybrid Prince (Book Sixteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland. — Caramel reviews *The Hybrid Prince* (Book Sixteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, you are finally ready to talk about the sixteenth book of the Wings of Fire today, right?

Caramel: Yes, yes we are! We finally got a new one.

S: I know you were so looking forward to this book. Was it worth the wait?

C: I mean I’d prefer to not have had to wait, but yes, it’s a great thing.

S: Okay, so is the story good? Tell us a bit about it. Do we know any of the main characters in it?

C: Yes, Umber and Sora. Umber is the main character, and is the brother of Clay from the first trilogy. Sora is their sister. Remember we first met Clay in the Dragonet Prophecy?

S: Yes, I do remember Clay.

C: And we have seen both Umber and Sora before. They are mentioned in many of the earlier books.

S: Hmm, that is neat. Alright, so then are we continuing any of the previous story lines?

C: Not quite. This starts a new narrative arc. Umber and Sora are now refugees from Pyrrhia, as Sora is an attempted murderer.

S: Wait, so she tries to kill someone?

C: Yep, In Moon Rising, she tries to kill Icicle who was Winter’s older sister, because Sora believes that Icicle was the one who killed her sister. So she blows some stuff up, tries to impale Icicle, yada yada, and Sora and Umber have to run away. This book is where we learn about what has happened to them.

S: I see. So tying some loose ends, kind of, but also starting something new?

C: Yeah, I do think there will be more books to follow. This one is a bit strange. They both find partners, and then they find dragon eggs, and they raise the dragonets.

S: But you said they left Pyrrhia? Where are they?

C: In the middle of the ocean, in Dungeon Isle, which is kind of like a penal colony. There are dragons from all tribes there, and many hybrid ones as a result. There are some called the WildWings that are so mixed that you cannot tell the different tribe origins they might have.

Caramel is reading The Hybrid Prince (Book Sixteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland. — Caramel is reading *The Hybrid Prince* (Book Sixteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland.

S: Okay, so the book is called The Hybrid Prince. But Umber is not hybrid, he is a MudWing, so who is the Hybrid Prince?

C: The hybrid prince is his new love interest.

S: Ooh, that is interesting. You did say they find partners. I see. Okay, then is the book more about partnering up and family troubles and so on? Any other adventures?

C: Yeah, Umber and Sora get trapped in this magical prison, then Umber finds this hybrid guy, and he develops a crush on him, and they are now sort of entangled in a mess involving betrayal, murder, more murder, and more attempted murder.

S: Okay, that sounds … lively?

C: Or deadly, we could say.

S: Oh, I see what you did there! That’s funny.

C: Well, yes, I am funny, but the story is not completely funny. Some people get un-alived, some are captured and exiled, though they’re all trapped in this prison island, so the exile is within the prison island. So it is complicated.

S: I see. It sounds like maybe this book had a slightly different feel than the other fifteen? Or maybe not?

C: It did feel a little different, but it’s still just as awesome. I have already read it a few times.

S: That is cool! I know you were so excited to get your paws on this book after waiting for it for such a long time. For a while we did not even know if there would be a sixteenth book. Now that this is out, you can expect to get at least one more, probably.

C: Yeah, I hope there’s way more than just one though.

S: I guess we will see. Okay, this might be a good place to wrap up this review.

C: Sure. Let’s do that so I can go back to rereading my book.

S: Okay. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel loved reading The Hybrid Prince (Book Sixteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland and is thankful that it is finally out! — Caramel loved reading *The Hybrid Prince* (Book Sixteen of the Wings of Fire series) by Tui Sutherland and is thankful that it is finally out!