Shusterman Stories: We chat about YA author Neal Shusterman
Well back, podcast listeners! You’ve heard us talk about Neal Shusterman a lot recently, so we thought it was about time he got his own episode. Stay tuned for more Shusterman!
Currently Reading
Each episode of Rants and Reviews we share what we’re currently reading, so you can discover our favourite genes, add some books to your TBR pile, and hear us rave and rage about characters, plot, setting and more.Anjali is currently reading:
- Just finished reading Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco
- About to pick up The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
- Just finished Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
- Find Your Artist Voice by Lisa Congdon
- Twas the Night Shift Before Christmas by Adam Kay
Main feature
(07:20) We finally get into the episode, and we’re excited to share with you our thoughts on the Neal Shusterman novels that we’ve read. We kick off the list by having a chat about Dry, which is by Shusterman and his son Jarrod. Anjali tells the story of how she got a copy of the book … it involves, ironically, water.(10:10) Sophie mentions that Neal Shusterman is really good at taking human dilemmas and drawing out what might possibly happen, should we be in that situation. E.g. in Dry’s case, what would happen if the world ran out of water?
(14:00) Despite the fact we love Shusterman and his stories, the only other book we’ve read (other than the Scythe series which we are getting to) is Unwind, which is the first book in his Unwind series. Sophie didn’t like the book all, but Anjali did. We have a chat about why Anjali’s read it twice, and why Sophie didn’t like it.
(16:30) Anjali gets angry at third-person present tense, which is how Unwind is written. It’s awkward and uncomfortable, and we spend a few minutes talking about how urgh it is to read …
(21:35) Sophie does a really good job at explaining the plot of Scythe, the first in the Arc of the Scythe series, which, let’s face it, is the main reason we’re doing a whole episode of Neal Shusterman books.
(29:00) “If a Scythe chooses you to be the goner of the day…” - We can’t remember what the word is that they use in the book, but we give a couple of options.
(29:30) The characters in the Scythe series are one of the main reasons we love it. Shusterman creates the characters with such depth, such individuality, and such anger-inducing moments that you have to take a deep breath a push forward through. But somehow, that makes them great.
(31:00) The Toll, which is the final book in the series, took Anjali a long time to get through, and not just for the 600+ page count. Tune in to find out why!
(40:00) If you were to pick your Scythe name, what would it be?
(43:00) Both Dry and the Scythe series are becoming movies in the near future. We’re a bit worried they’ll butcher the whole thing, but we have thoughts on how it might work. We also remember the word for being killed … which took us the entire duration of the episode to remember.
(46:00) Somehow we end up talking about Harry Potter and Twilight because they split the last book into two movies.
"I liked Twilight before it was cool."
Outro
And that’s a wrap! The end of season 3. Have you read any of Neal Shusterman’s books? In case you didn’t guess by this episode, we highly recommend them. Take a look on Goodreads to see if any of his books sound like you, give them a read in the break and then let us know what you thought. We would love to hear your opinions. We’ll be having a bit of a break from Rants and Reviews before we kick off season 4, but in the meantime you can find us on Twitter and Instagram. Until season 4, thank you so much for joining us, and happy reading!Books mentioned in this episode
Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco, The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab, Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, Find Your Artist Voice by Lisa Congdon, Twas the Night Shift Before Christmas by Adam Kay, Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer, The Fowl Twins by Eoin Colfer, Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare, Scythe by Neal Shusterman, Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman, The Toll by Neal Shusterman, Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman, Unwind by Neal Shusterman, Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
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