The Toll

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions of violence and suicide, and instances of bias against people with genderfluid identities.

Described as slim of build and wide-eyed, Greyson is one of the protagonists of The Toll. Greyson is around 20 or 21 years old at the start of the novel and is often said to be nondescript or ordinary-looking. When the scythe Jim Morrison spots Greyson, he notes, “he didn’t look like anything special” (244). Even his name—Greyson—carries connotations of plainness. It is precisely these qualities that make Greyson an everyman hero, in contrast to bold Anastasia and swashbuckling Rowan.

Greyson first appears in Thunderhead and has neglectful parents. Left to his own devices, Greyson is largely raised by the AI and develops a parent-child relationship with it. Assigned to be a Nimbus Agent by the Thunderhead, Greyson is marked unsavory for interfering in scythe activity and saving the lives of Marie Curie and Anastasia. It is later revealed that the Thunderhead wants Greyson to be its covert agent. Greyson’s cover is the notorious unsavory figure, Slayd Bridger. After the event known as the Great Resonance, Greyson is the only human being to whom the Thunderhead speaks.