Scythe

Recently, I read a book called Scythe. I initially saw people in my class reading this book. Uniquely, all of these readers overlapped in a Venn diagram when it came to the Hunger Games Series. All of them loved it. Knowing I absolutely loved the Hunger Games as well, I figured I would enjoy it too. Later on that year, Scythe was given to me as a gift. Now that I have read it I can say with certainty that this book was amazing, though not as good as the Hunger Games.

Scythe is a futuristic utopian book, based on the idea of no natural deaths. In theory, if they have defeated all death a larger issue will arise. Their issue of overpopulation must be handled very carefully. The Thunderhead, the artificial intelligence that knows everything and contains the highest position of power, decided that the best way to solve this situation would be to create scythes, the wisest and most capable humans from all over. Scythes are designated people who must kill others to keep down the population. The scythes are looked up to in society, but very few of them actually like their job. They are treated with riches and respect, but to them that will never amount to the cognitive difficulty of taking another human’s life. To make killing easier for them, they have renamed it a “gleaning.” Gleaning has the connotation of being more humanitarian and honored. These scythes must follow the “Scythe Commandments,” and the seventh commandment is spoken of most often. On page 67 of Scythe, the author states the seventh commandment as follows, “Thou shalt kill no scythe beyond thyself.” This allows scythes to kill themselves after they feel content with their lives, or can bear it no longer. Throughout the story we see many scythes invoke the seventh commandment, and even rumors of one scythe killing another! 

Citra Terranova and Rowan Damisch were both selected by Honorable Scythe Faraday to apprentice him and learn the art of killcraft. Throughout the story, Citra and Rowan grow romantic feelings for each other, compete against each other for their lives, and are separated from each other. During the period of their being separated, the people around them alter their view of the world, how to kill, and each other. Citra focuses more on potions, morals, and books throughout her time studying to become a scythe. On the other hand, Rowan becomes more interested in the art of killing and possibly gets too good at it. In summary, Citra and  Rowan, ultimately end up competing to become the next generation of scythes. The one who doesn’t win will be gleaned by the other.

Overall, the plot and character development of this book was phenomenal. From my standpoint, I would have liked a slightly more challenging book, but the length of the book made up for the lack of vocabulary. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Scythe is part of a larger trilogy including Scythe, Thunderhead, and The Toll. Neal Shusterman does a fantastic job of extracting emotions out of the reader such as fear, joy, suspense, anger, and hope. These were all feelings invoked in me throughout the novel. This dramatic book left me wondering what comes next, and excited to read the next one in the series. In my opinion, this book would get four stars, for the thrilling storyline. I highly recommend this book to someone who is looking for an exciting and unpredictable novel.