Book Review of 'Scythe' by Neal Shusterman

Premise:

Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

Original and Mystifying

This book is a dystopian novel, taking place many years into the far future. The Internet is an all-powerful sentient being called the Thunderhead, who governs the people. It handles the food and wealth distribution, medical care, and anything else needed. Humanity has conquered everything. There is no more sickness or disease. There is no more war. There is no more hunger. There is no more poverty. If someone gets injured or even killed, they get taken to a revival center, where they get healed swiftly and painlessly. People have pain nanites in their blood that heals them and masks the pain if hurt, or emo nanites which prevent depression. It’s possible to “turn a corner”, that is, lowering your physical age, to be younger. People live forever. But they live in fear of their lives at all times. Not because they’re in danger, but because they’re afraid of having been chosen to be gleaned. 

To keep the population size in check, there are scythes, the only ones who can end life. The scythes perform random gleanings; real deaths from which you can not be revived. And you won’t know you’ve been chosen to be gleaned, until it’s time to die. 

The two main characters, Citra and Rowan, become apprentice scythes to Scythe Faraday. After their apprenticeship, they will have to go through a series of tests, and whichever one of them performs better will become a scythe. However, neither of them wants the position. After Citra and Rowan are accused of not taking the competition seriously, the High Blade (leader of Scythes) orders that the winner glean the loser. My favorite part of this book was the ending, where one of them wins and is expected to glean the other. 

Here's a quote to think about:

"Hope in the shadow of fear is the world's most powerful motivator."

This was fast-paced, and had a lot of plot twists. This is a great one to read if you are looking for an original dystopian with great world-building and intriguing plot twists. This book is for ages 12-17 and is plot-driven. The number of pages in each chapter varies. The theme of this book could be the value of life. On a scale of one through five, I would rate this five stars. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

- Candria

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