In an effort to broaden my reading horizons, I picked up the young adult title Scythe this week.
I am SO GLAD I did.
Scythe is a dystopian novel set in the distant future. There is no war or hunger or poverty. Technology and medicine have evolved and humans are now able to live forever. There’s no more pain or sickness, and people can choose to reset themselves back to younger ages when they start to get old.
The only way to actually die is to be “gleaned” by a Scythe, who are basically professional grim reapers. It is their job to meet a certain quota of gleanings each week to prevent overpopulation.
Each Scythe is trained in different ways to bring about death, from poison, to martial arts, to using all types of weapons. It is then up to each Scythe to administer their gleanings in the ways they see fit.
The story follows Citra and Rowan, who are in training as apprentices under Scythe Faraday, who is fair and well respected. This is lucky for them because we soon find out that not all Scythes are fair and kind in their gleanings.
I thought I had this story figured out about five times, and each time I was surprised when it went in a completely different direction.
This is book one in a trilogy and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next two books to see the other twists and turns the author has in store for these characters.
— KatieTwo teens must learn the "art of killing" in this Printz Honor-winning book, the first in a chilling new series from Neal Shusterman, author of the New York Times best-selling Unwind Dystology series.
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.
Scythe is the first novel of a thrilling new series by National Book Award-winning author Neal Shusterman in which Citra and Rowan learn that a perfect world comes only with a heavy price.