Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Genre: Science Fiction / Young Adult

Pages: 435

Published: November 2016

Warnings: Detailed descriptions of killing

Summary:

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity had 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.

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

Description above taken from Goodreads.com -> https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28954189-scythe

What made me pick up this book?

Scythe is not necessarily a novel I would normally choose. I am very easily influenced, I also watch a lot of Booktube. It has been mentioned a few times on the channels I watch - Especially Reading With Pugs (you should check her out!) - so naturally I picked it up. 

Overall Enjoyment
Scythe is an exceptional novel, I esspecially love the world building, and that EVERY QUESTION I HAD WAS ANSWERED!! SO rare.

Also.. there is a sequel



But.... I am still unable to get a copy in Australia.. Unless I pay unreasonable shipping....

Sigh... At least I have a stack of books on my TBR to get me through this time. 

Characters

Citra Terranova

The absolute best part of Citra is her ongoing conflict of being chosen to be a Scythe. As a apprentice Scythe her family gets 1 year immunity from being gleaned, ultimately this is the reason she accepts the Scythe training position. However, overall Citra is not keen in anyway to take a life. Citra and Rowen have two mentors during Scythe, and experience two completely different ways of being a Scythe. Citra, thankfully, is trained under two wise and sympathetic Scythes, this helps Cirta come to terms with her new lifestyle. I found Citra to be a self capable and well presented female lead, she struggled with the overpowering turmoil of being a Scythe, but presented as tough and almost non-nonchalant. 

Rowen

Rowen is a well written character that manages to go from a timid boy (or "Lettuce" as he calls himself), to a kick arse fighter with conflicting morals on his new direction in life. Unfortunately Rowen is taken on as an apprentice to Scythe Goddard, who has very wild and controversial killing styles. Rowan starts to align with Goddard and get sucked in to his style of killing, which concerns Rowen. This mentor change from Faraday to Goddard inflicts a moral dilemma within Rowen, that he quickly learns to hide with a fearsome facade.

Scythe Curie

I really loved Scythe Curie as a character and a mentor. He killing style is to find people who are looking like they have reached the end of existence, and she delivers a killing blow with a quick stab to the persons chest. Training Citra is a role she takes seriously but eventually accepts Citra as more of a friend than just an apprentice. 

Scythe Goddard

Scythe Goddard is a character you both love and hate. He is smooth and charismatic, but his ideals are sickening and frustrating. His ideal killing style is to do it all at once. Each Scythe must kill 286 people per year, so Scythe Goddard and he 3 cronies (which later includes Rowen) participate in mass killings. These adventures kill upwards of 300 people in one go, which they all participate in once a Quarter. 

Positives

Scythe is written in third person, which fr this particular book allows a much easier transition between characters. 

A Scythe is required to complete a diary, at the start of each chapter there is an exert from the diary of various Scythes in first person narrative, mostly Scythe Curie. This small exert from the diary builds up the world subtly, and gives the reader and inner perspective of the issues surrounding a Scythes daily requirements, both the good and bad. 

The Romance. Citra and Rowen develop feelings for each other - obviously, as this is a YA book - but the romance is not a huge focus of the book. It gets mentioned from time to time, but ultimately the world is build around being a Scythe, and the everyday obstacles of learning the "art" of killing. 

Negatives

The Thunderhead. Maybe because it is only the first book in the series that this bothers me, but I just goit very annoyed with the Thunderhead. The thunderhead is the all seeing, all knowing, all fixing "AI" of the book. It builds when there is demand, it cures when people get hurt, and it sees everything. But somehow Neal made it into a conscious being, but only very briefly, and it just seemed a bit out of place. I am hoping this gets explained or rectified in future. 

The Gleaning. It is a very confronting book as you think about a future with no death, and the overall existential turmoil of each character. 

Did this book make me cry?

No. 

Did this book make me laugh? 

Not really. I guess there were some fun parts, but mostly I was engrossed in the overall story. 

Did this book frustrate me? Why? 

Yes, but only because of the Thunderhead, otherwise No. 

Did this book get Tedious? Why?

No. 

Would I recommend this book? 

Absolutely. The writing style is fast paced and extremely interesting to follow. I have read similar story lines and have been completely underwhelmed by them, so this was an absolute stellar read. 

I would give this book

5 out of 5 stars for Writing

4 out of 5 for Creativity

5 out of 5 stars for Overall Enjoyment

***I do not intend to offend, anger or upset anyone over a book that I write a review about. This is just my opinion.***