Scythe - Neal Shusterman

Scythe

By Neal Shusterman

  • Release Date: 2016-11-22
  • Genre: Coming of Age Fiction for Young Adults
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 1,809 Ratings
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Description

A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021)

Two teens must learn the “art of killing” in this Printz Honor–winning book, the first in the chilling, New York Times bestselling Arc of a Scythe series from National Book Award–winning author Neal Shusterman.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered them all…even 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 failure could mean losing their own. The more they train, the more Citra and Rowan learn that a perfect world comes with a heavy price.

Reviews

  • Ideological thriller

    5
    By Benjiwoodiebeans
    The book starts off by laying the groundwork for the characters to develop. This can gave it a slower start, but I am very glad I kept reading because it became a page turner.

  • Love it

    4
    By Snoowy1
    Super captivating from the beginning. Revolves around death, thoughts of it, principles..the ending though was not fulfilling. I was expecting something different but ended rather poorly. So Im not excited to read part 2, yet

  • A very good book!

    5
    By unknown9668
    I love this book because at the beginning the get you right into the action! It’s a cool book that takes place in the future!

  • bleh

    5
    By reedhiss
    good but now im invested

  • No words

    5
    By Happy_567
    Loved this story.

  • Fantastic Read

    5
    By review700000000
    As someone who hasn’t read a book without being forced to, in a long, long time, I really enjoyed this book from its twists to its predictable yet satisfying moments. One of the main aspects I enjoyed about this book was its characters; I have never been as draw to characters personalities as I was while reading this book. My overall experience reading this book was really nice because it kept me interested each chapter not from cliffhangers -even though there were plenty of those- but from a character’s development or from the world building that made me so absorbed in the novel.

  • A Flawed Utopia

    3
    By HAJS29
    In a perfect world with perfect systems put in place by an all seeing artificial intelligence, I was baffled by how deeply flawed the scythedom was. Granted, without deep rooted corruption, there would be no story, no arc. The idea of pitting two apprentices against each other was a welcome idea, but the removal of Scythe Faraday early on made me lose interest, despite the fact it was obvious he was never really gone. However, the way in which the author managed to seamlessly blend several perspectives into one, without making the book fell clunky, made the flow and pace interesting to follow. I believe the book truly picked up upon the introduction of Scythe Lucifer, which was in the last chapter. I will surely keep reading the series to see what happens next, as the characters are memorable and the deep rooted corruption was not truly eradicated in the first book. My only gripe was the near dystopian scythedom in a utopian world. The majority of the world’s takers of life, including the leader, showed a deep level of corruption with little consequence, with the responsibility falling upon two seventeen year olds’ shoulders, a little too fictitious.

  • My new favorite story world

    5
    By MicahBG99
    You’ll finish the book asking yourself if you really just read a dystopian novel or a utopian one. Shusterman glides down the line separating horror from happy, bringing the reader along for the experience. Packed with twists that re-define expectations, Scythe is a great read for anyone who enjoys intricate characters and fantastical science fiction.

  • Thrilling!

    5
    By Sourpeen
    An amazing journey of understanding what killing truly means. Learning about life and what it means to those that cannot die.

  • Scythe

    5
    By Multitasking manager
    The writing was engaging and thought inducing. I really enjoyed the story and character development.

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