Review – Scythe (Arc of a Scythe Series, Book 1) by Neal Shusterman (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Dytopian
Length: 464 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release Date: November 28, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-1442472433
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 5/5 stars
“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.”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Arc of a Scythe. I listened to this as an audiobook from Audible.com
Audiobook Quality (5/5): This was an amazing audiobook. There are two narrators and they both did an amazing job. This is definitely a series I would recommend listening to and I will continue to listen to the series on audiobook.
Story (5/5): Most of the story involves two characters, Citra and Rowan, who are vying for a position as a Scythe. Scythes are humans who kill other humans to keep population down in a world where no one dies anymore. There was a lot of food for thought here. For example, what happens to families when no one ever dies? What is the best way to choose who dies? It makes for a very engaging story and a tense one at times. My only complaint would be that this book is not the most uplifting, lots of discussion about death and suicide.
Characters (5/5): While the characters took a bit of a back seat to the world-building in this book, they were still incredibly well done. Citra and Rowan were very engaging and had a lot of depth. However, the characters I found most intriguing were the long-acting Scythes that Citra and Rowan are trained by.
Setting (5/5): Absolutely amazing world-building here. The world is really well thought out and very unique. I love the idea of the Thunderhead and am excited to learn more about this AI in future books. The world-building and history were really the highlight of this book.
Writing Style (5/5): This is written in a very typical Shusterman style. Good dialogue, easy to follow, and generally well written. Shusterman is a very solid writer and, while I don’t absolutely adore his writing style, I really have no complaints about this book. Shusterman always takes a crazy idea (in this case people not dying and needing to be killed) and builds a world and story around that. This is the best book by him so far, it was much more complex and well thought out than some of his other books/series.
Summary (5/5): Overall I was surprised by how much I loved this and I am excited to see where the story goes in “Thunderhead”. I really enjoyed that there was a main story as well as a broader mystery. I would recommend to Shusterman fans and to anyone who finds the concept of a society where no one ever dies intriguing. I definitely plan on continuing the series.
