A dystopian with a fantasy twist that questions what the world would become if humans conquered death.
Scythe Summary
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 – 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.
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Scythe Review
You should never judge a book by its cover, but with this one you can. I am so in love with it, and thankfully it holds pages that match its beauty. I rated Scythe 9th in my top 10 reads of 2018.
The concept of Scythe is incredible and completely up my street. Dystopian with a fantasy feel, it’s far-fetched yet believable and totally captivating. There’s a huge amount of world-building, but this doesn’t take away from the otherwise action-packed plot.
I did find that I struggled to connect with the characters in the beginning which meant I had a slow start, but around halfway I was flying through, eager to find out Rowan and Citra’s fate.
With Scythe, Neal Shusterman has managed to provoke questions about morals and ethics in a way that I’ve never seen before. What if we actually conquered death? How would the world work? And if we were faced with the task of choosing when people die, how would we handle it? Compassionately like Scythe Goddard? Or perhaps en masse like Scythe Faraday.
I’d love to see a TV show or movie based on Scythe, I think it would be fantastic. I’m excited to read more in Thunderhead soon.
My rating
4.5/5 stars
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