Scythe by Neal Shusterman takes place in a world where humanity has conquered natural forms of death with the help of a godlike artificial intelligence known as the Thunderhead. To prevent Earth from overpopulating, an organization known as the Scythes formed to “glean” citizens at random. The story follows two teenagers, Citra Terranova and Rowan Damisch, who are selected by Scythe Faraday to train as his apprentices. Neither have a choice in the matter, but must compete for the title of scythe. Later, when Scythe Faraday dies and Citra gets apprenticed to Scythe Curie while Rowan gets apprenticed to Scythe Goddard, the stakes get much higher. One of them will have to face becoming a scythe, while the other one will have to face death.
I gave Scythe 5 stars because I loved how deep it was. Reading this book will bring to mind difficult questions related to morality, humanity, death and corruption. Scattered throughout the story are journal entries of past scythes that show the complicated nature of the morbid job. Furthermore, the characters were all fascinating and well-developed to the point where I even started rooting for the antagonists, even as I despised them. The author uses Citra and Rowan as foils for each other, showing how being a scythe set one child on a path to virtue and the other on a path to ruin. The psychological effects both characters experience made me want to keep turning the page to find out how they turned out in the end, and it did not disappoint. The plot, while a bit slow, was still very well done and complimented the tense nature of the story. However, the best part was by far the worldbuilding. The utopian future Shusterman paints seems virtually free of imperfections, with the Thunderhead playing the role of both a totalitarian ruler, infinite supercomputer and empathetic caretaker to humanity. The world is a perfect backdrop for the plot because in a world where gleaning is the only way to die, people act and think very differently than people now. I would recommend Scythe to fans of Legend by Marie Lu, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, and The Giver by Lois Lowry. Enjoy!