A review by turtlebassoonist
Scythe by Neal Shusterman

adventurous dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

As someone who loved Unwind and the Everlost series, it pains me to rate a Neal Shusterman work this low, but ultimately I think I have to. The world of this book is ambitious. Definitely leaning sci-fi but not quite a true dystopia (if the all-knowing one world AI government really is as benevolent as they say, then it loses points for both believabiltiy and intrigue). The last remaining human portion of the government however, the Scythedom, has all manner of fun political drama and blackmail and power struggle, which I found to be the most enjoyable part of the book. Characters were generally pretty flat, more defined by their ideology than their personality. Also, the pacing was so insanely fast that I got a little lost in how inconsequential everything was. Accusations, murder, running from the law, investigations, they all get introduced and resolved within a few chapters. Even one of the main struggles of the book finds a sort of resolution in the span of two sentences. YA tropes and writing style are dialed up to 110% as well between the forced romance, clumsy rebrand of world geography and religion (e.g. "Chilargentine"), choose-your-own-adventure Scythe uniforms, and refusal to sit and psychological process how horrible some of the events of the story are. I would've given it 3 stars, but that last point is cause for a lower rating. Mainly I found it disconcerting that an MC not only witnesses but participates in several acts of terrorism with only minor remorse. He goes on to earn a reputation as a misunderstood, "lovable" bad boy, so there's that if you're into that sort of thing.
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