A review by leahthebooklover
Scythe by Neal Shusterman

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

  I loved this book. I was profoundly challenged by this book, I was highly entertained by this book. It's interesting to me that my second 5 star book of the year was another YA "fantasy" book. I often find that the important moral, ethical, political, and spiritual issues of the day can be effectively explored within a context of a world that doesn't exist within the confines of reality. It's probably the main reason I enjoy sci-fi and fantasy, aside from the fabulous storytelling. "Scythe" is a bit like "The Hunger Games" (Susanne Collins) meets "The Giver" (Lois Lowry). It's set in a utopian/dystopian future where all the knowledge of the cloud has been consolidated in an all-seeing, all-knowing benevolent AI known as the Thunderhead. With this access to all human knowledge, problems such as racism, crime, war, even age and death have been eliminated. Of course, there are consequences to such a utopia. Creativity, innovation, motivation are unnecessary. Boredom is common. And with no natural death (even fatal accidents can be reversed) overpopulation is inevitable. Enter the Scythes. They are the society of individuals who have been officially sanctioned to "glean" (permanently kill) a percentage of the population, with compassion and without bias or malice. They are governed by a set of 10 rules. Each candidate must undergo an intense training apprenticeship with another Scythe before being accepted. Citra and Rowan are two teenagers who have been invited to train as Scythes, even though neither of them sought the opportunity. They were selected by Scythe Faraday because of their curiosity, bravery, and empathy. Their resistance to the idea of becoming trained killers was also a factor, for as Faraday explains “Those who wish to have the job should not have it… and those who would most refuse to kill are the only ones who should.” 
  As a book about training killers, there is (not surprisingly) quite a bit of violence. There are hints of romance between Citra and Rowan, but no sex (the Scythes are a celibate society). Mild language, no profanity. Because of the violence I wouldn't recommend this to highly sensitive people, or anyone under the age of 13 or 14. But for those with the maturity to handle it, it would open the door to some great discussions about life, death, purpose, faith, and power. 
  "My greatest wish for humanity is not for peace or comfort or joy. It is that we all still die a little inside every time we witness the death of another. For only the pain of empathy will keep us human. There’s no version of God that can help us if we ever lose that."
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