Marshmallow starts off the new year for the book bunnies blog with a review of Scythe, a 2016 book by Neal Schusterman that she read during the winter break.
(The book bunnies got a hold of this book after Caramel had read and reviewed an earlier book, Full Tilt, by Schusterman and wanted to read more from him.)
Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like sci-fi books about fascinating futuristic possibilities, then this is the book for you!
Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Now, in this new future world, death no longer exists. The Thunderhead, an omniscient AI consciousness, runs the world; however, this is not a typically dystopian situation. The Thunderhead has a “purer” soul than any human and society is managed perfectly with everything running smoothly. Without death but with technology, humans are able to “turn the corner” (reverse their aging) whenever they wish. Revival centers are everywhere, so if there ever is a fatal accident, it is never truly fatal.
However, there is a catch. Without death, a population would grow unchecked; scythes serve in death’s place and must glean (accepted euphemism for taking the life of someone) a certain quota in the time between each Scythe Conclave (meeting). This keeps the fear of death alive to an extent, but in most people there is little more than a distant memory and a feeling of vague danger. At this point:
“The growth of civilization was complete […] there was no more left to learn. Nothing about our own existence to decipher. Which meant that no one person was more important than any other. In fact, in the grand scheme of things, everyone was equally useless.”
Most humans go through life, turning corners and reliving life yet again. Citra is at the actual beginning of her life, around sixteen. When Scythe Faraday (Scythes choose new names for themselves based on a ‘patron historic’) comes to Citra’s house and stays for dinner, she and her family presume he is there to glean someone. While most people try to kiss up to Scythes (hoping to avoid being gleaned), Citra doesn’t care. She thinks he will glean someone so he might as well make it clear without playing games with them. Her angry outburst impresses him and he reveals that he was just hungry and their neighbor—who wasn’t home yet—is the one he intends to glean. He leaves Citra’s family, but not without saying that Citra would make a good Scythe because she can “see through the facades of the world.”
Rowan is also like Citra. He was in proximity to one of Scythe Faraday’s gleanings. The victim this time was a popular football player, Kohl, at his high school, but no one was brave enough to stay with him when the end came…except for Rowan. Scythe Faraday notes that Rowan was the only one who was brave enough to face death in order to be there to comfort Kohl. That is not what other people think though. They think he was there so he could watch Kohl’s gleaning and perhaps was even the cause. Gleanings are supposed to be random, but Rowan knew there must be something else. Indeed, Scythe Faraday reveals during Kohl’s last moments that he was chosen because he is a teenager with a car who likes to drink and Scythe Faraday then chose randomly from that demographic. But no one else knows this and, by association with this morbid event, Rowan becomes a social pariah.
In other words, both Rowan and Citra find themselves in the wake of Scythe Faraday’s reaping, and eventually they are both selected by him to be mentored as Scythes in training. As they become more and more immersed in the Scythedom, they learn that there is politics in play everywhere. A new movement—led by a Scythe Goddard—of younger Scythes who commit massacres almost for fun and material enrichment begin pushing against the “old guard” Scythes, those who believe in mercy and dignity for those gleaned.
Scythe Faraday teaches Citra and Rowan his philosophies and ideals, those of the “old guard.” But eventually, through the orchestration of Scythe Goddard, it is declared that only one of Scythe Faraday’s apprentices will be allowed to join the Scythedom. The one selected will have to kill the one who is not. This was never Scythe Faraday’s intent when he selected them, but it seems that there is only one way out and someone’s blood will be spilled.
Marshmallow’s Review: Scythe is an amazing book! The philosophical nature of it made it extremely intellectually stimulating and the plot was engrossing. I read this at the same time that Sprinkles and Caramel were reading it and we kept fighting who got to the read first. When we all finished, we immediately wanted to read the second book!
The world imagined by Schusterman is a bit of a utopian version of our world, with things running more smoothly. Yet life has become rather artificial and everyone is essentially immortal. Purpose is rather absent from humans’ lives, except for the Scythes who have to take on a traumatizing role that shapes them forever. Once a Scythe, always a Scythe. Citra and Rowan learn that Scythes all glean in different ways, yet as Scythe Faraday says: there is no right way to glean, but there are definitely wrong ways. In this imaginary world, Schusterman sets up a struggle for power between Scythes and places Citra and Rowan in the midst of the chaos.
Honestly, Scythe was one of the most fascinating and engrossing books I have read. I really want to read the next book! The ending was very satisfying but it also leaves some things untold. The story does continue (I think there are three books in total in the series, Arc of a Scythe) and I am excited to read more!
Scythe is a really well written book and I think it is amazingly stimulating. It does force one to consider what life without purpose would be like and how mortality affects humanity. It also makes you appreciate life a lot more and makes you look for purpose in your own life. I would highly recommend reading this book. There is some violence, so I would not share it with bunnies younger than twelve. But this is an amazing book and I would completely recommend reading it for anyone else!
Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.
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