The world is at peace. No more hunger. No more disease. No war. No misery. No way to die.
“Scythe” is a dystopian fiction novel written by Neal Shusterman, published in 2016. “Scythe” takes place in a world where humans have conquered all the world’s problems and are governed by an evolved AI named the Thunderhead. Scythes are trained killers in charge of permanently ending life, or gleaning, to keep the size of the growing immortal population under control. Two teens, Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova, are unexpectedly chosen to be apprentices under the Honorable Scythe Faraday and learn the art of killing. These two go through intense Bokator training (martial arts training), learn a variety of science and humanities topics, study killcraft, and see horrendous, murderous scenes. The twist of all this is that only one of them can become a scythe and remain alive.
“Scythe” explores the meaning and value of life. It reveals the true meaning of immortality and death, love and hate, mercy and cruelty, honor and disgrace, purpose and insignificance. Citra and Rowan discover the darker side of the society they live in; they learn about the moral challenges of being a scythe. Originally, they thought that scythes were just cruel killers that brought misery and suffering to people. Once they joined the apprenticeship, their perspective on scythes completely changed, and they learned that scythes kill people with honor—scythes can’t enjoy killing. “Scythe” allows you to gain a deeper perspective on what life is to you.
Neal Shusterman covers the story from a dual perspective, one for Citra and one for Rowan, as an omniscient narrator. In between chapters, there are journal entries from other scythes that express their deepest emotions and thoughts. Shusterman thoroughly developed these characters so that it is easy to connect with them and grow attached to them. Shusterman wanted “Scythe” to express understanding and compassion for humanity. “Scythe” can really make you think and ponder life and the importance of it. “Scythe” is covered with chilling dialogue that can leave you thinking for days. Along with the ominous cover, “Scythe” creates majestic pictures and visuals as you read that take you on an eerie adventure. Shusterman definitely made his goal for this book clear and executed his theme well.
The immortal world is different yet so similar to ours. In this immortal world, people have achieved infinite knowledge that grants them passage into a utopia. People kill themselves for fun, people can reverse their age, and people can take anything for granted. Nothing is real. Nothing has a purpose anymore. Still, there are holes in this so-called utopia, especially in Scythedom. The Scythedom makes the rules and controls the actions of scythes to make sure that they’re honorable. Yet, the Scythedom is corrupted and dubious. There are those in the Scythedom who enjoy gleaning and believe that all scythes should find joy in what they do. Citra and Rowan discover this corruption and try to fix it instead of overthrowing it. “Scythe” thoroughly delves into the perspectives of these immortals; it allows you to feel like you’re in that world.
“Scythe” is life-changing. It helps us value life and relationships. It fills minds with tense yet mystical visuals. However, “Scythe” may be hard to follow because of all the details that go along with the story; there are a lot of characters and rules that may be hard to remember. Plus, it could be very gruesome and violent. But if you take time to read it, “Scythe” is definitely worth it. Despite all of the deaths, there is beauty in this book. It’s intriguing. It’s tense. It’s a book that is just too hard to put down. It is so easy to connect with the characters and feel their pain. Additionally, it is just so beautiful and lovely to see the connections and relationships that each character has with each other; they seem so real. This book just makes me want to live life to the fullest.
