Scythe (Arc of a Scythe #1) by Neal Shusterman

My Review ~ Five stars

Date published: 22 November 2016

Publisher: Simon Schuster

Format: Hardcover

 

Blurb

Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

 

Review

I read a fair few books where, at the end, I think “That was a great book!” but I never really think on it again. This was not one of those books. I found the premise of Scythe so interesting. The moral dilemmas and, for me, the thoughts afterwards around whether a world where we can die by accident or disease is ‘better’ (or more anxiety filled) than one where the only way to die is if you’re selected by a Scythe (I still never decided how I felt about that dilemma TBH – but I keep bringing it up in conversation and forcing other people to decide 😄).

I loved Citra and Rowan. They had depth. They weren’t typical upstanding ‘hero’ characters, they weren’t too full of teenage angst.

I was so glad I’d already bought Thunderhead so I didn’t have to wait too long between books!

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