Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Genre: Science Fiction
Reviewed by Corbin B., 12th Grade
Rating: 9/10
Neal Shusterman's Scythe is perhaps the most unique book I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Which comes as a surprise to me, considering that I'm usually on-top of titles in the dystopian fantasy genre. That's just the thing though: it isn't dystopian fantasy in the usual sense. It's a utopian fantasy, but it has that same gut-tugging feel of something being wrong, and you feel it right on the first page. From that one moment it sucks you in, and you just never want to put it down. I usually end my reviews with a "Would I recommend this book," but I'll start with it. Yes, I recommend this book. I recommend it to you, your cousin, your grandparents, anyone. Go read it.
Now, into the nitty-gritty of things. To start, the two main characters are great. Citra and Rowan are wonderful vessels that let us as the reader traverse the world of Scythe; I definitely had a favorite though. Citra was just an absolute thrill from beginning to end, while Rowan had a few ups and downs. He reminded me of Peeta from The Hunger Games in the worst way up until the very end. Citra, however, was a joy from beginning to end. Her perspective on the Scythedom and walking through her process of being trained by the Scythes is an absolute treat. The book is also not short on side characters, all of which are a pleasure (some in a love-to-hate sort of way).
The most surprising part of the book for me was the deep philosophical stance it took on the concept of taking another person’s life. It didn't pose this question exactly, but it made me wonder; If I were in a position where I must be killed, would I prefer my killer (or in this case, “gleaner”) to enjoy killing me, hate killing me, or be completely indifferent on the matter? It's a question I've yet to answer myself. The book also poses the idea of immortality, but in such a way that you'd almost prefer humanity never reach that point in our world.
The plot of the book itself is floaty, but in a good, refreshing way. You never feel like the varied cast of characters should just "get on with it" because that is what the main cast is always doing, pushing forward no matter the twists and turns in the road.
Now at this point you may be wondering why the book isn't a ten out of ten, considering the stellar review I've given it so far. For starters, some things seem to happen simply for convenience of the plot. I won't get into this due to heavy spoilers, so I'll be vague. Citra is being pursued, and the scythe watching over her goes to clear things up with her pursuers. Things are patched up almost instantly. However, it is shown earlier that her pursuers have a strong outside motivation that shouldn’t have been disregarded because of one person's story, even if that story was true. That's about as vague as it gets but it's the best I can do. This isn't a common issue but it happens at least once more, in which Citra shows up to a very important location with a miniscule amount of conflict along the way, and it just feels a bit lackluster and cheap.
The rest of my reasons are admittedly just nitpicks, but I'll get them out of the way anyways. As I said before, Rowan gets a little boring and sometimes infuriating towards the middle. He goes through a lot of inner conflict, but in that conflict he seems to suddenly be more weak-willed. There are a couple of examples of Rowan standing his ground, but it doesn't align with where his character ends up in my opinion. I think the romance between the two main characters is a bit ham-fisted, thrown in for the sake of there being a romantic plot that all dystopian-types seem to feel a need to include. There's the classic "let out a breath they didn't know they were holding" cliché. It’s nothing crazy (it’s used maybe twice), but it’s just a phrase that leads me to roll my eyes. I also thought the name they gave Rowan at the end of the book was a little too edgy to the point it was goofy, but that's all.
Overall I highly recommend this book. It poses lots of good moral questions, most of which pertain to death of course. The minds of people who are forced to kill others as their sole duty, the legality of not being held under scrutiny of the law, the nature of humanity itself. Scythe also handles Artificial Intelligence really well, without seeming too overly-futuristic like Star Trek, and it has a decent subversion of expectations with it. Scythe also makes you question your own moral values, and you even come to understand the ideals of the villains, which is a hard thing to do. Scythe is just an absolute delight, despite my grievances, and it was a great addition to the library of my mind.