Scythe (1) (Arc of a Scythe)

Get ready to switch your brain on to full engagement if you are reading Scythe because there are levels in this book and if you want to experience it all, you need to jump in on full throttle. What was unique about this read was the need to engage your emotional intelligence. I can only describe my experience of reading as being in an ‘ethical think’tank’. I felt challenged, doubtful, shocked and pondered a lot over the philosophy and corruption of this dystopian world. I absolutely loved the concept of the ‘thunderhead’ even though it was in the background. There were some great thunderhead twists and I am here for a book two with that same title. SCYTHE was YA dystopia like I have never read before. It was eerie, engaging, morbid and quite frankly, it was very gory. It felt almost a bit too gory for YA, but I am sensitive to graphic description of violence and death. Two teens, Citra and Rowan, were taken on as apprentice scythes – those that end life in this world without natural death. However, these two caused ripples in the scythedom and that was the premise for the whole book. “And it occurred to her that being a scythe was like being the living dead. In the world, but apart from it. Just a witness to the comings and goings of others.” There was amazing character development to read in this book and side characters that engaged me hugely such as Scythe Faraday and Scythe Curie. The story line was full and detailed with occasional lulls that soon powered into explosions and fast-pacing. I didn’t really know where the end of the book would take the reader but the ending blew me away, it was that good. Also, I love a book in a series that ties up some ends without leaving you frustrated, this delivered in that way. I am pretty excited now to where the rest of the series will take me and this being a book club read, I get to pick the details apart and I think that’s pretty perfect.

I AM IN AWE. I AM IN LOVE. I finished the book and I was literally ‘oh-my-goddin’ my way through. I’m exasperated. Blown away. I was touching my five-head in disbelief, because my mind has been blown to pieces due to this story and how ingenious it was. I’m pretty sure I became high. And now, I’ve been left exhausted by all the excitement! Hello to my favourite new author. *bows down endlessly* Now that my sorta headache has disappeared and my mind is still on the verge of recovering, I'm going to try and review this. Possible verbal diarrhoea ahead. First of all, this book defines what epic actually means. Secondly, the story overall was ridiculously clever. I honestly was not expecting to enjoy it, since I haven't been the biggest fan of the dystopian genre since The Hunger Games and the Divergent series. I stupidly assumed that it would be something along those lines. And because I haven't read anything in that genre in a while, I gave it a go. What I was not expecting was this masterpiece. This intricate story that beautifully analyses our society, where in this plot-line our current world has passed and the population is just reminiscing on, whilst living in a state of utopia. The future. This book took a fresh and unique spin on the genre and I've fallen in love with it again. More so the author and his craft. It follows two main characters: Citra and Rowan who have been selected to join the Scythedom as apprentices, led by Scythe Faraday. Their role is to become skilful at 'killing' or 'gleaning' as it is referred to in this world, as the Scythedom do not believe in killing, but ending your life when it is 'supposed' to end according to their order. I don't want to give too much away of the plot as it is best to go in blind, because the surprises that awaits the reader are darn good! But we follow these characters on a journey that questions their values, morality and their society and I LOVE when an author can subtly inject that into a story. The world-building is pretty much perfect. We are introduced to it slowly and it is built upon as the story progresses in a way that does not get too overwhelming for the reader, but rather where the reader grasps it perfectly and falls into it. A lot of that had to do with the writing. It was pretty much mesmerising and told in the form of a narrative (coupled with some insightful journal entries), which created this illusion almost where I believed that the world actually existed. Or that it is not too far off from our world becoming as such. It was ingenious and completely boggled my mind. I was in awe and in love. As for the characters, Rowan was the most complex. I enjoyed the fact that we had two different characters on two sets of journeys, following individual experiences and it brilliantly overlapping. Their ...

For once I am writing a review just minutes after finishing a book rather than waiting weeks and relying on my notes to write the review. SO THIS BOOK IS FRESH IN MY BRAIN! And just wow! This book was terrific. I can't believe that I put off reading it for so long because of the hype. Let me just say this: Scythe definitely lives up to the hype that surrounded it. 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. This is the second book by Schusterman that I had read, the first one being Unwind (and boy, that was just weird!) Schusterman carries on writing about weird and wonderful worlds in Scythe where humanity has conquered death and disease. This was a fantastic book that was written at the perfect pace throughout. It wasn't slow and then went really fast or vice versa, it was a nice pace throughout the whole novel. Let me just get the moan out of the way first and tell you why this wasn't a five star, but a 4.5: the 'romance'. Ok, well it isn't even romance per se... You know the characters like each other but they aren't actually together? So they're both crushing on each other through the entirety of the book and it's not until the very end where they actually acknowledge these feelings. For me, there was no need for a romance element between the two characters to even be suggested because they weren't really by each other for most of the book anyway. So yeah, there was no point. Schusterman could have just left out the insinuation of romance and kept it as a low-level friendship; that would have been much better. “I think all young women are cursed with a streak of unrelenting foolishness, and all young men are cursed with a streak of absolute stupidity.” ― Neal Shusterman, Scythe Ok, little moan out of the way. Now onto the complete fangirling. JUST. WOW. I absolutely love this world so much. I wouldn't want to live in it myself because waiting to get 'gleaned' by a scythe would give me so much anxiety. But in a fictional sense, yes this is an absolutely brilliant, well-thought-out world that gives me the heebie-jeebies. I can't wait to read more about this world in the next book, Thunderhead, which is ALREADY OUT BUT I DO NOT OWN IT AND THAT MAKES ME VERY SAD. I loved all of the characters in this book and even the 'evil' ones, I loved to hate them because they were just sooooo bad. They didn't even have a reason, to be honest for being like that, they just loved killing so much. F...

Thanks to an incredibly long queue at the bank, I managed to finish the last quarter of Neal Shusterman’s Scythe (Arc of a Scythe, #1). Grim reaper stories always fascinate me, and on paper, Scythe and I seems like a match made in…well…heaven. On its own, however, Scythe wasn’t nearly as awesome as I anticipated. But as far as the premise and—ahem!—execution are concerned, Scythe did bring something new and unexpected to the table. Shusterman’s take on a world that has conquered death has many intriguing elements—the cloud that evolved into the Thunderhead, the vanities and diversions of immortal people, and the odd jobs that only the undying will take on (Moving target for killcraft practice, anyone?). But there are also things about this world that seem silly (e.g., Scythes as the solution to overpopulation) or make little sense to me (e.g., most political machinations within the Scythedom). Most of these things you can shrug off, but there are a few that negatively impact the story’s pacing and predictability. The one “big twist” that the book has been building up to was a little too obvious, generating frustration instead of suspense. Fortunately, Scythe tied up a lot of loose ends by the last chapter, ending Citra’s and Rowan’s stories on a relatively satisfying note. The array of characters offered by Scythe were, regrettably, not memorable. The villains were almost ridiculously cartoonish, and the protagonists were so unremarkable that relating to any of them proved to be a feat. There’s Citra, a typical overachiever who finds something that she didn’t want to succeed in for the first time in her life. Then there’s Rowan, a self-described “lettuce kid”—a child sandwiched in the middle of a large family—whose selfless act suddenly thrusts him into the limelight…and into an unwanted apprenticeship with a scythe. By the story’s conclusion, I could only recall these two as kind of a charmless Hermione Granger and a less likable Peeta Mellark. As far as the writing goes, the prose in Scythe is generally underwhelming. It’s enough to convey mood, enough to narrate events clearly, but there isn’t a single moment that I’d pinpoint as amazing or breathtaking. The scythes’ journal excerpts are enjoyable to read though, providing excellent food for thought that the narrative fails to impart. I rate Scythe 4 out of 5 stars. While the concept was good, the story wasn’t as fascinating, the characters weren’t as endearing, and the writing wasn’t as engaging as I thought it would be. It’s not a book that I’d read again, nor is it something that I’d follow until the end. Regardless, I think readers of young adult/dystopian fiction will find some entertainment in this work.

I LOVED this twisted and intriguing story! The synopsis describes this book pretty well so I'll mention a few other things: - The characters are brilliant. Each one of them, including the villains, are deeply established and have some decent layers of complexity. I loved reading how these two main characters grew and changed over time and through their experiences. - Chilling concepts! We are reading about how a group of designated people are privileged with the task of human population control. They have quotas and are the only ones allowed to/required to murder. Naturally this author dove into the many ways in which this can be achieved. Some Scythes are ruthless, others humbled, all of them haunted. - Exciting plot twists! This book kept me on the edge of my seat and I was desperate to learn more about the fates of these characters. - Talented writing. This author is brilliant at what he does! Thank you Shusterman for creating this unique and fresh story, and for telling it with beautifully smooth detail. I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a thought provoking and exciting new dystopian! Can't wait for the next one!!