“You see through the facade of the world, Citra Terranova. You’d make a good scythe.”
Citra recoiled.
“I’d never want to be one.”
“That”, he said, “is the first requirement.”
― Neal Shusterman, Scythe
In the future, humans have solved the pesky problem of death. Disease, war, poverty, and suffering from the Age of Mortality no longer exist. Although people still have jobs and go to school, if they screw up in their life, they can pay money to reset to a younger age. If someone suffers an accidental death, they are sent to a revival center for reconstruction and recovery.
This poses the problem of overpopulation. If no one ever dies, how does the world not collapse from lack of resources?
Scythes exist to prevent this from happening. When you take serial killers and create a governing body and a code of conduct, you get scythes. To become a scythe, one must be chosen as an apprentice by a practicing scythe. Once the apprenticeship ends, the trainee must pass a test and then become a junior scythe for a sort of murder residency.
One of the many darkly hilarious things this book does is treat “gleaning” and scythes sort of as the internal revenue service of the future. These “agents” have no friends and are not trusted. Therefore, to become a scythe, one must possess extreme strength of character. People who want to be scythes are rarely selected. In the case of Scythe Farraday, he only takes on apprentices who perform their duties with compassion and as a means to an end. They are not to take joy in the act of gleaning, nor are they to select a subject without thorough review.
Farraday approaches teenagers Citra and Rowan to become his apprentices. The two teenagers are quite different, but both displayed impressive courage and poise when they interacted with him during one of his gleanings.
Both teenagers have their reasons not to become apprentices, but they accept Farraday’s offer. Not long after beginning their training, they are sucked into the politics of the self-governing Scythedom.
The world building is fantastic. I adored how easy it is to believe that sanctioned murder based on loose guidelines is accepted to avoid armageddon. I also love that it is the last true unknown in a world where everything else is perfectly controlled. It is dark and hilarious and touching and oddly delightful.
Also, look at that gorgeous cover art! Stunning!
The main complaint I have is that although Citra and Rowan’s friendship makes sense, their burgeoning feelings for one another feels forced. Yes, they are teenagers living and working together. But their feelings for one another seems to pop out of nowhere. As this is a YA book, this is nothing shocking. It’s just that compared to other slow burns, this one feels too easy, especially considering the nuance of the other friendships and relationships described in this book.
There are two sequels and I’m sure I’ll read them at some point. However, I’m not dying to jump back into this world yet.