Scythe (Arc of a Scythe, Book #1)
By: Neal Shusterman
My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE stars
Best for: Advanced 14 and up

I’m impressed.

Scythe felt original, new, relevant, exciting, interesting, thoughtful…

…and uncomfortable.

How’s this for our future: An impartial, flawless AI has taken over the world government. Government is perfect. Everyone is happy. Weather is controlled. Disease is not a threat. There’s no injury that can’t be cured. Accidents don’t happen. Age can be reversed. No one dies. We’ve made ourselves immortal. The only problem is that in the absence of death, how does the population of the Earth control itself?

With the Scythes.

The Scythes have the high responsibility of taking over for nature to keep the population under control–by randomly selecting people to kill. Their sacred charter demands their responsibilities be carried out by Scythes of the highest moral character, with deep contrition and genuine impartiality.

But not all Scythes fit the mold.

This book is about killing people. The careless attitude of these future humans have about death was so, so hard to get my head around. I kept flip flopping my reaction: This is awful! This is fascinating!

In the end, Scythe is simply impressive in how much it made me think. It’s a commentary on society in the vein of 1984 and Brave New World, but disguised as a YA distopian future trilogy.

By the time I turned the last page, I was a fan.

It’s well written and moving, but not for the faint of heart. No sex, PG language, even mild violence considering the topic. But it is heavy, and and interesting commentary on the sanctity of life.

I’m looking forward to book 2.

16 and up.

Happy reading!