Book Review
Title: Scythe (Arc of a Scythe Book 1) by Neal Shusterman
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Rating: 4.75 Stars
The opening to Scythe was amazing, we are introduced to a world where humanity has overcome all obstacles even death, meaning the entire human race is now immortal. However, this poses a lot of problems because The Thunderhead, the evolution of the Cloud can only provide for so many people so people still have to die. With the absence of disease, accidents and old age, the Scythes were created. Scythes are people chosen to glean others in order to control the population. When we are introduced to Citra she is confronted with Scythe Faraday and she believes that one of her family is going to die. It turns out that the Scythe is gleaning their neighbour and wanted a meal in the meantime. We are also introduced to Rowan who encounters the same Scythe coming to glean the school’s star football player and he ends up witnessing the gleaning as Kohl had no family present and Rowan believes that someone should be with him. For Citra’s determination and Rowan’s empathy, Faraday takes these two to be his apprentices but they soon learn that only one of them may wear a Scythes ring. This means they are going to have to compete with each other, despite neither wanting the role both understand it works mean immunity for their entire families as long as they are alive and they are going to take the offer. Scythe has introduced us to a unique world that I can’t wait to explore more through the Scythe journals as well as Rowan and Citra’s journey to become a Scythe.
Now they have become apprentices we get to see Citra and Rowan learning about the Scythedom and what it takes to be a Scythe. When they are taking to their first gleaning both are tested to see if they are eager to deal or death and both refuse which is a good thing but they are coming to learn the realities of the profession which are hard as we are through Scythe Curie’s journal. Things are getting interesting when we learn about a group of Scythes that are performing mass gleanings which is highly unusual but these Scythes seem to take pleasure in the fact they are killing a large group of people and they are looking for emotionless people similar to them to recruit to the Scythedom. Meanwhile, Citra and Rowan are months into their apprenticeship now and Rowan ends up being given the task of selecting the next gleaning which is extremely difficult for him and with some hard prompting from Scythe Faraday he is able to make a selection. During the gleaning Rowan actually takes charge offering the man comfort in his impending death that completely awes Citra and it seems like Rowan is turning out to be the potential Scythe right now. In between all these events we get journal entries from Scythe Curie and we learn the strict rules a Scythe must live by including not to have a spouse or children which explains why Faraday bared Citra and Rowan having a relationship from day one but I can see it is going to happen at some point during the series. If I had to pick who will become the Scythe right now is say Rowan because he is empathetic and showing now potential than Citra plus he has already performed more difficult tasks and succeeded.
Rowan and Citra also are beginning to prepare for the Vernal Conclave where they will receive their first test as apprentices and that might have rewards or punishments based on their performance. However, Rowan is already breaking the rules by bringing his friend over to Scythe Faraday’s home without his permission and Citra breaks the rules when she touches the Scythe’s ring without permission meaning they both have strikes against them even if they don’t know it yet. The Conclave is used by the Scythedom to resolve disputes and similar issues as it’s self-regulating and the apprentices come face to face with hundreds of Scythes some of whom are very famous. They are warned to stay away from Scythe Goddard who is the Scythe that likes mass gleanings. During this they learn a lot about the Scythedom and its politics but this is overshadowed by their tests. Citra is asked about the worst thing she’s ever done and because she lied in her answer she fails but then Rowan deliberately fails when he refuses to tell the Scythes his worst fear. This has consequences as one of Goddard’s junior Scythes purposes that since taking two apprentices isn’t the standard they have to prevent them from becoming friends in order to ensure that the best apprentice gets the ring which is a fair point. It is proposed that the winner must glean the loser meaning Rowan and Citra night have to kill the other and this is accepted despite Faraday’s protests. We can also see that Goddard has sorry within the Conclave possibly from the High Blade himself but we will just have to wait and see where this goes now the stakes have been raised.
After learning of their fate things get worse when they learn that Scythe Faraday gleaned himself in order to spare Rowan and Citra from killing each other but they don’t escape that easily as other Scythes have claimed them. Citra is claimed by Scythe Curie and Rowan by Scythe Goddard. Citra doesn’t want to be there but soon realises that while Scythe Curie had a different style to Scythe Faraday her compassion is just as large and she can learn a lot from her. However, for Rowan things have got horrible Scythe Goddard is basically using torture in order to condition Rowan to his way of thinking. This begins with them turning off Rowan’s nanites which allow him to not feel pain and heal before beating him to a pulp. While he does turn on the healing nanites again he leaves the pain suppressing ones off so Rowan has to live in constant fear of pain his body and mind aren’t equipped to handle and it just might break him. Despite this he seems determined to throw the competition in Citra’s favour but he had to be subtle about it or Goddard will do far worse things to him. Throughout this there is the mystery of Esme who was taken in by Goddard after a mad gleanings she managed to evade and Goddard believes she is the future although Rowan hasn’t figured out what that means yet but he has been observation skills so I have no doubt he will figure it out soon. I just hope he doesn’t suffer to much in the meantime as I really like Rowan but if he breaks Goddard will turn him into a monster like his junior Scythes. Citra also believes that Scythe Faraday might not have gleaned himself but been pushed meaning that there might be a murderer in the Scythedom.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, we spend a lot of time following Rowan training under Scythe Goddard and it is brutal. He is basically told to embrace his primal hunter nature and take pleasure in taking the lives of others. Despite his best effort, Rowan does find himself understanding what Scythe Goddard is trying to do and agreeing with some of it. However, when he has to train with live people killing them and leaving one alive as is Goddard’s style he is sickening and delighted by it. He realises that he is capable of being what Goddard wants and some part of him wants to be that but his feelings for Citra and her impending death prevent him from falling into the darkness. He also learns that one of Goddard’s own junior scythes, Scythe Volta is similar to Rowan and the acts he performs have scarred him and Rowan hopes that if Volta can last that long he can to. Meanwhile, Citra has been preparing for the Harvest Conclave, the final conclave before the one where Citra and Rowan will face each other for the final time but she has also been looking into Scythe Faraday’s death. She has uncovered some evidence pointing towards murder but the cameras on the platform were broken on the day of his death and several witnesses were granted immunity within the two days making Citra think another Scythe was responsible and the only one that springs to her mind in Goddard. During the Conclave, the test is martial arts, Rowan and Citra are paired up for their match but it goes badly. Rowan tries to throw the match but Citra realises what he is doing and does the same meaning no matter how badly Rowan fights she makes him look good because of her feelings for him. In desperation, Rowan uses an illegal move snapping Citra’s neck to get disqualified and lose the match and to make Citra disregard her feelings for him and to win the ring because he doesn’t know if he can withstand Goddard’s poison if that is the case as there will be no escape for him if he is ordained.
As we get close to the finale of the novel, a lot begins to happen as Citra confesses to Rowan at the Harvest Conclave that she believes a scythe killed Faraday and although she doesn’t mention him by name she believes that Goddard is responsible. After the Conclave and her revival she is taken prisoner and accused of killing Faraday herself when she knows this isn’t true and there is evidence planted against her. The High Blade is involved in this but we know it is because Esme is his daughter and she is essentially being held hostage by Goddard even if she does know it and he threatens her death if the High Blade doesn’t do what he wants. In order to not confess or be tortured, Citra kills herself meaning she is in the hands of the revival centre once more but this is different. While she is technically dead the Thunderhead speaks to her which it hasn’t done since she became a scythe’s apprentice and tells her the name of the man responsible for Faraday’s death and also lets her know in the events that are going to come she is going to play a vital role whether she lives or dies. After awakening Scythe Curie is there and explain they are in Chile but the High Blade is aware of her location so they have to hide her. Curie uses her contacts for this and gives Citra the directions to the man who killed Faraday along with a car and weapons. However, she also explains to Citra that she has immunity until Winter Conclave but she has to hide her identity by posing a member of a Tone cult where she will basically be hiding in plain sight. During this Citra knows she needs information and can’t afford to get caught, but she knows if she is to speak to the Thunderhead again she needs to die so she might make that happen. She intends to be on the run until Winter Conclave but after that she will have no choice but to come forward whether or not Scythe Curie can clear her name in that time. Citra also isn’t sure she can trust Rowan after the Harvest Conclave and he isn’t sure she can either as he is losing parts of himself to Goddard but at the moment he still seems to be on her side but that could change at any time.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, a hell of a lot of stuff goes down that I don’t want to spoil but we do get to see Citra and Rowan’s stories come full circle. Watching Citra go through her final test which all Scythes have to face was heart-breaking but obviously she and Rowan both pass but only one can wear the ring. In the end, Citra is chosen and she takes the name Scythe Anastasia and she is now faced with gleaning Rowan. Before she goes to stab him, she punches him in the mouth granting him immunity and it couldn’t have gone better if they planned it. Citra also gives him an escape from the conclave into the hands of a friend they haven’t seen for a while before setting herself off on her own journey. In the final journal entry of the book and Citra’s first as an official Scythe she talks about an unofficial Scythe murdering corrupt Scythes known as Scythe Lucifer and we know who this is. However, this story ended on a pretty good note and could have been a standalone so I don’t know what Thunderhead or The Toll are going to have in store for me.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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