[Book Review] Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Thou shalt kill.

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.

 4 STARS

TW: Murder/Death & Suicide 

Wow this book was such a rollercoaster of emotions! I had picked this up on a whim because I saw that it was getting so many great reviews for the last half year or so and the hype was growing. At least from the reviewers I follow. I saw that my e-library app had both Scythe and it's sequel Thunderhead available so I grabbed them both. I'm really excited I enjoyed Scythe because now I have Thunderhead at the ready. At least for the next couple reads. 

The two main characters were one of the best aspects of this story. I loved them both so much for completely different reasons. Citra is one of the best young adult female character I've read about in a really long time. She's so incredibly smart and badass. I love that she is a strong character who takes the initiative and trusts her instincts. I also love that even if she is this strong badass character she doesn't lose her humanity. Sometimes with young adult female main characters, if they're strong and badass they're also closed off and have little to no empathy. Citra is my favorite kind of badass, because she's also so loving, compassionate, and charismatic. Rowan is a character I loved from the start and I loved how noble he was from the start. His character development is so different from Citra. He develops as more of a grey character as the story progresses and at times the reader isn't fully sure if he can be trusted. Which made his perspective an even more interesting one to read. I liked that Rowan was a compassionate and honorable person in the beginning, but because of the things he goes through throughout the story it changes him. I felt that to be well written and completely believable. I am always pleased when I love all the perspectives when there are multiple POVs. I also really loved Scythe Faraday and Scythe Curie as characters. I am a sucker for a good mentor/apprentice plot trope and I think it's done so well in Scythe. I enjoyed how the bonds between the mentors and the apprentices grew and developed. 

There are two things I did dislike about Scythe. One being the first two parts of the story. The book is divided up into five parts and the first two parts were really hard for me to get through. I was enjoying it but not loving it. I think if I didn't have a fire lit under my butt to read it quickly because my library loan was running out of time, I may have put it down, and I am not sure when or even if I would pick it back up. Which would have really sucked because I am really happy I pushed through because the story picks up right after the first two parts. At least for me that is when the story picks up. My second problem with Scythe is the romance between Citra and Rowan. They had almost no romantic chemistry and I thought we were getting a friendship in this story in replacement of a romance, which is what  I would have preferred. I thought their loyalty to each other, especially Rowan's to Citra was incredibly heartwarming and sweet but I honestly never saw it as a romantic gesture. So when one of them drops an "I love you" that seemingly comes out of nowhere, I was thrown for a loop. It bugged me because I was really excited for their friendship, at least at first. I wouldn't have minded if as their friendship grew maybe it evolved into something more. But by the time one of them drops the "I love you" they've had very little time actually together so it felt forced. I don't think it felt like insta-love, because I do think there is a connection between them as friends. But the romance did feel forced. It felt like an afterthought, like because it's a young adult book they had to be in a romance by the end of book one. 

I have only read two books by Shusterman, once being Unwind which I loved. Especially when it came to his storytelling and writing. And the other was Challenger Deep, which I disliked, because of some of his writing choices and his storytelling. So picking this up was a bit of a gamble on if I'd like it or not. So I am really happy I overall enjoyed Scythe. I liked his storytelling and loved his world building. His writing was well done and I loved the way he wrote our characters. This is one of the most interesting worlds I've read in a while. It's so fleshed out and although I feel like  I know so much about it already, I can only imagine all the things to come in the sequel. The world is also a bit scary because although our world is not as technologically advanced as the Scythe world, at the same time it felt like our world could easily go in the way of Scythe's. Which is definitely scary and also a similar thought I had while reading his book Unwind.

The ending of Scythe threw me sideways and I was completely pumped by the end of the story. It makes me so excited for book two. There are so many moments in this book where I thought I knew where it was headed and I was wrong each time. Which I was so happy about because it made it an even more exciting read.

I highly recommend the Scythe by Neal Shusterman. Although I had minor-ish issues  I am so happy I read it and I plan on reading Thunderhead very soon! Have you read Scythe? I'd love to know your thoughts.

Thanks for reading!