Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Rating – 4.63 out of 5
In Scythe by Neal Shusterman, the world is run by a benevolent AI, The Thunderhead, which has made normal mortality obsolete. To maintain balance a class of people, the scythe, are tasked with gleaning other humans, acting as normal chance and accident would have in the mortal age. When Citra Terranova and Rowan Damisch become apprentices to Scythe Faraday they learn how dangerous and ethically ambiguous the life of a scythe can be.
Favorite Quote
“My greatest wish for humanity is not for peace or comfort or joy. It is that we all still die a little inside every time we witness the death of another. For only the pain of empathy will keep us human. There’s no version of God that can help us if we ever lose that.” ― Neal Shusterman, Scythe
Why I liked Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Scythe presents interesting moral and ethical arguments about death that make this novel much more than just another dystopian series. While the book has a light and easy to read nature, the content is much more thought-provoking than the average book. I am surprised by how many interesting conversations I had with friends about the nature of death because of this book.
Particularly fascinating is the idea that we can be removed from loss in this age than ever before, but we lose something critical it is removed completely. I think that’s right; that life is more precious and worthwhile because it has an end. We only have a finite amount of time. If you focus on that too much it becomes an issue, but if you forget, it’s an even greater issue.
The story behind. I liked the characters and enjoyed the action. Overall it has all the markers of a great story, it kept me on the edge of my seat and asking for more; in fact, I’ve already read Thunderhead and will be posting about that very soon. I will have to read more from Shusterman as the easy writing of Scythe allows this book to have its impact on the ideas, and in the ideas, the book finds its humanity.
In addition to Thunderhead, the final book in the series, The Toll by Neal Shusterman will be out November 5th, 2019.
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