Scythe by Neal Shusterman (Robenas Tadesse)

If someone were to ask me about the best dystopian novel I have ever read, Scythe would immediately come to mind, by a long shot. Scythe by Neal Shusterman is the first book of a trilogy. It takes place far into the future, where death by injury and all diseases have been conquered, technological advancements reach their absolute peak, and all ethnicities have been mostly blended. Because humans are practically immortal, some outside greater factor must regulate the population for the greater good. Legalized killing (referred to as “gleaning” in the novel in respect) is the job of Scythes. The system of the Scythedom is extremely strict, with ten commandments that must be followed, quotas for the number of people gleaned in a certain amount of time must be met, and thrice a year conclaves take place to check and balance other scythes in the area. Scythe apprentices are selected by current Scythes themselves, and these apprentices train alongside their patron Scythes until one final candidate is selected during a conclave. The newly appointed Scythe receives many things: their ceremonial Scythe ring with a mysterious gem on it that can grant immunity of gleanings to civilians for a certain amount of time, a robe of which they may choose any color other than black, as black represents the absence of light, the exact opposite of a Scythe, and a Scythe name, so that they may be referred to as Scythe [insert name]. Also, during a Scythe’s lifetime, their family is granted immunity. Scythes are basically immortal, but self-gleanings take place when the Scythe feels that their time has come.

Now that you have a basic understanding of the novel, allow me to get into part of the actual plot. The story follows the lives of 16-year-old Citra Terranova and Rowan Damisch who both live in MidMerica (a region that covers most of the Midwest in the United States along with Quebec in Canada). To put it simply, an elder Scythe known as Scythe Faraday observes these two characters and decides that they will make excellent Scythes, due to their compassion, fearlessness, and care for life. Scythe Faraday recruits these two reluctant youngsters, and they diligently train under him, and Citra and Rowan begin to develop a fondness for Faraday. Everything is going excellent until Faraday supposedly self-gleans out of the blue. Citra and Rowan are shaken, and before they even can process what happened, they are swiftly taken to the High Blade of MidMerica, Scythe Xenocrates. High Blade Xenocrates separates Citra and Rowan and places them in the hands of two different Scythes, and this is where the problems begin. Both Rowan and Citra are extremely skeptical about Scythe Faraday’s sudden self-gleaning, but only Citra acts upon it, going through the Thunderhead’s immense databases (the seemingly sentient, perfectly ethical, and all-knowing artificial intelligence that controls the world except for the Scythedom). 

As time goes by, Citra and Rowan grow more and more distant, and because they are exposed to very different training methods, become extremely distinguished people. And yes, if you were wondering, there was a bit of ambiguous romance between these two characters that was either destroyed or strengthened after being separated, depending on the way you look at it.

Sadly, I cannot go into much more detail without spoiling the novel. I promise you, Scythe will not disappoint, I put the book off for about a year but regretted it greatly after I read it. I also can’t go through a book review without applauding the author! The way Neal Shusterman writes truly makes me forget I’m reading, there’s something oddly majestic and ethereal about each sentence. Anyway, read Scythe by Neal Shusterman, it’s a marvelous book.

P.S. If you’ve made it this far PLEASE take a few minutes out of your day to read and comment on my blog on The Missing American by Kwei Quartey. I genuinely don’t know why but that post was such a flop! I only received two comments, one of which was because I asked a person to comment 😞.