Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Scythe is a Printz Honor winner written by Neal Shusterman, which is a fictional science fiction dystopian novel that takes place in the distant future. Due to a future with limited resources a system has been set up to lower the population by using scythes to kill people to keep the population low. Two teenagers named Citra and Rowan are unwillingly recruited to be scythes and the scythe that recruits and trains them is called Faraday. Only one of them is going to be picked to be a scythe and the new scythe must kill the loser. Faraday ends up being killed and an investigation leads to Citra as the murderer, so she and her new trainer run away. Eventually, we find out that Faraday faked his death, the bad scythes meet a well-deserved end, and Rowan lives. This is part of a three-book trilogy that I look forward to reading. Readers will see that Schusterman writes a fast-paced story that is intelligently designed that will have the reader not wanting to stop till they finish. School Library Journal says Shusterman “creates an engrossing world that pulls readers in and refuses to let them go.” (Hixon, 2016)

Critical Analysis

The story is in the third person with a plot that places the protagonists in constant turmoil. The conflict between the bad scythes and the protagonists solidifies a theme of corruption. Other themes include the mortality of humans and morality. Corruption is based on the ability of the scythes to use power with little checks and balance while mortality is achieved through a system that kills people to protect living forever. Readers might enjoy a similar book called The Truth App by Jack Heath, which is about an app that can tell if you are lying. Similarly, teachers may want to use Shusterman’s book in a lesson about checks and balances, government, power, and tyranny.

The strength of this book is the way it pulls you in with a constant barrage of emotional ups and downs. The language is straight forward meaning it’s easy to distinguish between which character is speaking. Likewise, Schusterman delivers a satisfying ending that should be enjoyed by most readers. The only weakness of this book is that it lacks enough detail about the characters' internal reasonings.

References

Hixson, T. (2016, October 21). Scythe by Neal Shusterman: SLJ Review. School Library Journal. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=scythe-by-neal-shusterman-slj-review.

Shusterman, N. (2016). Scythe. Simon & Schuster BFYR, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division.