2016 • 448 pages
Ratings194
Average rating4.2
15
Ratings194
Average rating4.2
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.
Featured Series
3 primary books4 released booksArc of a Scythe is a 4-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2016 with contributions by Neal Shusterman.
Featured Prompt
1,558 booksWhen you think back on every book you've ever read, what are some of your favorites? These can be from any time of your life – books that resonated with you as a kid, ones that shaped your personal...
Reviews with the most likes.
This was so good. It was such an interesting idea and really well done. Onto book two.
This book is about death, mortality, killing, suicide, different methods of dying, and the dreariness of not dying. Make sure you're in the right headspace before picking this up.
Two sixteen year olds are chosen as apprentice Scythes (distributors of death) but there's only one job opening so there's a bit of competition. The pacing of this story is really good. We get to know the central characters pre-apprenticeship, then get to know what life as a Scythe is like for a good while before things go off the rails.
The bad guys are really unsubtle, even for a YA story. It makes one wonder how they rose to power in the first place. The other Scythes are a bit more nuanced, thankfully. The two apprentices have hormones but no romance in this book.
