#scythe by neal shusterman

[thedragonsbooknook]

Book Submission: “Scythe” by Neal Shusterman

Submitted by: @quill-n

Genre & sub-genres: YA sci-fi, biopunk, adventure, dystopia

Trigger Warnings (if any): Heavily deals with death

What’s your experience with this book and why would you recommend it to people?: You recommended it to me! (I did ^-^) and I really really enjoyed it! The dystopian aspect of it is really intriguing and the way the characters play into the story and overall theme is very cool.

Anything else you would like to mention?: It's a trilogy!!!

Summary: 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

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[thunderhead-mybeloved]

[vvallent1ne]

bitches be like “i love my man” and the man is fictional, extremely mentally ill, has weird hair, and probably has adopted some strays along the way

it’s me. i’m bitches.

- AIZAWA, gojo satoru, VICTOR VALE!!, kaz brekker, slenderman (hear me out), scythe faraday, IDEN!!!!!! (see explanation below)

so anyways here’s my nonchalant (non-dread having sadly) king 😊

btw did i mention i created him in my head VSJAUDGDW

[troyssix]

shout out to arc of a scythe for ripping me to shreds <3

[scythe-fan]

the night faraday “gleaned himself” citra and rowan noted that it wasn’t unusual for faraday to have late nights out and i desperately wanna know what they entailed. where was this guy going?

[thejudeduarte]

When I first watched the hunger games I knew president coin reminded me of someone but had no idea who, but then it suddenly clicked who I was thinking of:

You cannot tell me this woman doesn't look like the spitting image of Scythe Curie, and if not imagine her robes were lilac and her hair slightly longer. Now every time I imagine Marie this is exactly who I think of

[alma-n]

He deserves to scream into the void as loudly as he can :)💕

[arcofacatboy]

[annoying--moth]

So apparently Neal Shusterman has this thing where if you pay $20 a month you can talk to him in a group chat once a month, and an online friend of mine happens to be paying for this and she mentioned it on discord, so of course I had to beg her to ask him about curaday....

AND HE SAID THEY'RE SOULMATES!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!! IF I CAN I'LL GET THE SCREENSHOT FROM MY FRIEND!!! HE LITERALLY SAID HE THINKS THEY'RE SOULMATES BUT THEY'RE UNABLE TO BE TOGETHER BECAUSE OF COMPLICATIONS (plot stuff and allat) AHHHHHH

[100-great-books]

[keigohawks]

i have realized i failed to clarify that what i meant by "is faraday fine" is not "is he okay?" but "is this man fine as hell or" And i am sorry i wasn't more clear LMAO

[beesinmypancrees]

Scythehood gave Citra empathy and I eat that shit up entirely everytime I think about it: an essay

One of the first things we learn about her in chapter one is that she's quick to anger. We also learn that she freezes up when she's scared, and shuts down completely. These two are a deadly combination meaning that if's shes afraid of losing an argument, she'll just shut the other person down completely instead of admitting fault.

She literally pushes a girl under a moving truck and just. lets her live with that. She actually killed someone and got them ridiculed for like, ever, and said nothing about it and covered it up completely. I don't even remember her actually saying she was sorry about it, even years later, when she actually had to apologize to the girl. This girl does not give a shit about anything!!!

Yet when she's an apprentice and a scythe, she shows people more compassion than she knows how to give. She falls hideously under her quota just to give people their last decision in their death. She bends rules and makes her life all the more difficult because it weighs on her that their life is ending because of her and she does her best to accommodate. In conclusion, she's my precious little meow meow and i love her so goddamn much you wouldn't believe

[thunderhead-mybeloved]

Something that makes the world feel very real to me, is that people aren't in awe of their technology. There's a scene where someone has to have his eyes fully regrown, which will take several days, and he remarks that it doesn't seem like "speed healing" to him. That's so realistic.

Much like people today get annoyed if a website takes a bit of time to load. In everyday life, we don't often marvel at the advancements we have. Just as they don't.

A common thread in the books is the concept that people can adjust to anything if Givin enough time. They're not impressed by the thunderhead or the ability to turn a corner or any of the other sifi wonders. It's their normal.

[dreimehrparsec]

So I've just started reading the third part of Neal Shusterman's series Arc of a Scythe – The Toll, and I believe this is the first time I came across a non-binary/genderfluid character in a book, additionally that beautifully portrayed.

The character's name is Jerico. Jerico is a captain of a great ship. Through the first few paragraphs of that chapter there are no gendered expressions used to describe Jerico (and note that I'm not reading it in English, but in my native, heavily-gendered language), until that moment when one sailor refers to Jerico as "sir", and then quickly corrects himself to "madam", adding, "it was cloudy a moment ago".

I won't explain here the whole setting of that story, but for what you need to know, it is happening in the future when there are some places in the world that function differently from the rest. It is explained that in Madagascar, where Jerico comes from, the concept of gender is not imposed on children. Once they are grown up, they are free to choose whether they feel like men or women, or not to choose at all. Jerico chose the fluidity.

And here's my favourite part. Jerico's gender depends on the weather. When there is sun or stars in the sky, she is a woman. When there are clouds, he is a man. For someone whose everyday life depends so strongly on atmospheric conditions as for a sailor, a captain, I think it's beautiful. I don't know yet what happens to Jerico later in that book, but anyways. Huge respect to the author.

[troyssix]

CITRA TERRANOVA APPRECIATION POST

[scythe-fan]

i literally don’t believe in the toll ending. what actually happened is that faraday and curie reunited and everyone lived happily ever after