Scythe by Neal Shusterman (4/5)

“Scythe” is a book about two children named Citra and Rowan. They live in a world where people don’t die naturally, and the only way to die is to be killed by a scythe. Scythes are people who must kill others because of population control. They are granted immunity to being killed and give others a year of immunity if they are found worthy or if one of their family members is killed. Citra and Rowan both meet a scythe called Scythe Faraday and soon both become his apprentices even though neither wanted the position. However, only one will become a scythe. For a year they must train to learn about killing and other difficulties of being a scythe. However, after a few months of being Scythe Faraday’s apprentices they have to go to a gathering of scythes, apprentices, and other people of power where they are told that whichever one of them doesn’t become a scythe will be killed by the other. Soon after, though Scythe Faraday kills himself and Citra and Rowan are separated to train with different scythes. This way one won’t have to kill the other. Now Citra is wondering if Scythe Faraday’s death was because of himself or someone else. I thought that what I read of this book was interesting. There were a lot of plot twists so I never knew what would happen next which made me want to read more so I could find out what would happen next. I really enjoyed the world building in the book and how the society is explained. This is because while it may seem like the ideal society at first because there is less death and people live longer, soon it is revealed how it may not be a good society at all. It was very interesting to read about how the common people thought of and feared the scythes and what the scythes were like when they weren’t in public trying to uphold their image. I also thought that the layout of the book was unique because at the end of each chapter there was  a journal entry from a scythe. Overall, the part of “Scythe” that I read was good and I would recommend that others read it because it is very interesting and engaging.