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hashtagjessireads's review
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
5 stars - going straight into my 'absolute-faves' shelf!
Content Warnings: Death, Violence, Mass Killings, Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Child Death, Suicide, Sexual Harassment of a Minor
I recommend this book if you enjoy: dark, medium-paced, adventure, reflective, coming-of-age, strong female leads
Scythe is a story exploring the post-mortal world. Citra and Rowan become apprentices to an Honorable Scythe, training to become initiated into an elite class of immortals chosen to cull humanity safely, efficiently, and by seven commandments of the scythdom. Neither Citra nor Rowan want to become a scythe—but according to their instructor, it’s that which makes them the best candidates for the role.
The concept of the book alone was intriguing enough for me to grab without having any recommendations. I don’t know Shusterman; this is the first I’ve read of his—it won’t be the last.
Within the first ten pages of the book, I fell in love with the concept, the writing, the worldbuilding, and the characters. Shusterman set the tone straight away; no heavy info-dumps, no paragraph blocks of exposition, and with a firm understanding of where our heroes start their journey and what their motivations are.
And while this book was on the dark-ish side, I was surprised to find subtle humor woven in. Too often in dystopian novels, humor is subdued or gone in favor of keeping the tone of the books dark and dreary. But, the humor in Scythe contrasted nicely against the book’s inherent darkness.
A bit of a warning: this book is slow-paced to start. The first hundred pages (or more) are filled with less action and more worldbuilding. We take a journey with the characters, get to know them, understand their motivations and what drives them forward. If you only enjoy the face-paced, page-flipping sort of book, you may struggle with the beginning of this novel. However, once the plot gets going, once the characters are situated in the moment of never being able to turn back, once you truly get a handle on the villain and the root of everything our heroes are fighting for, the book picks up steam. It’s so worth it to get to that place. Twists, turns, uncertainty in the characters and their arcs—a marvelous bit of storytelling, done at the pace of a journey rather than a sprint.
To be honest, I enjoyed the pace of the book from start to finish. I don’t believe a book has to have the “Michael Bay Hollywood” style of action-packed, constant explosions to be valid and amazing.
I also really love a book that makes me think, and Scythe had me evaluating where I stand on any number of theoretical situations that could arise in this imagined future. And the beauty of it is that the author doesn’t tell you what to think or how to feel—there is the truth of the book and you’re left to examine the various paths a character could take. So resonating, so reflective. I found myself trying to figure out how I’d behave if I were in the characters’ shoes. For a lot of books, that’s very straightforward; heroes do this, and so that’s what I’d do. With this book, the avenues were endless and complete with full scales of gray morality tied in.
Shusterman spent time making me care about this world, the many facets of it, and the many characters that feature through the story—leads and minor characters alike.
Citra, our main female lead, resonated with me; she’s determined, rejects failure as an outcome, and has a sense of duty to the world around her. She pushes herself hard to succeed, allows herself to grow, and challenges the status quo. It’s refreshing to have a female lead who isn’t just pitted against other females to prove how much better they are. And, to Shusterman’s credit, there was no concern over her looks or her emotions: she was allowed to be who she was without objectifying her womanhood. A rare case, as I’ve come to find in sci-fi/fantasy books, especially written by men. *claps for Shusterman*
Rowan, our main male lead, was refreshing. He wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot. Falling into a morally gray area, his anti-hero qualities made me root for him even harder. Written as “the lettuce” of life—forgotten, always overlooked, never destined for importance or infamy—the useless part of a sandwich, essentially. But, Rowan is compassionate and fierce, wanting to do what’s right even if it’s the hardest thing he’ll ever have to do. We need more male heroes who personify goodness in this way; a true ride-or-die friend before anything else.
And despite loving the book so much, there was one aspect that fell flat for me in some ways. The romantic relationship between Citra and Rowan felt more like ride-or-die friendship to me. I loved that even more than a romance between them. From the very beginning, they were in this together—I didn’t even care if they kissed or fell in love; I just wanted them to have the friendship they’d cultivated at the start. So, if you’re into the romance aspect of YA sci-fi/fantasy, you may be frustrated by the lack of clear romance involved.
Saying all of that: I actually enjoyed the off-screen build of their relationship. It was a theme, I think—absence makes the heart grow fonder. In this world, there’s no absence, no death, etc., and so to have them forced apart at such a big point in their relationship, solidly built the care, worry, and curiosity that would naturally build deeper feelings between them. Maybe it’s the girl inside me that went through a long distance relationship, or maybe it’s because I don’t read a book for romance; I’m not sure. Except to say that, while I ship Citra and Rowan completely, the story of their journey meant far more to me than the status of their relationship through the book.
So, uh… TL;DR: if you’re looking for a deeply interesting, moderately paced, dystopian coming-of-age story that’s light on romance but heavy on story development and character arcs, give this book a read because it’s entirely worth the potential existential crises that would lead to a thousand-word book review when you’re done.
Content Warnings: Death, Violence, Mass Killings, Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Child Death, Suicide, Sexual Harassment of a Minor
I recommend this book if you enjoy: dark, medium-paced, adventure, reflective, coming-of-age, strong female leads
Scythe is a story exploring the post-mortal world. Citra and Rowan become apprentices to an Honorable Scythe, training to become initiated into an elite class of immortals chosen to cull humanity safely, efficiently, and by seven commandments of the scythdom. Neither Citra nor Rowan want to become a scythe—but according to their instructor, it’s that which makes them the best candidates for the role.
The concept of the book alone was intriguing enough for me to grab without having any recommendations. I don’t know Shusterman; this is the first I’ve read of his—it won’t be the last.
Within the first ten pages of the book, I fell in love with the concept, the writing, the worldbuilding, and the characters. Shusterman set the tone straight away; no heavy info-dumps, no paragraph blocks of exposition, and with a firm understanding of where our heroes start their journey and what their motivations are.
And while this book was on the dark-ish side, I was surprised to find subtle humor woven in. Too often in dystopian novels, humor is subdued or gone in favor of keeping the tone of the books dark and dreary. But, the humor in Scythe contrasted nicely against the book’s inherent darkness.
A bit of a warning: this book is slow-paced to start. The first hundred pages (or more) are filled with less action and more worldbuilding. We take a journey with the characters, get to know them, understand their motivations and what drives them forward. If you only enjoy the face-paced, page-flipping sort of book, you may struggle with the beginning of this novel. However, once the plot gets going, once the characters are situated in the moment of never being able to turn back, once you truly get a handle on the villain and the root of everything our heroes are fighting for, the book picks up steam. It’s so worth it to get to that place. Twists, turns, uncertainty in the characters and their arcs—a marvelous bit of storytelling, done at the pace of a journey rather than a sprint.
To be honest, I enjoyed the pace of the book from start to finish. I don’t believe a book has to have the “Michael Bay Hollywood” style of action-packed, constant explosions to be valid and amazing.
I also really love a book that makes me think, and Scythe had me evaluating where I stand on any number of theoretical situations that could arise in this imagined future. And the beauty of it is that the author doesn’t tell you what to think or how to feel—there is the truth of the book and you’re left to examine the various paths a character could take. So resonating, so reflective. I found myself trying to figure out how I’d behave if I were in the characters’ shoes. For a lot of books, that’s very straightforward; heroes do this, and so that’s what I’d do. With this book, the avenues were endless and complete with full scales of gray morality tied in.
Shusterman spent time making me care about this world, the many facets of it, and the many characters that feature through the story—leads and minor characters alike.
Citra, our main female lead, resonated with me; she’s determined, rejects failure as an outcome, and has a sense of duty to the world around her. She pushes herself hard to succeed, allows herself to grow, and challenges the status quo. It’s refreshing to have a female lead who isn’t just pitted against other females to prove how much better they are. And, to Shusterman’s credit, there was no concern over her looks or her emotions: she was allowed to be who she was without objectifying her womanhood. A rare case, as I’ve come to find in sci-fi/fantasy books, especially written by men. *claps for Shusterman*
Rowan, our main male lead, was refreshing. He wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot. Falling into a morally gray area, his anti-hero qualities made me root for him even harder. Written as “the lettuce” of life—forgotten, always overlooked, never destined for importance or infamy—the useless part of a sandwich, essentially. But, Rowan is compassionate and fierce, wanting to do what’s right even if it’s the hardest thing he’ll ever have to do. We need more male heroes who personify goodness in this way; a true ride-or-die friend before anything else.
And despite loving the book so much, there was one aspect that fell flat for me in some ways. The romantic relationship between Citra and Rowan felt more like ride-or-die friendship to me. I loved that even more than a romance between them. From the very beginning, they were in this together—I didn’t even care if they kissed or fell in love; I just wanted them to have the friendship they’d cultivated at the start. So, if you’re into the romance aspect of YA sci-fi/fantasy, you may be frustrated by the lack of clear romance involved.
Saying all of that: I actually enjoyed the off-screen build of their relationship. It was a theme, I think—absence makes the heart grow fonder. In this world, there’s no absence, no death, etc., and so to have them forced apart at such a big point in their relationship, solidly built the care, worry, and curiosity that would naturally build deeper feelings between them. Maybe it’s the girl inside me that went through a long distance relationship, or maybe it’s because I don’t read a book for romance; I’m not sure. Except to say that, while I ship Citra and Rowan completely, the story of their journey meant far more to me than the status of their relationship through the book.
So, uh… TL;DR: if you’re looking for a deeply interesting, moderately paced, dystopian coming-of-age story that’s light on romance but heavy on story development and character arcs, give this book a read because it’s entirely worth the potential existential crises that would lead to a thousand-word book review when you’re done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Child death, Violence, and Suicide
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Sexual assault
Regarding the scene of sexual assault: it is more akin to sexual harassment. Takes place against a male minor with suggestive language. One time, one-two sentences.
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