Book Review: Scythe
Written by Chi Nguyen
Scythe
Neil Shusterman
I finished reading Scythe written by Neil Shusterman not too long ago. I started reading it as I received it as a birthday present during isolation from a friend.
I would recommend this book 10000% to any reader, although I do believe it is much more suited to a more mature audience. The reason why I would strongly recommend this novel to a mature audience, isn’t because of inappropriate language, events or themes. I think that older audiences (15 +) will enjoy this YA novel much more as they have a greater understanding about morality, government, politics and relationships. It is still readable for younger audiences, although it is clear that they may not get as much out of the book as a more mature audience. The book is a dystopian YA novel that explores a plausible future without future, government, religion, illness, disease and endless knowledge. Humans are immortal and have all the knowledge and information of the universe available to them through the 'Thundercloud'.
The only issue faced now is overpopulation. Because natural death no longer occurs, families continue to grow and grow for hundreds upon hundreds of years. People no longer count their age. You can never tell how old an individual is, due to age-turning technology. Human civilization decides to handle this issue by introducing the Scythedom. The members, scythes, are honoured individuals who must kill others with the intention of controlling the human population. There is a clear disjoint and lack of understanding from the older party of scythes from the younger party of scythes to do with the morality of death and the impacts it has on a scythe to kill another.
This book explores human nature, emotion, morals and is unexpectedly rather philosophical in nature. It is definitely an interesting read, to say the least, and always has you on your toes. The exploration of the book’s themes are conducted in a unique manner, and Neil Shusterman brings potential future issues under a spotlight. I would recommend this book to a general audience, 15 years old and older. It is an amazing, well crafted and well-written book. Neil Shusterman’s talent in writing is evident throughout his work. This book has pulled me in from the very beginning, from when I turned the first page. It is a great piece of literary fiction which everyone should read.
This book can be bought as a soft cover or hard cover book from online book shops or from a nearby bookstore. However it is also on the University High School’s Online Library, ‘Wheelers’, so be sure to check it out, borrow it and read it all the way through!!!