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typedtruths 's review for:
Scythe
by Neal Shusterman
3.5 stars
Shusterman routinely provides books that don’t just entertain or amuse but make me change the way I think about life… which is a pretty dramatic and bold statement but nonetheless truthful. Bruiser made an impression on me earlier this year but I think Scythe took it one step further. I could not stop thinking about this book for weeks after I put it down. In our current world, we are in the middle of important and relevant discussions about the ethicality of transhumanism and other life-prolonging scientific research. This is a book that provides the perfect piece of discussion fodder for such conversations. I loved its themes of morality on life and death, on freedom and societal responsibility, and the way it provided multiple viewpoints of the situation without seeming even remotely preachy. Every character was rich and complex. There was not a single character that had clean-cut motivations or that you could not sympathise, empathise or in some way understand, no matter what terrible things that were doing. Every time I pick up a book by Shusterman, I am blown away at his talent of creating worlds and characters that make are so impossibly realistic and vibrant that I have difficulty remembering they are fictional. This was no exception.
If all the talk about themes and emotive writing is off-putting to you, do not fear. This book is no less entertaining or - for lack of a better word - fun for it. The characters are realistic and relatable. You will find yourself loving both Citra and Rowen the more you read about them. There are moments of humour to lighten the mood - and these moments are done incredibly well. Action scenes are plentiful, and there is a fair bit of gore and violence if that is your thing. I promise that the plot twists will keep you anxiously flipping the pages. I don’t think there are too many people who would dislike this book. There is honestly something for everyone!
The only negative thing about this book was the slow beginning. There is a little bit too many information-heavy chapters in the beginning and it may seem like a dense and complicated story to any impatient readers. I did struggle with the world-building at first and the characters seems a little unlikable but I promise that with time it grows and grows.
Review copy provided by the publisher for an honest review.
Shusterman routinely provides books that don’t just entertain or amuse but make me change the way I think about life… which is a pretty dramatic and bold statement but nonetheless truthful. Bruiser made an impression on me earlier this year but I think Scythe took it one step further. I could not stop thinking about this book for weeks after I put it down. In our current world, we are in the middle of important and relevant discussions about the ethicality of transhumanism and other life-prolonging scientific research. This is a book that provides the perfect piece of discussion fodder for such conversations. I loved its themes of morality on life and death, on freedom and societal responsibility, and the way it provided multiple viewpoints of the situation without seeming even remotely preachy. Every character was rich and complex. There was not a single character that had clean-cut motivations or that you could not sympathise, empathise or in some way understand, no matter what terrible things that were doing. Every time I pick up a book by Shusterman, I am blown away at his talent of creating worlds and characters that make are so impossibly realistic and vibrant that I have difficulty remembering they are fictional. This was no exception.
If all the talk about themes and emotive writing is off-putting to you, do not fear. This book is no less entertaining or - for lack of a better word - fun for it. The characters are realistic and relatable. You will find yourself loving both Citra and Rowen the more you read about them. There are moments of humour to lighten the mood - and these moments are done incredibly well. Action scenes are plentiful, and there is a fair bit of gore and violence if that is your thing. I promise that the plot twists will keep you anxiously flipping the pages. I don’t think there are too many people who would dislike this book. There is honestly something for everyone!
The only negative thing about this book was the slow beginning. There is a little bit too many information-heavy chapters in the beginning and it may seem like a dense and complicated story to any impatient readers. I did struggle with the world-building at first and the characters seems a little unlikable but I promise that with time it grows and grows.
Review copy provided by the publisher for an honest review.