Imagine a world where we are governed by an all knowing artificial intelligence called the Thunderhead, which once was known as the cloud. Then, imagine a world with no diseases and no hunger. Also, imagine a world where death is cured and even if you die, you can be revived, I’m so you can live forever.
Well, people being born and living forever is a problem. What happens to the population? Will it be overpopulated and if does become overpopulated what can be done?
That is where scythes come in. There is a separation of Thunderhead and Scythe. Scythes are above the law and can get whatever they want as well as never being stopped for heinous crimes that they may commit because the Thunderhead cannot punish them. Scythes follow Ten Commandments that they need to live by and if they do break a commandment, they may receive punishments from the Highblade of the Scythedom, however that is not always the case.
People fear the scythes because a scythe means you may be gleaned. Gleaning is a nicer word for being killed and once you are gleaned, the scythes will give your family a year of immunity so they cannot be gleaned.
Rowan and Citra are normal sixteen year olds. They both have a run in with a scythe, but are not gleaned, but they peak the scythes interest. That scythe acquires Citra and Rowan to be his apprentices. An apprenticeship last for a year. Then, at the end of the year only one of them will be a scythe and the other will go home. However, another scythe challenges this and gets the Highblade to agree to make it interesting. So now only one can be scythe and the other one will be gleaned by the newly appointed scythe at the end of the year.
I really enjoyed scythe due to moral and ethical questions it imposes as you read. It really makes you think about what if we were ran by technology and get to the point where we know everything? What if humanity does cure death and diseases? Is it worth it? Is it humane to play God by getting to choose who gets to die? As well as other questions. Neal Shusterman sucks you into this world and never lets you go. This book is well written. My copy did have some errors in it, but I know they did a reprint. Also, he builds a world that is different and interesting. It is a dystopian I have never read before and I really wish I read it when I got it back in December 2016 instead of waiting until just recently.