Audiobook Review: Scythe – Neal Shusterman

Happy Thursday everyone! It’s nearly the end of the week – I hope you are having a good one?

Today I am sharing a really, REALLY overdue audiobook review. I finished listening to Scythe in April this year and I have just finished the sequel, Thunderhead. I want to get my review written whilst the story is fresh in my mind. Listening to Thunderhead has been a great prompt to remembering where it all began.

 

Scythe – Neal Shusterman

Goodreads – Scythe

Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

 

Purchase Links: – Waterstones      Amazon UK      Amazon US

 

My Thoughts…

I really enjoy dystopian fiction, so having heard great things about it in the blogging community I decided to “read” it myself. Ultimately, I ended up downloading the audiobook. I think it was part of a 2 for 1 sale on Audible. The narration of the audiobook was done really well, so I am glad I have chosen to listen to this book/series as opposed to just reading it.

Citra and Rowan are apprenticed to Honorary Scythe Faraday. It’s a life that neither asked for nor imagined likely, yet that makes them perfect candidates. Scythe Faraday is one of the most upstanding, honourable Scythes of the order and he teaches them the fundamental values. Thou shalt kill. Thou shalt kill with no bias, bigotry or malice aforethought. He is of the old guard, but Citra and Rowan find themselves dragged into political rivalry amongst Scythes with deadly consequences.

The concept of the human race conquering death is a really interesting one; appointing individuals to restore the balance is yet more so. It relies on appointing altruistic people to behave with decorum and dignity… and well, this is the human race we are talking about. This may be a society run to perfection by the Thunderhead (imagine the Cloud… but conscious), but humans are still impeccably flawed. It works as a great conflict point for the novel!

I knew of the very subtle romance element between Citra and Rowan – I’ll hold my hands up and admit I expected annoying, pining teenagers. Boy, I was wrong and I am glad of it. I would have found that really annoying to work through but thankfully it wasn’t a problem at all. It is very subtle. Their dynamic with each other is difficult to place as a lot of it is governed by external circumstances. They bond as a result of training together but extraneous events drives them apart.

The plotline was cleverly written and it was unpredictable, in a good way! Just when you think you know what’s going to happen everything changes. Nothing is sacred, no one is safe. The plot only develops further as the series progresses, but that’s a story for another day!

Have you read Scythe? What did you think of the novel?

 

 

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