Scythe

It was.... fine. I was really into it for about the first third or first half or so, but the pacing in the last half of the book started flying off the rails, and I got a bit annoyed at the forced YA romance the author was pushing on the main characters. The ideas raised were super interesting! I would've been all about a book that explores the problems raised from being a society that basically can't die unless killed off by scythes.

There's a billion reviews of this book, so I won't bog down my review with a summary. Basically, what's on the tin/back cover is what's in the box/book. Interspersed with the Citra/Rowan drama chapters are journal entries from major Scythes about various events concerning what it means to be a Scythe and the history of their order. I actually thought these were the most interesting part of the book.

I loved the ideas raised here about societal problems from being, basically immortal. Everything from the decline of art to thrill seekers getting their rush from (trigger warning) killing themselves and being revived, reading about how society copes/changes was really interesting. Unfortunately a lot of questions that were raised in my head were handwaved away by the author, so I guess I was just supposed to focus on Rowan/Citra and not think too hard about the rest.

About halfway through, though, the tone of the book changes, and it was here that I started losing interest. I've never been super keen on romance in the books I read, but the romance between Rowan and Citra feels super shoehorned in and forced. Rowan's tendency to want to do anything to impress his crush/defer to his crush in particular annoyed me. Beyond that, the pacing of the book starts going way out of control. Suddenly we're flying through events and months, even changing locations across the world at one point that only lasts a few chapters and is never talked about again once our characters return to the same place they came from. Neat ideas about scythes in other countries are raised very briefly, and then left there as we continue with the scythe drama.

I also docked a full half point for the very end. That bloody ring kiss by Citra? Ick. On many levels.

It started out super fun though! If you can look past the handwavy nature of a lot of the setting, you might be in for a great ride! I think I'll pass on the second book personally, though.

Overall I liked the story, albeit being a bit run of the mill, and I really find the world of the scythes worth exploring.

I do however have a huge problem with the idea behind needing scythes at all, as apparently they're not needed to control population growth and basically reap/glean people based on statistics.

So if you own a fast car and are prone to drive it recklessly, you're slightly more at risk to be gleaned than someone going by public transport. However if you make a habit of flinging yourself off tall buildings, which would surely have killed you in the Before, you aren't more at risk?
Why have Scythes then? Why not just shut off the resurrection drone thingies for those people determined to be high risk? Or shut off the whole resurrection thing, just don't make people die of old age? Where's the line?

And if people have to die, why not end the lives of those done with living? There must eventually be a ton of people sick of live, according to ever book about immortals I've ever read.

Also how is it determined that someone is to stay dead after the scythe killed them, but not if that someone is killed by an apprentice for training purposes, if the Thunderhead doesn't interfere in scythe business?

I really liked the idea of this story, and it started off pretty well. But by the time I was about 70% of the way through I was struggling to finish it. The story wasn't badly written. It was just that... it lacked depth. The concepts were good, just not explored in any way that delved below the surface shine.

The characters were for the most part, interesting. But I found I wanted to learn more about the older Scythes. Faraday and Curie fascinated me and I was actually more interested in their story by the end than the story of the two main characters who both seemed very young for their age, and whom I didn't really grow to like. One of the main plot points of the story (and I don't think this is a spoiler as its in the book's summary) is that of the two apprentices only one could "win" and the other would be gleaned. Finding out who would win was pretty much the only thing that kept me reading, but it occurred to me at some point, that I didn't really care one way or the other who it was. I wanted my curiosity satisfied, but I wasn't rooting for either character to come out on top. That seems a bit problematic to me.

The blurb sounded too interesting to be followed by a good book. I've been burned before by great premises with lousy executions so I gratefully downloaded the excerpt from Amazon. And as soon as I had read the first sentences .... "We must by law, keep a record of the innocents we kill. And as I see it, they're all innocents. Even the guilty." I was hooked and finished the book in two nights and one day.

Imagine you live in a future where nobody has to die, and you are taken on as an apprentice by a man who is one of the few who brings death to the immortals? They are not called reapers but Scythes and their job is to kill 5 people every week in any manner they choose. Would you want to be a Scythe?

The setting is a utopian future - rare enough in current SFF - in which the - I was going to write singularity but it's not quite that - "big discovery" has happened in 2040 (about 200-300 years ago story-wise) and as a consequence mankind is ruled by a benevolent, possibly sentient AI aka the Thunderhead formerly known as "the cloud". As utopias go this one is actually pretty utopian ... people are happily living their lives in freedom without hunger, illness, war, oppression, crime and death. The Thunderhead has preserved a carefully measured amount of inequality - a remnant from the Age of Mortality - to give people something to strive for.

The main characters - two teenagers, Rowan and Citra - quickly find out that being a Scythe, or even an apprentice Scythe, is not an easy job. Especially if you have a conscience. As different as they are, their mentor has chosen them for that. The question is: will their conscience survive the training? Especially when they discover - once the plot ensues - that all is not quite harmonious in Scythedom.

I liked the setting, suffered with Citra and was afraid for Rowan, but the true marvel of this story is the plot. It twists and turns in just the right measure. Sometimes surprising, sometimes less so. Of course, the two apprentices will be pitted against each other, and of course the winner will have to glean the other. There is a beautiful symmetry to the whole story with Citra and Rowan circling each other, then moving apart only to come back together again. They grow and change right up to the dramatic final events ... perfect.

This is one of the best books I've read in the last 12 months.
A definitive entry to my "recommendations" shelf.

PS: the death theme is dark but less so than I was afraid of ...