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.