So here we are. Here I am after I read Scythe. The first in a duology I believe by Neal Shusterman who also wrote the well known YA series Unwind.
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.
I expected a lot from this book. In the past year I feel like I have seen it everywhere. To me this had to be the next sort of big thing in the realm of dystopian YA novels. I was pumped going into the story and the entire concept the story held of people being chosen as death to a world where humans can never really die.
I expected badass characters and action plot lines that would make me want to read and read and read until I hit the last page. Unfortunately though, my expectations might have been a bit too high as they were not met.
Though the badassery was there in moments of when we were trying to pick a villain within the book, they didn't feel quite grounded for me to even care about the outcome. I was more trying to make sure I finished the book and see what happened rather than enjoy it even though I am usually a sucker for books where the protagonists are randomly taken from their normal lives to "save the world" or at least something to that effect.
“Hope in the shadow of fear is the world's most powerful motivator.”
And when that didn't happen, I was at least hoping for some fantastic characters that I could find myself really getting into and going on this slightly played out adventure with. But alas, instead of strong companionship between the characters that in the first pages seemed to have so much in common with each other, a romance was attempted even though the two characters did not even talk to one another to an extend throughout the entire novel which spanned months.
I love romance in all books, and if it was played out right, I have a feeling I would have really loved it in this one two. Instead all I felt was confusion and myself rooting less and less for these characters to even see each other again, let alone get together and live happily ever after under the immortal earth's sky.
I have a lot to say I feel negatively about Scythe, but I will not say that I didn't like it. Though the story did not immerse me and make me happy to be reading it, it was an overall ok and pleasant read that didn't frustrate me to the point of no end. I think the problem was that the tone of this book lost its mark without the necessary tension, and the pace felt very slow with not much happening that wasn't already outside of our main character's hands.
I am a character driven girl, and sadly these characters of Cita and Rowan all in all did not make me want to keep reading on to the second book, Thunderhead.
435 pages - Published November 22, 2016 - Simon Schuster
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