Scythe: A book review by Connor Guarnieri

Scythe takes place in 2042 in America, now rebranded as MidaMerica, one of the many changes that life went through. Death has been defeated, and with the rise in population growth, there has to be one way for life to end, and that's where the Scythedom was formed. In response to uncontrollable population growth, Scythes are hired killers that end lives to fill their Quota, to keep the population from going up. It's hard to imagine a life without death, and reapers who go around the streets ending lives just as age used to, but this is just modern day life for Citra and Rowan. Citra has wealthy parents, and a happy life that gets altered when Scythe Faraday visits her house. She is terrified and thinking she has to witness one of her parents getting gleaned, (the name he gave killing) but instead, Faraday was hoping for something much worse. The same fate meets Rowan, who unlike Citra, is trapped in a family that barely recognizes him. He describes himself as the "lettuce" in a family sandwich, as the lettuce is stuck in the middle. Rowan then encounters Scythe Faraday. He is then asked, just like Citra to join an apprenticeship, for the winner will become a Scythe. But the loser loses their life. 

    I remember reading this book for the first time in sixth grade, and absolutely loving it. I was fresh out of ideas for books, after finishing the Unwind series from the same author and decided to look at other books he has written. I then saw the cover of the book, with the cloaked figure and the scythe, and was reminded of the grim reaper. I was like, "Oh, I like death, I should give this a try." And I did. When I reread this book, I noticed a lot more things that I did when I was in sixth grade, like the implications of such a thing, and how far humanity will go to prevent death and cure disease, but never stop and wonder if it's a good idea. Like what if you cure a disease, you save a lot of people, but the population rises so much, that you end up killing more with all the famine? It is truly a darker subject than I picked up on at the time. And I also like the way that the author depicts the people, they don't care about gleanings, unless they are the ones that are getting gleaned. He also looks at the problem with immortality, how if you never die, feel pain or get hurt, what's the point of life? There is just so much in the book that I wish I could go into, like the Surveillance from an AI Big Brother that always knows best, or good vs. bad Scythes, but that would bore you, so I'm ending it here: Read the book, it's great, but gross at times.