A review by maxgardner
Scythe by Neal Shusterman

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really enjoyed this one! It's very easy to read and fast-paced, though I think Neal Shusterman sacrifices some depth as a result of this in regards to the world building and character development. To the first point, the world building is super simplified, which does help with dropping you into the story and making you feel immersed more quickly; however, hundreds of years have passed since mortality was solved, and yet there are certain cultural norms and expressions that have stuck around? I can't think of a specific example off the top of my head, but it essentially felt like Shusterman would make certain things wildly different from the past while keeping other things very similar for the sake of convenience. I also found some of the characters to be a little too simplistic, though I'll give credit to Shusterman for making all of them complex enough in theory. I guess maybe what I'm struggling to convey is that the story sometimes feels like it lacks the meat, the emotional depth, that there was a lot of potential for, especially with such a dark story. But this is a YA book, and Shusterman certainly nailed it in targeting that market and creating a story that feels like it appeals to that. Ultimately, I think he's a solid writer, I liked the characters, and I think the concept is really intriguing. I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series.