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A review by jiibii
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
5.0
{Winter 2020} ~5 stars~
"Immortality cannot temper the folly of youth. Innocence is doomed to die a senseless death at our own hands, a casualty of the mistakes we can never undo."
My actual rating for this book might be closer to 4.5 after this much-anticipated reread but I just have to level up my rating for this one.
I will reiterate that the characters in this book seem unseasoned and very superficial. Putting my point of the entirety of the human race being impartial and stagnant in a world such as this aside (and likewise discarding the fact that by the end both Rowan and Citra have supposedly gone through massive amounts of character development), the one big flaw that I point to this book is the wasted potential in exploring the emotional turmoil and internal battle that these circumstances would bring upon someone. Instead, this is transmitted to the reader through personal diary entries written by the various characters we come across in the book, and while poignant and a smart way to get to the heart of the matter, I personally feel a gradual and impending personal climax of revelation would have fit the story better.
However, again, this is the only thing I can fault in the book. The issues that are brought up, the amount of times I actually had to highlight passages and add notes, forcing me to reach my own reflections about these problems, is truly what did it for me. YA is supposed to be fun, entertaining and a fun way to pass the time, yes, but it's also meant to be somewhat educational, seen as it targets ages where we are acquiring so much knowledge, and the ideas that flow around in our ever-changing brains are soon to solidify and become a part of our core life-beliefs. It's books like these, that are thought-provoking to the point of actually putting the book down and trying to weigh every character's point of view, every perspective we glance at from the different characters and situations in the book (because something else Mr. Shusterman has done expertly is diving deep into the multiple perspectives that would arise in this world) in order to reach your own conclusion, that I think should be the heart of YA.
It will vary greatly depending on the kind of reader you are and what kind of content you enjoy and prioritize when reading, which is why to me as a reader this completely blew the roof off the place... it might not be character-driven or even plot-driven, albeit still having a decent performance in both these departments; it's world and question-driven. It's something that forces you to think about your own existence in contrast to those portrayed in the book (another theme that is very smartly approached throughout the narrative).
I needed this reread to properly jump into [b:Thunderhead|33555224|Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe, #2)|Neal Shusterman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1505658534l/33555224._SY75_.jpg|54332060] and boy am I excited. Particularly for Rowan's development, because I feel that now that the important questions have all been posed and breached, we have some more space for character development. I should not have my hopes up... but oh well ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯
"To live between prospects of an unknown eternal sky and a dark, enveloping Earth must have been glorious - for how else could it have given rise to such magnificent expression."
{Fall 2018} ~4 stars~
For only the pain of empathy will keep us human.
I can't believe I'm still surprised when I stumble upon good YA. I've been proven time and time again that there is always something new and innovating, no matter how much I read, and I'm so glad my bookclub's pick for September was Scythe, because it reminded me of how plain old good YA books can be.
Neal Shusterman artfully demonstrates and justifies that the only thing that gives life meaning really is death, and this world he has crafted is immensely plausible. Or, at least, it reads like it's plausible. It really does make you think about what a perfect world would entail, and all the consequences something like this would wreak on the human mind and everything else. The only thing that I found missing, but not wholly unpleasant, was the underdevelopment of the characters; this is a book that highly relies on the world, and in the midst of everything, our characters just felt very two-dimensional. But then again, maybe that was done purposefully, since we are dealing with a humankind devoid of the drive and shine that duly categorizes The Age of Mortality.
"Immortality cannot temper the folly of youth. Innocence is doomed to die a senseless death at our own hands, a casualty of the mistakes we can never undo."
My actual rating for this book might be closer to 4.5 after this much-anticipated reread but I just have to level up my rating for this one.
I will reiterate that the characters in this book seem unseasoned and very superficial. Putting my point of the entirety of the human race being impartial and stagnant in a world such as this aside (and likewise discarding the fact that by the end both Rowan and Citra have supposedly gone through massive amounts of character development), the one big flaw that I point to this book is the wasted potential in exploring the emotional turmoil and internal battle that these circumstances would bring upon someone. Instead, this is transmitted to the reader through personal diary entries written by the various characters we come across in the book, and while poignant and a smart way to get to the heart of the matter, I personally feel a gradual and impending personal climax of revelation would have fit the story better.
However, again, this is the only thing I can fault in the book. The issues that are brought up, the amount of times I actually had to highlight passages and add notes, forcing me to reach my own reflections about these problems, is truly what did it for me. YA is supposed to be fun, entertaining and a fun way to pass the time, yes, but it's also meant to be somewhat educational, seen as it targets ages where we are acquiring so much knowledge, and the ideas that flow around in our ever-changing brains are soon to solidify and become a part of our core life-beliefs. It's books like these, that are thought-provoking to the point of actually putting the book down and trying to weigh every character's point of view, every perspective we glance at from the different characters and situations in the book (because something else Mr. Shusterman has done expertly is diving deep into the multiple perspectives that would arise in this world) in order to reach your own conclusion, that I think should be the heart of YA.
It will vary greatly depending on the kind of reader you are and what kind of content you enjoy and prioritize when reading, which is why to me as a reader this completely blew the roof off the place... it might not be character-driven or even plot-driven, albeit still having a decent performance in both these departments; it's world and question-driven. It's something that forces you to think about your own existence in contrast to those portrayed in the book (another theme that is very smartly approached throughout the narrative).
I needed this reread to properly jump into [b:Thunderhead|33555224|Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe, #2)|Neal Shusterman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1505658534l/33555224._SY75_.jpg|54332060] and boy am I excited. Particularly for Rowan's development, because I feel that now that the important questions have all been posed and breached, we have some more space for character development. I should not have my hopes up... but oh well ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯
"To live between prospects of an unknown eternal sky and a dark, enveloping Earth must have been glorious - for how else could it have given rise to such magnificent expression."
{Fall 2018} ~4 stars~
For only the pain of empathy will keep us human.
I can't believe I'm still surprised when I stumble upon good YA. I've been proven time and time again that there is always something new and innovating, no matter how much I read, and I'm so glad my bookclub's pick for September was Scythe, because it reminded me of how plain old good YA books can be.
Neal Shusterman artfully demonstrates and justifies that the only thing that gives life meaning really is death, and this world he has crafted is immensely plausible. Or, at least, it reads like it's plausible. It really does make you think about what a perfect world would entail, and all the consequences something like this would wreak on the human mind and everything else. The only thing that I found missing, but not wholly unpleasant, was the underdevelopment of the characters; this is a book that highly relies on the world, and in the midst of everything, our characters just felt very two-dimensional. But then again, maybe that was done purposefully, since we are dealing with a humankind devoid of the drive and shine that duly categorizes The Age of Mortality.