A review by firehandpt
Scythe by Neal Shusterman

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Kept me on my toes! Deep characters to love, fantastic worldbuilding, some good twists—all the while bold enough to ask questions about life and death and everything in between.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

The book’s main characters are training in the art of taking people’s lives as Scythes. Naturally this comes with a lot of death involved, both permanent and temporary, in a variety of ways and settings. The heroes in this story value life and only kill as necessary, while the villains are those who take joy in killing and do it without regard for those they kill / their loved ones. Death is a heavy, complex topic, especially in the book world, and as such is treated appropriately by the author.