I have the very bad habit to always postpone the reading of a book whenever the book gets too good. Am I the only one?! I would start to SLOW DOWN on purpose and not read it for a few hours. This is what happened with this book. I also postponed this review hahah but now it’s time to get all my feelings out there.
Picture a future where we achieved immortality through science (Altered Carbon anyone?) There’s no illness, there’s no more accident, no hunger. We have Reviving Centers if someone decides to stab us to death. But what do we do now?
We decided to implement a new order: The Scythes. They are the ones who have the duty to “glean” random people to keep the population stable and not overflowing. Sounds weird huh? But they have a very strict agenda: they must train to kill, know their chemistry and toxins, they must be fair with ethnicity ratio and age, they have to look up the stats and kill in lines with the objectives.
I tend to be very skeptical towards YA dystopia stories. They’ve been averaging maybe a 3 stars out of 5 for me (think of Divergent series, The 5th Wave, etc.), because while they explore some interesting aspects, there was always something missing.
However, Scythe might have just changed the whole game for YA scifi and dystopia novels.
This novel represents what makes dystopian novels great at the start. A complex and intriguing world building, the main characters are equally developed and the cherry on top : the side characters are even more interesting. I get to learn about different kind of Scythe Masters and how they differ from each other by their teachings and values. A lot of time, it makes you reflect on the value of life and death and the ethical questions that come with it.
It’s fast paced and yes, the violence is present from the beginning to the end. It’s not one of those gory violence. No. The act of gleaning unravelled slowly to not overwhelm the readers but the pace is fast enough to keep us on our toes.
My favourite part has to be the ending and how the characters managed to reach the ultimate resolution.
It’s plot twist after plot twist, a ride that will ingrain in your mind.
This is the first novel of the series Arc of A Scythe #1, and now Thunderhead (Arc of A scythe #2) waiting for me ❤
Have you read this book ? Do you intend to ? 😀 Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
A big thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for giving me a free copy to review!
My Dark Theories 
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