Scythe

Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

book 1 in the Arc of a Scythe series

Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians

Miranda rated it ★★★★ and said, “What a crazy ride! I’ve been a convert to Shusterman since the time I was a young teen and read Speeding Bullet. Since then, I’ve loved the Everlost and Unwind series, along with pretty much everything else he’s ever written. So when this popped up, I had to have it. And I’m glad I did.

“The entire time I was reading this I kept talking about it with people. Telling them all about this new book that was coming out and trying to describe the crazy world and characters, all while failing to do them justice. At one point I was talking about it and the person I was talking to brought up the Unwind series and how much they loved it. I was happy to be able to tell them that this was the same author and they have much to look forward to!

“This book gives the reader a lot to think about, both on a literal level and then on multiple philosophical levels. I can’t wait to be able to hand it to readers and share more about it.”