{"id":823,"date":"2020-08-07T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-10-28T01:52:02","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T05:52:02","slug":"book-review-and-writing-lessons-scythe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/book-review-and-writing-lessons-scythe\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review and Writing Lessons: Scythe by Neal Shusterman"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Book2BReview2Band2BWriting2BLessons2BScythe2Bby2BNeal2BShusterman.png?resize=640%2C640\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"1600\" data-original-width=\"1600\" \/><\/div>\r\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">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\u2014and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe\u2014a role that neither wants. These teens must master the \u201cart\u201d of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.<\/div>\r\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<p><strong>Series:<\/strong> Arc of a Scythe (Book 1)<br \/><b>Genre:<\/b> YA Science-Fiction<br \/><b>Publisher:<\/b> Simon &amp; Schuster Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (November 28, 2017)<br \/><b>Page Count:<\/b> 464 pages<\/p>\r\n<p>This book is definitely the most challenging book I\u2019ve read this year. It\u2019s not really a book for pleasure but a book to make you think, so for a while, I had trouble liking it but by the end, I learned to appreciate it for its themes.<\/p>\r\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\r\n<h2>The Plot<\/h2>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">This book is split between the two main characters Citra and Rowan but there are also lots of mini POVs of a lot of people many of which are killed so it has a kinda mystery or thriller genre element in that way. Between chapters, there are journal entries by various scythes about their lives and their deepest thoughts. It\u2019s also written in third person omniscient so it feels like an older style of writing in that way. It\u2019s really a very unusual book. It has a lot of action but it really makes you think. It\u2019s not a book you want to pick you for light reading. It\u2019s a book you pick up to be challenged.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<div>\r\n<h2>The Characters<\/h2>\r\n<div>Both Rowan and Citra have great character arcs. They\u2019re relatable and unique at the same time. I also really like that they were singled out because of their moral upstanding. <a href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/2016\/08\/keeping-morality-in-fiction-perfect-and.html\">I\u2019ve ranted about in the past<\/a> how I\u2019m a little tired of morally gray characters being the most popular and people like them because you don\u2019t know if they\u2019re going to be bad and good so it was refreshing to read a current book about characters who have moral standards and try to adhere to them.<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">Rowan\u2019s arc I found the most interesting out of the two. He is a middle child who\u2019s used to being ignored and when he brings himself to public attention he\u2019s hated yet he doesn\u2019t mind because at least someone is acknowledging him. It\u2019s really complex but raw. But ultimately he has a kind and just heart.<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">The villain Goddard is evil as all get out, but his motivation do make a lot of sense and you can see how the current society helped cultivate his behavior. I like how he stands out with his jeweled cloak. I like both Scythe Faraday and Scythe Curie. Despite their pretty terrible task, they seem to be trying to do it as justly and mercifully as they can.<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">&#8220;The world has a talent for rewarding bad behavior with stardom.&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">~Scythe Curie<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<h2>The Setting<\/h2>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">This book is set in the future where man has conquered death and every other human ailment. People can live forever and reset their ages to their twenties when they get to old so no one knows how old anyone is. People also can\u2019t relate to people in old books and movies because they have no comprehension of old-world suffering. Their bodies even keep them from feeling physical or mental pain. It\u2019s also kinda creepy how people can be \u201ctweaked\u201d if they express bad behavior. It&#8217;s also just a bit unnerving how people are selected to die by Scythes. How they&#8217;re selected is random in most instances, but natural death seems much more &#8230; fair if that makes sense.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">The ending of human life used to be in the hands of nature. But we stole it. Now we have a monopoly on death. We are its sole distributor.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;\">~ Scythe Curie<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">The Scythedom is really fleshed out and feels very real. Any crime against a Scythe is met with the utmost punishment which is an entire family gleaned. This reminded me a bit of a <i>Star Trek: Next Generation <\/i>episode about a utopian society that has no crime and the main reason is that for the smallest offense the consequence is death.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">Another really unique concept is the fact that the world is run by an AI called The Thunderhead and he\u2019s actually good. This is the first time I\u2019ve seen a good ruling AI in sci-fi. World so like <i><a href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/2020\/07\/writing-lessons-from-movies-matrix.html\">the Matrix<\/a><\/i>, <i>Space Quest<\/i>, and <i>Illuminae<\/i> all portray AIs as something that will inevitably turn bad. Instead, the Thunderhead is almost god-like in its perfection. But in the end, someone has to be in charge of the planet.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\"><br \/><\/span>Epic Things\u00a0<\/h2>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">I thought it was kind of hilarious how in an ideal society middle seats have been eliminated on flights and flying on an airplane has been made to be a really comfortable experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<h2>The Theme<\/h2>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">The biggest thing I took from this book is that no matter what man does we can\u2019t be perfect. No matter how advanced we get because we\u2019re mortals who sin we can\u2019t have a perfect utopia. The society in this book is the epitome of human advancement and yet there is still corruption. A main plot thread is based on severe corruption within the Scythedom. <\/span><\/div>\r\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 1rem;\">Another interesting point Shusterman made is that humanity would get bored if they accomplished everything. There would be nothing to strive for. No more unknown. Everyone feels like they\u2019re useless because they can\u2019t contribute to something greater. They feel stagnant.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">Religion in this world has all but gone extinct but it\u2019s interesting how the Scythedom adopted religious elements like having people kiss their rings for immunity like kissing a priest\u2019s ring in the Catholic Church. They also live monk or nun-like lifestyles, denying themselves marriage and otherworldly pleasures. They even have commandments. People will find some sort of religiosity. It&#8217;s just part of our nature. Though as a Christian I don&#8217;t think religions would go extinct to this extent. Primarily because there isn&#8217;t an answer for the afterlife and that&#8217;s something that religion gives us an answer to. Science can&#8217;t explain what happens after we die.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">Yet another theme is new isn&#8217;t always good. Sometimes old traditions have worked for a reason and they don&#8217;t need to be changed.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\"><br \/><\/span>Content Cautions<\/h2>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">This is a book about two teens being trained to be grim reapers basically so there is a lot of killing involved by all kinds of methods: poison, beheading, stabbing, electric shock, drowning, burning, gunshots, suicide, there are several massacres that included the slaughter of children, a character is mentioned to have been beaten to a pulp but only broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and severe swelling is mentioned, and kids like to die to feel the thrill of it only to be revived.<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">There is some very sparse swearing, including nine uses of d***, seven uses of h***, four uses of a**, two uses of b*****d, and one of piss.<\/span><\/div>\r\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/span>What We Can Take Away For Our Writing<\/h2>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\"><b>Cities and Countries Being Renamed &#8211;<\/b>\u00a0All of the countries in this futuristic utopian society have been renamed such as Chile and Argentina being merged into Chileargentine or parts of South America being called Amazonia. Even cities have been renamed like St. Louis being changed to Fulcrum City.<\/span>\r\n<p><b>How this can be applied to writing:<\/b><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">\u00a0This is something to keep in mind across all genres. Cities and countries change. Many countries and cities preserve their original names such as China and Rome. However many change because of events. Czechoslovakia broke up into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Constantinople became Istanbul. Events like war and conquering change geography. Fictionally some examples are The US becoming Panem in the Hunger Games, Europe and the US becoming Britannia and Japan becoming Area 11\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">in Code Geass, and St. Louis becoming Defiance in the show Defiance. Even in fantasy the names of places change such as how Mordor took parts of Gondor for its own in the Lord of the Rings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">Overall, this book is definitely worth a read, especially if you&#8217;re a fan of books like <i>The Giver<\/i>.<\/span><\/span>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-EaNXRI6RQmw\/XwidJfTI3KI\/AAAAAAAAQKU\/9qHXx9gxzboXZd36T_5Uk9tKaXQ277M_gCLcBGAsYHQ\/s1600\/FourInukshukRating.png?resize=640%2C228&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"640\" height=\"228\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"501\" data-original-width=\"1396\" \/><\/div>\r\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-YV1uaCr7mnY\/XwiazYSlp4I\/AAAAAAAAQKM\/KejNOFAfcSA_6UbEFw2pIlSvm6M4OjjQQCLcBGAsYHQ\/s200\/NealShusterman.jpg?resize=159%2C200&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"159\" height=\"200\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"1216\" data-original-width=\"972\" \/><\/div>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\"><b>Neal Shusterman<\/b>\u00a0is the author of many novels for young\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">adults, including Unwind, which was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers, Everlost, and Downsiders, which was nominated for twelve state reading awards. He also writes screenplays for motion pictures and television shows such as Animorphs and Goosebumps. The father of four children, Neal lives in southern California.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div>\r\n<div style=\"background-color: white; line-height: 20px;\">\r\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This book is definitely the most challenging book I\u2019ve read this year. It\u2019s not really a book for pleasure but a book to make you think, so for a while, I had trouble liking it but by the end, I learned to appreciate it for its themes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,39],"tags":[50,51],"class_list":["post-823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-writing","tag-book-reviews","tag-writing-lessons"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Book Review and Writing Lessons: Scythe by Neal Shusterman - Wanderer&#039;s Pen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/book-review-and-writing-lessons-scythe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book Review and Writing Lessons: Scythe by Neal Shusterman - Wanderer&#039;s Pen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This book is definitely the most challenging book I\u2019ve read this year. It\u2019s not really a book for pleasure but a book to make you think, so for a while, I had trouble liking it but by the end, I learned to appreciate it for its themes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/book-review-and-writing-lessons-scythe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wanderer&#039;s Pen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-07T22:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-28T05:52:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Book2BReview2Band2BWriting2BLessons2BScythe2Bby2BNeal2BShusterman.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Victoria Grace Howell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Victoria Grace Howell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/book-review-and-writing-lessons-scythe\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/book-review-and-writing-lessons-scythe\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Victoria Grace Howell\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#\/schema\/person\/7a44162284e065d06efefff684584955\"},\"headline\":\"Book Review and Writing Lessons: Scythe by Neal Shusterman\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-07T22:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-28T05:52:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/book-review-and-writing-lessons-scythe\/\"},\"wordCount\":1479,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/book-review-and-writing-lessons-scythe\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Book2BReview2Band2BWriting2BLessons2BScythe2Bby2BNeal2BShusterman.png?fit=1600%2C1600&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"Book Reviews\",\"Writing Lessons\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Book Reviews\",\"Writing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/book-review-and-writing-lessons-scythe\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/book-review-and-writing-lessons-scythe\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/book-review-and-writing-lessons-scythe\/\",\"name\":\"Book Review and Writing Lessons: Scythe by Neal Shusterman - 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