Book Review of Scythe

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Shusterman, Neal. SCYTHE. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Books for Young People. ISBN 9781442472433.

 

PLOT SUMMARY

In a future where the supercomputing cloud, now an AI known as the Thunderhead, has helped humanity to answer every question and solve every problem, death has been conquered. Now the only problem is overpopulation, and that issue has been dealt with through the creation of the “Scythe.” Scythes are humans whose job is to take lives. They have been tasked with this enormous mission, and only the best of the best are chosen to be a Scythe. However, even Scythes can become overwhelmed with the enormity of their occupation, and for that reason more Scythes must be recruited. This story is how a Scythe finds two teenagers to introduce to his profession, and what ensues after they accept the invitation to become apprentices.  

 

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Neal Shusterman has created a detailed, with logical consistency, world of the future, where our current computing “cloud” has turned into an AI known as the Thunderhead. The Thunderhead has figured out how to do away with death. Now there is only one problem left-overpopulation. Into this world two teenagers are asked to become apprenticed as future Scythes, individuals tasked with the job of dealing with overpopulation. Shusterman sets the two young people against the active evil of Scythes who enjoy killing, and the passive evil of Scythes that allow it. There are many aspects of this future world that reasonably extrapolate our current one: medical nanobots injected into the body, a super-computing super-cloud that is ubiquitous, and a pleasure-seeking populace that is perfectly happy sitting back and not questioning the why of their permanently pleasant existence. From early on in the story, the suspense builds as the two heroes get ever closer to a fate set before them that would seem to doom one of them to death. Shusterman has done an excellent job of taking the scientific advancements of our current world and imagining a future where those advancements have achieved perhaps more than they intended. This novel showcases futurism combined with philosophy.       

 

AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPTS

2017 ALA Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book

2018 ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers

2018-2019 Lone Star Reading List

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL starred review: “A truly astounding, unputdownable read and a fast-paced beginning to an excellent sci-fi series. A must-have.”

KIRKUS starred review: “A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning."

CONNECTIONS

* This book could be part of any discussion on the future of humanity, artificial intelligence, elitism, euthanasia, human overpopulation, and mortality.

* Other books related to this one:

Shusterman, Neal. THUNDERHEAD. ISBN 9781534417861.

Shusterman, Neal. THE TOLL. ISBN 9781481497060.

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