Scythe (novel)

Scythe

Author	Neal Shusterman
Cover artist	Kevin Tong
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Arc of a Scythe
Genre	Science fiction, fantasy, biopunk, adventure, dystopia, dystopian fiction
Publisher	Simon & Schuster
Publication date	2016
Media type	Hardback, paperback
Pages	443
ISBN	9781442472433

Scythe is a 2016 young-adult novel by Neal Shusterman and is the first in the Arc of a Scythe series. It is set in the far future, where death by natural causes has been virtually eliminated thanks to advances in technology and an advanced computer system known as "the Thunderhead" controls society. The Scythes are an independent organization tasked with deciding who must die as overpopulation has remained a problem. The novel follows two teenagers, Citra Terranova and Rowan Damisch, who undergo training as they are recruited into the organization by Scythe Faraday. A feature-film adaptation is in the works.^[1]

The book was an Honor Book for the Michael L. Printz Award in 2017 for teenage novels.^[2]

Plot

Late on a cold night in November, Scythe Faraday visits Citra Terranova's house. At first, Citra assumes that the scythe is there to glean (kill) one of her family members. As it turns out, he just wanted dinner and he leaves with a kitchen knife from Citra's house to glean their neighbor. He returns the knife to Citra. And to everyone's surprise but Scythe Faraday, the knife had no blood. Once Scythe Faraday left the house, Citra threw away the knife.

The focus turns to Rowan Damisch and his classmate Tyger Salazar, a teen whose pastime is throwing himself off buildings and trying to beat his record for the number of days he is unconscious. The next day, Rowan meets Scythe Faraday, who is gleaning a classmate of his. Rowan stays in the room while the gleaning is happening and tries to support the boy, which impresses Faraday. After the gleaning, Rowan's classmates ostracize him for his failure to save the classmate.

Citra and Rowan are invited to the Grand Civic Opera and meet for the first time. After the first act, Scythe Faraday greets them and invites them to the Museum of World Art. There, he offers them both apprenticeships to become Scythes, though only one of them will eventually be chosen to become a Scythe.

After talking to their friends and family, Citra and Rowan both reluctantly accept the apprenticeship. Both go to live with Scythe Faraday and gradually learn about scythe life. Faraday takes them to witness the gleaning of Mrs. Becker to teach them about gleaning, which for Citra and Rowan, is very traumatic.

Meanwhile, Scythe Goddard and his three junior scythes mass-glean all the people on a plane.

Scythe Faraday begins training Citra and Rowan. Every day, Citra and Rowan go with Faraday to help with, but not participate, in the daily gleanings. On one day, they have to stay behind and are assigned chores. Citra is to polish Faraday's weapons and Rowan has to choose the next day's victim. Although Scythes are forbidden from having romantic relations with one another, over time, a romantic subplot develops between the two.

Faraday takes Citra and Rowan to a seasonal scythe meeting, where they are tested by Scythe Curie, nicknamed a Grand Dame of Death, having gleaned the last U.S. President and his Cabinet, gaining the nickname. Curie asks them what were the worst thing they had ever done. Citra lies, and Curie notices, so Citra fails. Rowan lies as well, so that Citra doesn't have to feel ashamed that she failed. Faraday disapproves of his decision.

The aforementioned Scythe Goddard disapproves of Faraday's taking on of two apprentices, so he proposes that only one be chosen at the end of training to enter into the scythedom. The chosen apprentice will then be forced to glean the other one. Faraday protests, but Xenocrates, the high scythe, favors Goddard for some reason and agrees to Goddard's plan.

Xenocrates arrives when Faraday is not at home and tells Citra and Rowan that Faraday invoked the 7th Commandment of Scythe law, which states that a Scythe can only legally be killed through suicide. This was accomplished by Faraday jumping in front of a train. Citra and Rowan realize that he did this in order to free them of their apprenticeships. Unfortunately, this plan would only work if no other scythes agreed to take them as apprentices, but Goddard wishes to take Rowan and Curie agrees to take on Citra.

Citra and Curie form a close relationship, but the former is suspicious about the circumstances of Faraday's death and investigates behind the latter's back. She learns that the witnesses at the train station had been given immunity by a scythe, and comes to the conclusion that another scythe, probably Goddard, bribed the witnesses and murdered Faraday.

Rowan, meanwhile, has learned that Goddard is sadistic, gleans in mass murders, leads a lavish lifestyle, and barely follows the rules of scythedom. Rowan befriends one of Goddard's less bloodthirsty junior scythes, Volta, and learns that Goddard has gained a following among scythes. He also discovers the reason why Xenocrates favors Goddard--Esme, the little girl living in Goddard's mansion, is Xenocrates's illegitimate daughter.

Citra tells Curie about her suspicions around Faraday's death. Xenocrates accuses Citra of the murder, using her search history as evidence, along with an entry from Faraday's journal, expressing fear for his life and regret for taking "her" as an apprentice. Citra jumps off the top of the building, planning to use her time in the revival ward to sort things out.

While she is deadish, the Thunderhead talks to her, gives her the name of Faraday's murderer, and tells her she will have an important role to play, based on its calculations. The Thunderhead isn't allowed to interfere with scythes, but considers Citra's current state of being deadish to mean Citra is not currently under Scythedom jurisdiction.

Citra wakes up, and Curie tells her they are going to another country until Curie can clear things up. Citra learns that the journal entry was not about Citra, but about Curie, who had fallen desperately in love with him and made him suspicious. Curie tells Citra about their affair many years later, and the subsequent punishment from the scythedom when they were discovered.

Citra and Curie escape to the house of Curie's friend, who tells them that the Scythedom is on the hunt for Citra. Citra leaves with information from Curie about where to find Faraday's killer.

Citra arrives and shoots the first person she sees in the knee, but is shocked to find out that the person she shot is actually Faraday, who faked his death and only told Curie about it. The name Citra got from the Thunderhead was actually Faraday's name before he became a scythe.

Goddard takes Rowan and his junior scythes to mass glean a Tonist monastery, promising Rowan he will glean someone today (even though he isn't allowed). Rowan tries to help people escape, and finds Volta, right before Volta kills himself. A furious Rowan finds Goddard tying up the Tonist high priest so that Rowan can kill the man. Goddard gives Rowan a sword, but Rowan decapitates his mentor, kills the other two junior scythes, and sets the church on fire. He takes Goddard's robe and ring and convinces the firemen that the fire is scythe business, preventing them from putting out the fire.

Xenocrates summons Rowan, but the boy hints to him that he knows about Esme. So Xenocrates hints that if Rowan keeps his secret, he'll drop the investigation into Goddard's death.

Citra comes back as Curie's apprentice, and she and Rowan face their final test to become scythes--to temporarily kill a close relative: for Citra, her brother; for Rowan, his mom. The judges assure them that their family members will be resurrected afterwards. Citra is mortified but comforts him, but Rowan shoots his mother immediately, since his family had never been close. He then wonders whether this makes him like Goddard.

Citra is declared the winner, and becomes a scythe, choosing the name Anastasia Romanov, to Xenocrates's dismay. Citra explains that Anastasia was a product of a corrupt system, and could have had unrealized potential. She is then told to kill Rowan, but instead punches him in the face with her new immunity ring, pretending to accidentally make him immune to any scythe attacks. She tells Rowan there's a car waiting for him outside, whose driver is revealed to be Scythe Faraday.

In Citra's journal, she makes note of a "Scythe Lucifer", a mysterious figure known for assassinating corrupt scythes. She expresses hope that if she meets him, he'll see her as one of the good ones.

Characters

References