The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

This is the discussion thread for the Summer 2021 Group Read Scythe by Neal Shusterman. Please post your comments here. This thread is not restricted to those choosing this book for task 20.10, feel free to join in the discussion. Warning- spoilers ahead!

The requirement for task 20.10: You must participate in the book's discussion thread below with at least one post about the contents of the book or your reaction to the book after you have read the book.

I am new to this group, but I just happened to have read this book this week, so that worked out!
I really enjoyed this book. I thought the premise was interesting and well thought out. I liked the different take on AI as well. Usually sentient AI work out badly for humanity, but the Thunderhead, at least in this book, seems to have made many things better for humanity. His hands-off approach to the Scythes seems to be heading in a bad direction, but I am looking forward to continuing the series.
I thought the ending of this book was really well done and surprised me. I am curious to see how Rowan is the next book. He is a bit scary now.
Also did anyone else notice how Citra and Rowen's names together sound like Citroen?

I finished this right off the bat this month and already borrowed the next two (I've just been super lazy about posting reviews and completed tasks). It was amazing.

This one wasn't my first choice because the whole gleaning thing just didn't sound appealing to me. Clearly, I was wrong about that. It never felt as morbid as I thought it would be and despite descriptions of how people were gleaned, it never felt gory or excessively descriptive.

I enjoyed the relationship between Citra and Rowen, right up to the way it ended after being separated for months. I'm sad that the blurb for the second book sounds like they won't be interacting much. There were some interesting things revealed near the end of this book, and I can't wait to see how some of them are developed in the next volume. The title alone tells me they will be addressing at least one of these interesting plot threads.

This was my suggestion for the group reads and I'm really glad it got chosen! I binge read the whole thing in 2 sittings.
I give it a solid 4* rating.

I liked the writing and pacing of it, and thought the overall concept was very thought provoking. The ethics of good vs bad death are definitely food for thought.
My one problem was a potential plot hole - spoilers coming up:
(view spoiler)[I thought the reason they decided to have Citra and Rowan compete to the death was because Faraday had chosen 2 apprentices, and it was decided only one could succeed. However other scythes also had apprentices, and there was no rule to say there could be only one scythe chosen a year, or something similar, so when Citra and Rowan went to their new scythes, they were no longer competing, and therefore there should have been no reason for one of them to glean the other, and that in fact WOULD be a violation of the rule that no scythe could glean another scythe. There should be potential for them both to become scythes. It undermined their system somewhat in my opinion. (hide spoiler)]

I'm also not a huge fan of the way regions/races/etc of the world had been renamed to show that this was a future version of Earth : Midmerica, Spanic, etc. It just didn't read to me as a way language would naturally shift over that period of time. If a culture is going to be overthrown and renamed, it is usually done so completely, not just dropping a couple of letters, and there was no evidence that it had been taken over by a culture speaking a different language, where you might then expect a change to, say, the French term for that country. It just didn't feel like authentic world building to me.

Apart from those two issues however, I enjoyed reading this, and definitely want to read the rest of the trilogy.

I really was not prepared for how much I would enjoy this book. I thought the premise sounded a little cheesy, but WOW! Shusterman is a master world builder. I was so invested in Citra and Rowan's stories and so interested in the futuristic society in which they live. I am so hoping that the next two books will delve even further into the backstory of the Thunderhead and how their civilization has continued to evolve.
I have to admit that I found Citra's storyline to be a bit more interesting. I really enjoyed Scythe Curie and Scythe Faraday. I will look forward to seeing what happens next for Rowan after that cliffhanger of an ending, but Citra's next steps are really what interests me most.

Florence wrote: "This was my suggestion for the group reads and I'm really glad it got chosen! I binge read the whole thing in 2 sittings.
I give it a solid 4* rating.

I liked the writing and pacing of it, and tho..."
I also read this book in two sittings. It was by far my favorite read this year.

i'm soo jealous of ppl who can read this without having to wait for books 2 and 3 to come out...because it was a painful wait each time!

I enjoyed this so much as well! The writing was great, the characters were properly quirky and interesting and the whole idea of a world where everyone was taken care of my a super smart computer to the point of immortality requiring the whole new position of Scythes was fascinating. I really enjoyed all the twists and thinking about what made a Scythe good or bad or what made a gleaning good or bad. I'm excited to read the next one in the series soon.

I am enjoying this book really a lot!
It took me a few chapters to get into it, but I like that it is well thought off and full of humour still, even with this subject.
I will continue reading it solid :)

Brooke TX

This was a re-read for me, but it stood up to a second reading! Very fast-paced, and managed to address a lot of "how would a utopian society work" questions without coming across as excessively preachy. Plus I managed to fit the other two books of the trilogy into my challenge, which is always a bonus, and I enjoyed how the full series played out.

I just finished the next book in the series and it’s even better! Highly recommend recommend continuing with the series if you liked the first one! Now onto the third…

I finished and actually can't wait to start the second book! It was such a good read

The second was a really great read - even better than the first, but it ended in a way that made me really glad I had the third one sitting right there waiting...

Line
I really liked this book! it was a 4/5 for me. The premise was really interesting and nothing like what I’ve read before. I really enjoy dystopian novels and I was exited to start this one.
I enjoyed the world building, and was invested in the characters, especially Citra, as well as Scythe Faraday and Scythe Curie’s stories. Looking forward to reading the next books in the series!

This book changed my entire perspective on immortality. It took me a few chapters to get hooked but now I can’t wait to finish the series.

Like so many in this thread, I enjoyed this book. I've read books by Neal Shusterman before and enjoyed them, so I'm surprised I hadn't read this before now. The premise was intriguing and while some events were kind of predictable, there were still plenty of surprises.

I'm looking forward to reading more in the series!

READ 60

I have never read any Neal Shusterman but I am sure I will be reading more of them. I do enjoy a good sci-fi novel and this was indeed a good sci-fi novel . I am not sure if I agree with the Young Adult designation because there seemed to be a lot of very well described violence although it was tempered somewhat by the reason for the intentional killing.

What would the world look like if humankind find the way to conquer death. You'd think they'd find a better way to manage population growth too. Or maybe the AI didn't do a better job of that so it can have an argument for space exploration? But overall, I love this story, even though I think Goddard got it better than what he deserved.
Oh, and I heard somebody is making a movie adaptation. Would definitely watch that!

Amy FL

I just finished this book and am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. I've read Shusterman before (Unwind series) and enjoy his YA novels.

I thought the Thunderhead running the world but allowing the Scythedom autonomy was an interesting concept. He let them be guided by their consciences, and it showed how so many were lacking. Kind of scary to give the power of life and death to that group; can't wait to see what happens next!

This was an interesting concept. I found the idea that the scythes should be people who are compassionate and not people who want to do the gleaning to be very interesting. Although Faraday chose apprentices based on that, I wondered how long that would last and how many new scythes would be more like the ones that supported
Goddard. I liked the world-building in the first section of the book more than the plot developments as it evolved.