Monday, February 5, 2018

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Scythe by Neal Shusterman





   Scythe, by Neal Shusterman, is an example of a SFF subgenre that I haven't read a lot of - Dystopian Science Fiction (it's also listed as YA on Amazon, but aside from the protagonists being in the right age group, I'm not sure the book fits what I think of as YA).  Set in a future where humanity has conquered death through technology, the book deals mainly with the ideals and actions of those appointed as "Scythes" - individuals who are empowered to kill in order to deal with overpopulation.  Our two protagonists are teens who would never want to do such a job at the start of the book, but soon learn that those who hold the position of Scythe may not be as just as one might think.

  The end result is a book that has an interesting hook and characters, but almost feels too much like setup for future works in the same universe (a sequel just came out this past month).  That's not to say that nothing happens or that the book lacks a climax - things DO happen and the book does have a climax to its main story arc - but I was honestly more interested in the status quo setup by the book's ending than in the resolution of this story arc itself.  Scythe is worth reading as an interesting thought exercise with solid characters, but it's almost too clearly the first in an arc in this world, and that made it less satisfying that it might otherwise have been.


-----------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------------
In some distant future, humanity has used technology to conquer death itself.  Aging can be reversed at will, and any death caused by any means seemingly other than fire can be reversed.  With these advances in technology and the lack of natural death, humanity has even forgotten how long it has been since those developments have taken place.  Meanwhile, governance of all the world has been given over to the Thunderhead, an AI that ensures all of humanity is provided for within a certain range of outcomes.

The only people not governed by the Thunderhead are the Scythes - the individuals empowered by the world to take charge of Death.  To control overpopulation, the Scythes kill a certain # of people every year.  But their powers also involve the ability to grant immunity from death for a certain time to individuals for specific purposes, or even on a whim.  Scythes are supposed to be impartial in their decision making, having been trusted with a sacred duty.  But some newer Scythes are of different opinions about the ethics of their jobs and of the importance of propriety....

Citra and Rowan are teenagers who have no intentions other than to have normal lives.  But when both raise objections to the behaviors of a particular Scythe, they find themselves chosen to be his apprentices - with one of them to be chosen as a new Scythe within a year.  Neither of them wants the job, but each admires the seemingly honorable way their Scythe, Scythe Faraday, conducts his duty.  They also develop a respect and maybe more with each other.  But when the governing body of Scythes rules that the loser of Citra/Rowan's competition must be killed by the other, Faraday kills himself, and the two find themselves separated as apprentices to two different Scythes.

Rowan finds himself apprenticed to Scythe Goddard, the corrupt materialistic Scythe who stands for everything Faraday hates, and finds himself tempted into Goddard's ways.
Citra finds herself apprenticed to Scythe Curie, another honorable Scythe, but begins to think Faraday's suicide was more than it seems.

Still the ultimatum remains: only one of them will become a Scythe and the other shall die.  And the very future of Scythedom may hang in the balance.
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To make a maybe stretched parallel, Scythe reminded me to an extent of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith - in that Scythe also features its main characters tempted into becoming things they never could've thought themselves capable of becoming.  Unlike Revenge of the Sith however, Scythe actually is believable in the temptation.  Both Citra and Rowan find themselves wanting to become Scythes despite swearing their lack of interest.  Rowan even finds himself feeling a little truth in the obviously evil Scythe Goddard's teachings.  And yet, again, unlike RotS, the transformation is believable, which is a major credit to the writing.

Both Citra and Rowan are interesting and different characters, with their different experiences taking them different places.  Even minor characters Scythe Faraday and Curie are interesting in showing how even the most seemingly perfect Scythes, the ones seemingly most impartial, are in their own ways corrupt to an extent.  It all works really well even in a future setting that naturally seems a little bit far fetched.

That said, main antagonist Scythe Goddard is a little too hilariously evil in his actions, and it is a bit jarring and removes a bit of the suspension of disbelief - it's more than a little offputting given the thought seemingly given into other Scythes training their apprentices - how do people that blatantly evil sneak through?  He works in the context of our characters' journeys, but only barely.

More annoyingly honestly is that the book feels in large part as a setup for what comes next.  The Thunderhead comes into play partially through, but then disappears (and as the next book is titled "Thunderhead" I'm betting it comes back!).  And the ending introduces a very interesting setup for the future, which I definitely was more interested in than the resolution of this book.  It's not that the book ends on a cliffhanger (it doesn't) but the new status quo it presents is far more intriguing.

All in all, a solid debut for a series, but I wish it had been maybe a bit more ambitious in scope, I guess, to make it a little more satisfying.
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