Book Title: Scythe
Author: Neal Schusterman
Series: Arc of the Scythe #1
Date Started: January 12th 2019
Date Completed: January 17th 2019
Genres: Sci-Fi, Dystopian, Thriller, Romance
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:
Oof, this is a tough one. Cool idea, unexpected twists, room for lots of new things in subsequent instalments. But, for me, the execution of Scythe (pun intended) was a little... fragile. Tame, absolutely not. It took things and really went for them, but there wasn't enough foundation for it to ring true.
The biggest issue I had with this book was its worldbuilding. Because it was sloppy. Like, I'll just lean these two poles and have it support a building sloppy. With sympathy, it's a very complicated concept to being with; hard to communicate and even imagine, so it needed a lot of attention to establish solidly which unfortunately wasn't there. It was probably an attempt to avoid information-dumping, but there are so many loopholes and times when Shusterman goes back on himself that I couldn't keep track or feel any weight because the politics wasn't linear. You have to be moral to be a Scythe, and yet very clearly a lot of them aren't. Fine. But no has want or need of money or anything else, yet there's still a class system (not to mention where are you getting the resources from). And then, there is a class system (which must be deliberate and therefore even more prejudiced) and yet no unrest from anyone at this unfair ranking of people? Believing no one dies anyone is tough enough, but if the world itself isn't consistent around that, how are we supposed to be fully immersed in the story?
At which point, I am not going to be the one going back on myself. Because I have to admit that the ending was fantastic, and made up for a lot. The plot of this book, while interjected with moments of action, is pretty slow. Interesting, but slow. And the political tension which the slower scenes are laced with doesn't really come across because the politics doesn't make sense, as mentioned. But that final scene, what happened and the implications of where we're going to go from here, is annoying. Because I actually want to read the next book to read the next book to find out what happens, and I'm tossing between if it's worth it or not.
Going back to the loopholes in the world for a second, I have to say it is a harsh critique. Because it's the hardest part of creating a fictional story, especially one not set in our world. But the fact that the characters weren't consistent either is what sent the red flag up for me. I honestly couldn't understand them until the last third of the book. They just didn't follow an arc until then, flip-flopped on their personality traits and motivations. Citra hates the very idea of Scythes, and yet within a week of training she's interested not resisting it at all. Rowan supposedly isn't that remarkable at anything, but he quickly becomes the best protegee they've seen in ages. Neither of them are really into each other even if they have some small feelings, and then a few months apart and they're head over heels for each other. And neither want to study Scythedom but are forced to and yet neither gets depressed? Or numb to what they thought their society was? Or anything like that? Come on. It was infuriating because even if the world was flimsy, the characters could have mended up the holes. Sadly, by the time they did start to feel solid, I'd become passive to them.
Scythe was disappointing, more from a foundation perspective than the actual story. That much was interesting and enjoyable, but the worldbuilding just tripped up too much of the movtiations and message for me. Maybe I'll get round to Thunderhead to see what happens to Citra and Rowan from here, but I'll be taking a rather long break first.
