Scythe
In a future where humanity has conquered disease, hunger, and death, a benevolent cloud-based superintelligence called the Thunderhead runs civilization, and the only people permitted to end lives are a disciplined order of government-sanctioned killers called scythes. Citra and Rowan, two teenagers who have never done anything to deserve the attention, are chosen against their will as apprentices to Scythe Faraday, a quiet traditionalist who believes his work should be grieved, not performed. As the two are pulled into the order's internal politics, a rival faction begins to take pleasure in the killing in ways Faraday's ethics were designed to prevent. Neal Shusterman's 2016 YA novel opens the Arc of a Scythe trilogy and treats immortality less as a gift than as a problem in governance.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Scythe
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
First in the Arc of a Scythe trilogy. In a perfect future without death, two teenagers are chosen as apprentice scythes, the only people allowed to take human life. Only one of them will be ordained.
Neal Shusterman's Arc of a Scythe trilogy has three books: Scythe, Thunderhead, and The Toll. The trilogy is complete.
Yes. Scythe is YA dystopian fiction, suitable for readers 13 and up. It is darker than typical YA, with on-page violence and morally complex world-building, but no explicit content.
Scythe was written by Neal Shusterman, published in 2016 by Simon & Schuster.
Scythe is 435 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Scythe takes most readers 7 to 9 hours to finish.
Scythe is a standalone novel by Neal Shusterman, not part of a series.
Scythe is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.