A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021)

Two teens must learn the “art of killing” in this Printz Honor–winning book, the first in the chilling, New York Times bestselling Arc of a Scythe series from National Book Award–winning author Neal Shusterman.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered them all…even death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life, and they are commanded to do so in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that failure could mean losing their own. The more they train, the more Citra and Rowan learn that a perfect world comes with a heavy price.

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Published Nov 28, 2017

Average rating: 8.32

515 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *Scythe* by Neal Shusterman presents a unique dystopian world where death is controlled by appointed Scythes, blending sci-fi with deep et...

blvckbotan
Apr 28, 2025
10/10 stars
This was definitely a 5 star read for me. I love that romance was not the focus. This book gave me everything that I love about stories that aren't romance focused. it gave me drama, scandal, and it briefly made me sad. For humanity to have gotten better it was still bad and has its issues that need to be fixed. I'm excited to see what happens in the 2nd book.
Michalmarie123
Nov 01, 2025
Jill
Shroomalicious
Oct 10, 2025
10/10 stars
One of the best books I’ve read! The back story was amazing and made total sense. It was hard to put down.
literarily_occupied
Aug 12, 2025
9/10 stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Strippel
Jun 12, 2025
10/10 stars
Captivating and puts the perspective of what might be in the future with clear signs of how much of this futuristic society that our current world has already become.

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