Scythe (novel)


Scythe is a 2016 young-adult novel by Neal Shusterman and is the first in the Arc of a Scythe series. It is set in the far future, where death by natural causes has been virtually eliminated thanks to advances in technology, and an advanced computer system known as the "Thunderhead" controls society. The Thunderhead is a form of artificial intelligence who does not make mistakes or have regrets. However, the Thunderhead can communicate with others. The Scythedom is an organization separate from the Thunderhead tasked with deciding who must die, as overpopulation has remained a problem. The novel follows two teenagers, Citra Terranova, and Rowan Damisch, who undergo training as they are recruited into the scythedom by Scythe Faraday. A feature-film adaptation is in the works, with Sera Gamble writing the script.
The book was an Honor Book for the Michael L. Printz Award in 2017 for teenage novels.

Plot

Late on a cold day in November, Scythe Faraday visits Citra Terranova's house. At first, Citra assumes that the scythe is there to glean one of her family members. As it turns out, he just wanted dinner and he leaves with a kitchen knife from Citra's house to glean their neighbor. When he returns the bloodless knife to Citra, she promptly throws it away once he leaves.
The focus turns to Rowan Damisch and his classmate Tyger Salazar, a "splat junkie" whose pastime is jumping off buildings and trying to beat his record for the number of days he is dead. The next day, Rowan meets Scythe Faraday, who is gleaning a classmate of his. Rowan stays in the room while the gleaning is happening and tries to support the boy, which impresses Faraday. Nevertheless, Rowan's classmates blame him for his failure to save the classmate even though it would have been impossible to do so.
Citra and Rowan are invited to the Grand Civic Opera and meet for the first time. After the first act, Scythe Faraday greets them and invites them to the Museum of World Art. There, he offers them both apprenticeships to become Scythes, even though only one of them can actually take the position. After talking to their friends and family, Citra and Rowan both reluctantly accept his offer. Both go to live with Scythe Faraday and gradually learn about scythe life. Faraday takes them to witness one of his gleanings, which leaves them both traumatized. At the same time, Scythe Goddard and his three junior scythes mass-glean all the people on a plane and then a number of patrons at a mall with flamethrowers.
Scythe Faraday begins training Citra and Rowan by having them accompany him on his gleanings, though they do not participate. On one day each week, they have to stay behind and are assigned chores. Citra is to polish Faraday's weapons and Rowan has to choose the next day's victim. Although Scythes are forbidden from having romantic relations with one another, over time, a romantic relationship develops between the two.
Faraday takes Citra and Rowan to a seasonal scythe meeting known as a conclave, where they are tested by Scythe Curie, nicknamed the Grand Dame of Death for her role in the gleaning of the last U.S. President and his Cabinet. Curie asks Citra what was the worst thing that she had ever done, but Citra lies and fails the test. Curie then asks Rowan what he is most scared of. Rowan lies on purpose so that Citra doesn't have to feel ashamed that she failed, which upsets Faraday. Xenocrates, the high scythe, is informed that Scythe Goddard disapproves of Faraday having two apprentices and agrees with him that whichever apprentice is chosen must glean the other at the end of their training.
Later, Xenocrates visits Citra and Rowan and explains that Faraday invoked the 7th Commandment of Scythe law, which states that a Scythe can only legally be killed through suicide, or as the Scythedom calls it, "self-gleaning". This was accomplished by Faraday jumping in front of a train. Citra and Rowan realize that he did this in order to free them of their apprenticeships and thus spare them from death. Unfortunately, this plan would only work if no other scythes agreed to take them as apprentices, but Goddard wishes to take Rowan and Curie agrees to take on Citra. Citra and Curie form a close relationship, but the former is suspicious about the circumstances of Faraday's death and decides to investigate. She learns that the witnesses at the train station had been given immunity by a scythe, and comes to the conclusion that another scythe, probably Goddard, bribed the witnesses and murdered Faraday.
Rowan, meanwhile, has learned that Goddard is a sadist who openly flouts the rules of the Scythedom and abuses his power, killing whoever he wants and living in a lavish mansion where his followers party on a daily basis. Rowan befriends one of Goddard's less bloodthirsty junior scythes, Volta, and learns that Goddard has been spreading the idea that scythes should be free to do whatever they want regardless of the consequences. He also discovers the reason why Xenocrates has tolerated Goddard's actions--Esme, a young girl and one of Goddard's wards, is Xenocrates's illegitimate daughter.
Citra tells Curie about her suspicions concerning Faraday's death. Xenocrates accuses her of killing him, using her search history as evidence, along with an entry from Faraday's journal in which he expresses regret at taking "her" as an apprentice. Citra kills herself by jumping off a building, planning to use her time in the revival ward to sort things out. While she recovers, the Thunderhead talks to her, gives her a name, and tell her she will have an important role to play, based on its calculations. Despite not being allowed to interact with or interfere with scythes, the Thunderhead decides that, as Citra is dead, she is not technically under their jurisdiction.
Citra wakes up, and Curie tells her they are going to South Merica until Curie can clear things up. Citra learns that the journal entry was not about Citra, but about Curie, who had fallen desperately in love with Faraday and made him suspicious. Because of this, both of them were ultimately punished when their affair was discovered. The two take refuge with one of Curie's friends, who tells them that the Scythedom is on the hunt for Citra. Citra leaves with information from Curie about where to find the person the Thunderhead told her about. To her surprise, the person is Faraday, who reveals that he had faked his death and given Curie information on where to find him. The name Citra got from the Thunderhead was actually Faraday's name before he became a scythe.
Goddard takes Rowan and his junior scythes to mass glean a group of anti-scythe cultists, promising Rowan he will glean someone today. Rowan tries to help people escape, and finds Volta, right before he kills himself out of horror and shame. A furious Rowan finds Goddard tying up a surviving cultist so that Rowan can kill him. Instead, Rowan beheads Goddard with his own sword, kills the other scythes, and starts a fire to destroy their bodies. He takes Goddard's robe and ring and convinces the firemen that the fire is scythe business, preventing them from putting it out. Xenocrates summons Rowan for answers, but the boy points out to him that he knows about Esme. In return, Xenocrates agrees to cover up his crimes.
Citra comes back as Curie's apprentice, and she and Rowan face their final test to become scythes--to temporarily kill a close relative: for Citra, her brother; for Rowan, his mom. Despite assurances that their family members will be resurrected afterward, Citra is mortified but ultimately comforts her brother before he dies. Rowan, however, shoots his mother immediately since his family had never been close. He then wonders whether this makes him like Goddard.
Citra is declared the winner, and becomes a scythe, choosing the name Anastasia Romanov, to Xenocrates's dismay. Citra explains that Anastasia was a product of a corrupt system, and could have had unrealized potential. She is then told to kill Rowan, but instead "accidentally" grants him immunity with her new immunity ring, giving him one year to live. She tells Rowan there's a car waiting for him outside, whose driver is revealed to be Faraday.
In Citra's journal, she makes note of a "Scythe Lucifer", a mysterious figure who has gained a reputation for assassinating corrupt scythes. She expresses hope that if she meets him, he'll see her as one of the good ones.

Characters

Main characters