Scythe (Arc of a Scythe #1)

by Neal Shusterman

Audiobook Narrated by Greg Tremblay

I listened to the Audible version of Scythe and it was really brilliant.

First of all, I particularly liked the world of the book – a utopian future where humans had finally cured, well, everything, and immortality is standard, world peace is found and hunger is ended. ‘The Cloud’ had become the all-seeing benevolent ‘Thunderhead’ that kept everything in order through immaculate calculations and endless knowledge and everything seems wonderful.

Except for the whole over-population thing. That was a definite issue once everybody stopped dying.

That’s where the Scythes come in. Outside the jurisdiction of the Thunderhead, Scythes use statistics from the Mortal Age to select certain people to be ‘gleaned’ from existence. To be killed and not revived. Dead, not deadish.

Being a Scythe is a lot of power and not a job for just anyone, Citra and Rowan have been chosen to be Scythe’s apprentices and the road before them is far from smooth. Because some Scythes are not the empathetic, moral human beings they are supposed to be.

The story follows the apprenticeship of the two teenagers and it is an exciting exploration of humanity, morality, love, politics, and friendship.

I was gripped from the very beginning, and it had me in tears on at least two occasions – thankfully at points nobody else was in the house so nobody saw me walking around carrying piles of washing and snivelling away to myself!

The narrator of the Audible version, Greg Tremblay, did an excellent job. He was engaging and clear, with definite voices for the characters that made it easier to follow and also more absorbing to listen to.

The narrator can make all the difference in an audiobook – you are listening to them for hours and if they aren’t engaging then you’re either going to fall asleep or just turn them off.

I loved all 10.5 hours of Scythe so I think Greg did a pretty good job of it!

I gave Scythe 5/5* and I will be looking out for book two in the future to find out what becomes of Rowan & Citra.

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