What is Scythe about?
Nobody dies of old age, disease, or accident anymore — so someone still has to choose who dies on purpose. This Scythe summary follows Neal Shusterman's 2016 novel, published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on November 22, the first book of the Arc of a Scythe trilogy. It was a 2017 Michael L. Printz Honor Book. Kirkus called it a thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
What genre is Scythe by Neal Shusterman?
Scythe is young adult science fiction and dystopia, closer to biopunk than to a typical arena story. Readers who want another society that assigns teenagers a lethal civic role should read The Hunger Games next; Divergent covers related ground of a sorted, adult-run world that eats its own children.
Who are the Scythe characters?
Scythe summary
This Scythe summary is set about 270 years after the Mortal Age. Hunger, war, aging, and accidental death are gone; the Thunderhead can revive anyone who dies by mistake. Population still has to be controlled, so self-governing scythes permanently kill a yearly quota — they call it gleaning. Faraday takes both Citra and Rowan as apprentices, which High Blade Xenocrates rules is one too many: only one may be ordained, and the winner must glean the loser.
Faraday is then reported dead by suicide, which the Scythedom reads as his way of freeing them. Citra suspects murder and is sent to Curie; Rowan is sent to Goddard and is pushed to become a killing machine while Goddard's crew targets a religious sect, the Tonists. At a later Conclave the two are forced to duel. Rowan is disqualified for actually killing Citra, who is revived. While she is technically not alive, the Thunderhead slips her a name — Gerald Van Der Gans — that leads her to Faraday, who faked his death with Curie's help. Rowan, unable to watch Goddard enjoy a massacre, burns a Tonist monastery so the bodies cannot be revived and beheads Goddard in the fire.
How does Scythe end?
Who are the main characters in Scythe?
Citra Terranova: The honest apprentice who becomes Scythe Anastasia and refuses to glean Rowan.
Rowan Damisch: The empathic apprentice who kills Goddard and disappears as the unordained Scythe Lucifer.
Scythe Faraday: Their first mentor, who fakes his own death to try to spare them from killing each other.
Scythe Goddard: Rowan's second mentor, leader of the New Order, killed in the fire Rowan sets.
Scythe Curie: Citra's second mentor, once Faraday's secret lover, nicknamed the Grand Dame of Death.
The Thunderhead: The AI that runs the world except the Scythedom, and can only help Citra while she is legally dead.
Best quotes from Scythe by Neal Shusterman
The most quoted lines from Scythe by Neal Shusterman, checked against the Goodreads work-quotes page for this title:
"My greatest wish for humanity is not for peace or comfort or joy. It is that we all still die a little inside every time we witness the death of another. For only the pain of empathy will keep us human."
"Hope in the shadow of fear is the world's most powerful motivator."
"Without the threat of suffering, we can't experience true joy."
"The greatest achievement of the human race was not conquering death. It was ending government."
"Therein lies the paradox of the profession," Faraday said. "Those who wish to have the job should not have it...and those who would most refuse to kill are the only ones who should."
Frequently asked questions
What is gleaning in Scythe?
Gleaning is a scythe's sanctioned, permanent killing of a citizen — the only real death left, since aging, disease, and accidents can all be reversed at revival centers. Each scythe has a yearly quota and their own method for choosing whom to glean.
How many books are in the Scythe series?
Three: Scythe (2016), Thunderhead (2018), and The Toll (2019). This first book has a complete arc, but Rowan as Lucifer and the split in the Scythedom carry straight into the sequels.
Do you need to read Thunderhead after Scythe?
You can stop; several reviewers treat it as a standalone. The epilogue is written as a sequel hook, though, and the trilogy's argument about the Thunderhead is not finished here.
What age is Scythe appropriate for?
Simon & Schuster recommends ages twelve to seventeen; Common Sense Media also says twelve and up. The violence is clinical rather than gory, but gleaning, mass killings, and a staged suicide put it closer to young teens than to middle grade.
Is there a Scythe movie?
Not yet. Universal bought film rights in 2016; the screenplay changed hands for years, and Steven Spielberg was later attached. In March 2024 Shusterman said the project was moving forward as a TV series with Universal instead. No release date has been confirmed.
How does Scythe end?
Citra becomes Scythe Anastasia and grants Rowan a year of immunity instead of gleaning him. Faraday helps Rowan escape. Rowan becomes the vigilante Scythe Lucifer, and Citra hears the first rumors of his killings.
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