Series: Arc of a Scythe #1
Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: November 22, 2016
Source: Purchased
Thou shalt kill.
A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered 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 the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.
So, first things first! This was a buddy read with Kelly and I just want to thank her for doing this with me! You can see her review here, which is much more in-depth than mine!
Anyway. My thoughts going into this book were something along the lines of “I hated four of my last five books so fingers crossed for this one.” Not only were my prayers to not hate this book answered, but it actually exceeded my expectations. It’s the first dystopian novel that I’ve really enjoyed in a very long time.
It took me a minute to get into the book, but once I got past chapter five or so, I was really intrigued. The worldbuilding is so well done, the premise is really interesting, I loved the main characters, I really hated some of the side characters, and the whole thing was just so good. I planned out my reading very, very poorly this month and I have to catch up on a bunch of ARCs before I can jump into Thunderhead, but it’s definitely on my more immediate TBR.
Have you read Scythe? What about Thunderhead?
Let’s talk in the comments!
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I am about 100 pages into it right now… I’m enjoying it also! Great review!😊
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Thank you! And I’m glad you’re enjoying it! 😊
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This is on my TBR (got it from Book Outlet) for this fall, and I have Thunderhead (got it at that crazy BAM sale – pay a penny per page) ready to fall behind it. ❤
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I hope you love both of them! I have to buy Thunderhead for myself soon. ❤️
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Own it…haven’t read it yet. But so excited to!
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I hope you love it! 😊
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I find it really interesting to see people’s responses to this one – I wasn’t a fan personally but a lot of other people seem to have adored it. I love seeing people’s reactions to the same book or movie or whatever, it definitely shows how our preferences shape our experiences of things. Really glad you liked it though, I wish I’d got the same enjoyment out of it!!
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I wish you’d gotten the same enjoyment too! I think it helped that I went in with really lowered expectations since I hadn’t liked the last few books I’d read. But I really ended up liking it a lot!
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That’s definitely true, I had quite high expectations due to all the good reviews unfortunately!! I’m starting to be more nervous whenever I start to read something popular tbh
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I totally understand that! I have such a problem with hyped books!
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I’m not so sure if I want to read this or not. I have heard mixed things about it and I need romance in my books.
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There’s a tiny bit of romance, but not a ton. If you’re feeling like a dystopian story, I would recommend it! Otherwise there are plenty of other books to read 😊
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Great review! I loved Scythe so much! I read Thunderhead almost immediately, and now I’m highly anticipating the third book!! I thought both Scythe and Thunderhead were excellent reads, I loved the writing. It was my first venture into Neal Shusterman’s writing and I’ll definitely be reading more! 😊
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Thank you! I’m so happy that you loved this one too, and it’s great to hear that Thunderhead is good too!
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I’m so glad you liked this! Thunderhead was AMAZING. Easily one of the best books I’ve read this year. I can’t wait until you get to it!
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I can’t wait to read Thunderhead!!
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Sadly I didn’ enjoy this book as much as I hoped, the worldbuilding is unique but I just didn’t love the plot and I coudn’t care less for the character! Great review Sara, hope you enjoy Thunderhead!!
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Thank you and I’m sorry that you didn’t like this one!
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I really loved Scythe whenI first read it in january but I haven’t picked up Thunderhead. It’s because Scythe has such a satisfying ending that I didn’t need a sequel. Shusterman tied up all the loose ends while making the ending ambiguous enough to have me thinking but not frustrated.
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I agree that Scythe has a really satisfying ending! I really want to read Thunderhead, but at least there wasn’t a cliffhanger, so I’ll be okay until I get the chance to read it.
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I haven’t read Scythe yet but I really want to!
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It’s so good! I hope you love it if you get the chance to read it! ❤
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I love the cover of this book. This is on my tbr list. I look forward to reading it. Great review!
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Thank you! It was so good! I hope you like it too ❤
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This is a book I never would have picked up on my own, but I was at ALAN two years ago and Shusterman was there and he read one of Rowan’s chapters and I was so intrigued. I have Thunderhead, but haven’t gotten to it yet.
I agree, the world-building is fantastic!
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I never would’ve picked it up if not for recommendations from other bloggers! I’d been kind of avoiding dystopian YA for years since I was so burned out on it, but a few bloggers I trust had absolutely glowing things to say about this book. I’m so glad I took a chance on it!
Thunderhead will be in the next pile of books that I buy. I hope you like it when you get around to reading it! 😊
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