Arc of a Scythe

Arc of a Scythe is a series of science fiction novels by young adult literature author Neal Shusterman. The main trilogy consists of Scythe, Thunderhead, and The Toll. There is also a short story collection titled Gleanings and an upcoming prequel. Two additional short stories set in the Arc of a Scythe world will appear in the anthology MindWorks: An Uncanny Compendium of Short Fiction, releasing on November 18, 2025. A TV show adaptation of the first book is currently being planned.

The series centers around two teens who are chosen to be scythe apprentices, a role that neither wants. They must master the "art" of taking life, knowing that the consequences of failure could mean losing their own.

Trivia

• In the world of Scythe, people have become wise enough to realize that sexuality is not absolute, but a spectrum for everyone. So it’s a non-issue.
• Unwind and Scythe are not in the same universe.
• In the Arc of a Scythe series, people have bred together to such a degree that ethnicities are not as distinct (outside of isolated regions and edge cases)
• All non-Patron Historic (Scythe names once they are ordained) from different fans on Neal's Facebook Page.
• Neal's favorite character to write in the entire Arc of a Scythe series was the Thunderhead.
• Neal says The Toll ended exactly how he had planned it from the very beginning of Scythe, but how it got there was very different from what he had originally planned.
• Neal has said he created Scythe to challenge dystopian tropes, describing it as "a story that intentionally does not look at the world gone wrong, but instead looks at the consequences of all our hopes coming true, instead of our fears."
• The page for this series on the List of Deaths Wiki can be found here.

See also

• Arc of a Scythe/International editions