Scythe is the first book of the Arc of a Scythe series.
Blurb[]
- From the book jacket
"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. They learn living in a perfect world comes only with a heavy price.[1]
Plot[]
Honorable Scythe Curie writes an entry in her gleaning journal detailing the duties of a scythe.
Citra Terranova is working on algebra homework in her kitchen when someone knocks on the door. Her mother, Jenny Terranova, answers the door to find a mysterious scythe there, who asks to come in. The Terranova family is afraid that he is there to glean or end the life of one of them, but the scythe reveals that he simply wishes to enjoy a meal. The man introduces himself as Scythe Faraday. Ben Terranova, Citra's younger brother, peppers Scythe Faraday with questions while his mother finishes cooking dinner.
The Terranova family share their dinner with Faraday, who inquires about Jenny's and Mr. Terranova's careers. When he is dismissive of their occupations, Citra loses her temper, accuses Faraday of playing games with them, and tells him to just get the gleaning over with if that is what he is there to do. Floored by her imprudence, Mr. Terranova drops to his knees and begs for Faraday's forgiveness. Faraday assures him that an apology is unnecessary, stating that it is refreshing to be challenged. Then he draws a knife from the block on the counter and approaches the table again. Instead of gleaning someone, however, he offers Jenny a year's immunity from gleaning in return for her hospitality. Jenny demurs, requesting that Citra and Ben be granted immunity instead, but Faraday says that he is only offering her immunity. Mr. Terranova convinces her to take the offer, and she accepts. Faraday divulges that his gleaning target is none of them but their neighbor, Bridget Chadwell. Faraday admires Citra's temperament and says that she would make a good scythe, but Citra objects, declaring that she would not wish to be one. Faraday replies that that sentiment is the first requirement of being a scythe before departing for Bridget Chadwell's apartment.
After completing the gleaning, Faraday returns to the Terranova's apartment and hands the knife back to Citra, who doesn't want it back, stating that her family will not use the knife. Faraday tells her that they must keep it as a reminder that all of humanity are accomplices of death. Once he is gone, Citra throws the knife in the trash.
Rowan Damisch visits his recently splatted friend Tyger Salazar in a revival center, as Tyger's parents are too annoyed with his splatting habit to bother to check in on him. Rowan urges Tyger to find a new hobby, but Tyger argues that his parents refuse to buy him his own car, so by splatting he forces them to spend money on him.
Sometime later, Rowan is late for school, so he heads to the attendance window to obtain an admission slip. On his way, he encounters Faraday, who asks for directions to the main office. Not wanting to refuse a scythe, Rowan obliges. The other kids in the hall shrink back from the two as they make their way through the school. In the principal's office, Faraday instructs the secretary to summon Kohl Whitlock, a popular junior and talented football player. Rowan snaps at Faraday arguing he is gleaning the school's star quarterback. Faraday dismisses Rowan's concern, but Rowan retorts that since Faraday is in his school, the gleaning is his business.
He gets his readmission slip from the attendance window and is about to go to class when Kohl arrives. Rowan follows Faraday and Kohl into the principal's office, despite the principal's attempt to stop him. When Faraday questions Rowan's presence, Rowan replies that Kohl should not be alone when he is gleaned. He goes on to demand a justification for the selection of Kohl, arguing that the other boy deserved to know. Faraday explains that given Age of Mortality statistics of Kohl's lifestyle choices, including driving his own car and excessive drinking, Kohl would have been predisposed to early death; he chose Kohl out of a selection pool of those who fit those demographics. The scythe then inquires if knowing actually benefited Kohl, to which Rowan remains silent. Faraday informs Kohl that he will be gleaned quickly and painlessly by electric shock. Kohl grabs Rowan's hand, and Rowan does not let go. Rowan asks Kohl if there is anything he wants him to relay to his loved ones, but though Kohl has much to say to them, he cannot think of what to say. Faraday tries to persuade Rowan to release Kohl's hand for the gleaning, as the electric shock might glean him as well as Kohl; Rowan refuses, knowing that unless Faraday intends to glean him, he will be revived. The scythe pushes the shock-delivering paddle to Kohl's chest, and Rowan is briefly incapacitated by the shock. When he recovers, Kohl is dead. Rowan disingenuously thanks Faraday for allowing him to stay.
After a moment, Faraday commends Rowan for his courage and compassion in standing up for and comforting a boy he barely knew. Rowan brushes off the praise, saying that he did what anybody would do, but Faraday points out that none of the school employees stepped up to do the same thing. Faraday guesses that Rowan wants immunity, but Rowan rejects it. On his way out, Faraday warns Rowan to expect animosity from the other students.
Marah Pavlik, Kohl's grieving longtime girlfriend, smacks Rowan and accuses him of simply letting Kohl die. She rebuffs his denials and says she hopes the next scythe comes for him. Despite Faraday's earlier caution, Rowan is taken aback by his schoolmates' hostility.
In early January, Citra receives an invitation to a January ninth performance at the Grand Civic Opera from an unknown sender. Jenny conjectures that a boy is trying to impress Citra, who claims that she will not attend despite knowing that she will.
Meanwhile, Rowan, weary of being subjected to various forms of bullying, lies to his schoolmates that Faraday is his uncle and that he is allowing him to choose the school's next gleaning victim. Fearful of being chosen for gleaning by Faraday's "nephew", the other kids avoid him and cease to actively torment him. Still, Rowan is unhappy because he is lonely and the teachers award him better grades than he thinks his work deserves. Following the advice of his principal, Rowan announces to his mother that he wishes to switch schools-a decision his mother indifferently accepts. When Rowan's invitation to the Grand Civic Opera arrives, his social isolation causes him to be grateful for the attention, regardless of who the sender is.
On the night of the opera, Mr. Terranova drops Citra off at the opera house. An usher personally leads her to a box seat, where she meets Rowan. Rowan at first thinks that she was the one who sent him his invitation, but Citra shows him her own invitation as reply. During the first intermission of the opera (Verdi's La Forza del Destino), they chat and tell each other about themselves, trying to determine why they were brought here. Faraday arrives during intermission, and at the end of the opera, he hands Rowan and Citra each a card with the address of the Museum of World Art and instructs them to meet him there at nine the following morning even though it doesn't open until 10.
They walk around the museum and look at the different art pieces. Later that day, Scythe Faraday tells them that the population grows too fast for the Thunderhead to be able to provide for them so a certain amount of people need to be gleaned each year. But for that to happen, there have to be more scythes. As they continue talking, Scythe Faraday tells them that the reason they are here is for them to become his apprentices and that one of them will get the ring. Citra immediately says she isn't interested so Rowan can have it. Rowan asks her why she thinks he would be interested in being a scythe, but before she can reply Faraday raises his voice and tells them that he has chosen both of them and that one of them will get the ring and become a scythe, while the other will go back home. Citra and Rowan both decide that they will let the other win so that they can go back home to their old lives.
Later that evening Citra tells her parents about what happened. Her father gives her a hug but then her mother says something that surprises Citra. She asks her if she will do it. Citra is totally shocked. Her father tells her that they will support her either way. She asks her parents if they want her to do it. Her mother says that they want what she wants. But then add on that a scythe gets all their needs and desires met. They also have nothing to fear. They don't even need to be afraid of being gleaned. Citra reminds her parents that they wouldn't be gleaned either. As long as she is a scythe, her family will have immunity. That's when Citra realizes that her parents don't care about their own immunity. They care about Ben's. Citra is quiet for a little while before she asks her mother, "You want me to spend my life killing people?".
Under Faraday’s mentorship, Citra and Rowan study the methods of killcraft, as well as the necessary skill to become a scythe. They learn Black Widow Bokator, a martial art, and as time goes on, Rowan and Citra develop a crush on one another but do their best to ignore those feelings, as scythes are not allowed to fall in love or have families.
In Fulcrum City, Scythe Goddard and his junior scythes Rand, Volta, and Chomsky, conduct a mass gleaning on an airplane and later in the food court of the Fulcrum City Galleria. At the food court gleaning, Goddard spares a girl, Esme, and takes her home with him. He lives in a mansion that he took from a business executive, Maxim Easley, who is now forced to work as Goddard's pool boy.
In May, Vernal Conclave arrives. The High Blade of MidMerica, Xenocrates, didn't know that Faraday took two apprentices, which is an unusual practice. At conclave, Citra and Rowan recognize Goddard, and notice Faraday has a clear distaste for him. In the evening, Scythe Curie tests the apprentices with questions designed to prove their morality and knowledge. Citra fails her test by lying about the worst thing she's ever done, while Rowan fails on purpose to make her feel better. At the end of conclave, Scythe Rand proposes that at the end of Citra and Rowan's training, the apprentice who becomes a scythe should glean the other. Xenocrates agrees.
The morning after conclave, Faraday tells Rowan and Citra that nothing will change and goes out alone. Rowan and Citra kiss while he's gone, hoping to get it out of their systems. That same night, they wake up to two BladeGuard officers and Xenocrates on Faraday's house. They receive the news Faraday self-gleaned, which would mean they are free from their apprenticeships and they won't have to glean each other. However, Scythe Goddard offers to take over Rowan's training, while Scythe Curie trains Citra, so Faraday’s sacrifice was useless.
Citra is suspicious of Curie's unusual ways, as Curie lives in a luxurious house and cooks food for her. The next morning, Curie takes Citra gleaning and stabs a man, suddenly and without warning, whom she insists was "stagnant". Later, Curie invites the man's family to her home for dinner to grant them immunity and to help their grief. Citra begins to trust Curie and confides in her the actual worst thing she's ever done, as a child, she pushed a classmate in front of a truck. Curie makes Citra find her former classmate, Rhonda Flowers, apologize, and to allow Rhonda to push her in front of a truck. Rhonda refuses, which makes Citra feel silly about the whole thing. When Curie points out that the Thunderhead certainly saw Citra push Rhonda because it sees everything, Citra starts to wonder if someone murdered Faraday and if the Thunderhead saw it happen.
Rowan decides to let Citra win the scythehood. He arrives at Goddard's mansion in the middle of a party in his honor. Goddard insists that the home and the party supplies were donated—scythes aren’t allowed to own much—and says he believes scythes should enjoy life. Rowan notices Esme, and finds her presence strange. The party continues for another day. When it finally ends, Volta takes Rowan to a wine cellar. Goddard and his crew turn off Rowan's pain and healing nanites, and beat him up. Volta, Esme, and then Goddard visit Rowan. Goddard insists that in order to have a clear mind, Rowan must feel pain. Rowan begins training daily on dummies and feels himself turning into a soulless "killing machine". Goddard encourages Rowan to enjoy killing. The only person that Rowan thinks doesn't truly believe in Goddard's teachings is Volta, though Volta doesn't interfere the first time Goddard forces Rowan to practice gleaning on live subjects.
One afternoon, as Citra tries to track down the family of one of Curie's gleaning victims, she finds herself in a Tonist cloister in pursuit of a Tonist named Brother Ferguson. He refuses to take care or attend his sister's funeral, and explains that Tonists don't believe that death by a scythe is a real death, and Tonism keeps people from getting “stagnant”. Citra begins spending time searching for evidence of Faraday in the Thunderhead's backbrain. She finds information after using some of her own photographs from the area where Faraday self-gleaned to piece together evidence to support her suspicions.
Goddard announces that it's time to take Rowan to one of his mass gleanings, this time at Magnetic Propulsion Laboratories. Goddard and his crew take a helicopter to the building, land on top, and kill everyone they can in the building. Rowan does his best to point people to the unguarded exits. When Goddard announces they're finished, he tells Rowan that the firefighters cannot put out the fire from Chomsky's flamethrower since it's scythe business. He allows Rowan to wear his ring to grant people immunity. He throws a feast that night, but Rowan excuses himself to play cards with Esme. Rowan later discovers Volta crying in his bedroom. Though Volta knows Goddard is evil, he doesn't believe it's possible to escape from him now.
At Harvest Conclave, Citra is angry to see Rowan surrounded by other apprentices. When they finally have a moment to speak, she quietly tells him about her research and her suspicion that Goddard killed Faraday. The test for apprentices is a Bokator match. Both Rowan and Citra fight in such a way as to try to let the other win, but Rowan realizes that in order to allow Citra to win the scythehood, he needs to do something drastic. He snaps her neck, rendering her deadish for several days.
Goddard throws another party. Volta overhears Xenocrates and Goddard talking about getting rid of Esme, and Goddard forces Xenocrates to jump in the pool by putting a knife to Esme's neck. After the party, Rowan confronts Goddard about this and about Citra's suspicion that he killed Faraday. Goddard denies it, and later Volta tells Rowan what he discovered, Esme is Xenocrates's illegitimate daughter, so Xenocrates will do whatever Goddard wants to keep her existence a secret.
Citra finally admits to Curie she believes Faraday was murdered and she has told Rowan of her suspicions. Curie encourages Citra to stop researching and dedicate herself to winning the scythehood so she can fight the corruption from the inside. That afternoon, while Citra is home alone, two BladeGuard officers arrest Citra and take her to Xenocrates. He and Scythe Mandela accuse her of killing Faraday and to prove it, they show her one of Faraday's journal entries saying that he's afraid his female apprentice is going to kill him. Citra splats off of the Scythedom tower, rendering herself deadish. While she's dead, the Thunderhead speaks to her, says it's concerned for the fate of the Scythedom, and gives her a clue, the name Gerald Van Der Gans. Four days later, Citra wakes up in the Chileargentine region with Curie. Curie explains that someone tried to frame Citra, and the journal entry was actually about Curie herself. More than a century ago Faraday was Curie's mentor, and later, her lover for seven years. She gives Citra Tonist attire and sends her to Amazonia. Citra believes she's after Faraday's killer, Gerald Van Der Gans, but when she arrives at her destination, she discovers Faraday himself—Gerald was his given name, and Curie is the only one who knows he's hiding and retired as a scythe.
A few days before Winter Conclave, Citra flies home, cleared of all charges, and Goddard takes his crew on a mass gleaning at a Tonist monastery. After gleaning a room full of children, Volta has a breakdown and self-gleans. Rowan gleans Goddard, Chomsky, and Rand, burns the building down, and pretends to be a scythe to get the firefighters to leave. Two days later, Xenocrates meets with Rowan and attempts to blame the tragedy on Rowan until Rowan tells him he knows about Esme. The next day, both Rowan and Citra take their final test. Citra almost refuses when she realizes that she must render her little brother Ben deadish, but does it in the end. The next day at conclave, Citra is ordained as scythe instead of Rowan. She takes Anastasia Romanov as her Patron Historic, explaining it represents the potential for a better future. Just as she is about to glean Rowan, she punches him in the face with her ring, giving him immunity. She tells him there is a car waiting outside, and Rowan is shocked to find Faraday in the driver's seat.
In an entry of her gleaning journal, Scythe Anastasia writes that she's heard rumors of a rogue, unordained scythe called Scythe Lucifer gleaning corrupt scythes with fire.
Chapters[]
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Part One: Robe and Ring
Part Two: No Laws Beyond These
Part Three: The Old Guard and the New Order
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Part Four: MidMerican Fugitive
Part Five: Scythehood
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Characters[]
- Citra Terranova — A student who is chosen to become scythe apprentice.
- Rowan Damisch — A student who is chosen to become scythe apprentice along with Citra.
- Scythe Faraday — The mentor of Citra and Rowan.
- Scythe Curie — A famous scythe from the old guard.
- Scythe Goddard — A powerful scythe of the new order.
Special content[]
- The Barnes & Noble YA Book Club Edition includes an exclusive Q&A with Neal Shusterman covering the whole Arc of a Scythe series.
- The Fairyloot exclusive set is a limited hardcover edition with a exclusive cover, reversible dust jacket featuring Scythe Anastasia's artwork by phantomrin, foil on hardcover – front and back, and is signed by Neal Shusterman.
Gallery[]
Covers[]
Videos[]
TV show adaptation[]
- Main article: Scythe (TV show)
A TV show is currently in development.
Trivia[]
- The scythe on the cover represents no scythe in particular but scythes in general.[2]
- When Neal started writing Scythe, he didn't know whether Rowan or Citra would become a scythe; he figured it out as he wrote.[3]
- Neal Shusterman's favorite character to write in Scythe was Scythe Curie.[4]
- Scythe Goddard was the character that gave Neal Shusterman the most problems when writing Scythe.[4]
- Neal's favorite lines from Scythe come from the Journal entries:[4]
- "The greatest achievement of the human race was not conquering death. It was ending government."- From the gleaning journal of H.S. Curie.
- "Power comes infected with the only disease left to us: the virus called human nature."-From the gleaning journal of H.S. Curie.
- "We are not the same beings we once were. So then if we are no longer human, what are we?"-From the gleaning journal of H.S. Curie.
- "Immortality has turned us all into cartoons."-From the gleaning journal of H.S. Curie.
- "My greatest hope is that, in time, our wisdom will become as perfect as our knowledge."-From the gleaning journal of H.S. Prometheus, the first World Supreme Blade.
- "Immortality cannot temper the folly or frailty of youth... And I long for a place beyond immortality where I can, in some small measure, resurrect the wonder, and be that boy again."-From the gleaning journal of H.S. Faraday.
References[]
- ↑ Amazon.com: Scythe (1) (Arc of a Scythe)
- ↑ "...leave the cover as more symbolic of scythes in general." Neal Shusterman on his Reddit AMA
- ↑ @nealshusterman. (2024, September 23). TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@nealshusterman/video/7417976800724241695
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Scythe: Q&A with Author Neal Shusterman in the Scythe Barnes & Noble YA Book Club Edition