Scythe

In a future without hunger, disease or natural death, only scythes may kill, to keep the population in check. Sixteen-year-olds Citra Terranova and Rowan Damisch become apprentices to Scythe Faraday, though neither wants the job. When Faraday seems to take his own life, the conclave rules that one apprentice will be ordained and must glean the other. Rowan trains under Goddard, who stages mass gleanings. Citra goes to Scythe Curie and investigates Faraday's death, which he actually faked to free them. Rowan kills Goddard and burns the body so he can't be revived. Citra becomes Scythe Anastasia and is ordered to glean Rowan. She secretly grants him a year of immunity, and he escapes. In the end, rumors spread of a rogue scythe who burns corrupt scythes.

1. Behind the scenesThe opposite of a dystopia

   Shusterman wanted to write the opposite of a dystopia: a world where things went right. The question was the cost of getting what we want. To control the population without natural death, he pictured something like the Jedi, but of death.

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2. Behind the scenesRights sold before release

   Universal bought the film rights in May 2016, months before the book came out that November. The script went through several writers, and in 2022 Steven Spielberg joined the project. In 2025, Shusterman said the adaptation had become a TV series project.

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3. Behind the scenesAn award and a Time list

   The book earned a Printz Honor in 2017, one of the top awards in American YA. In 2021 it made Time's list of the 100 best YA books of all time.

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4. SetupThe Thunderhead can't touch the scythes

   Note the rule: the AI that runs everything can't interfere with the scythes. Shusterman said the danger in the series isn't the machine, it's the people who can be corrupted.

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