Neal Shusterman’s young adult science fiction novel Scythe explores a world many years in the future, in which technology has advanced to take over as an artificially intelligent governing body called the Thunderhead, eradicate diseases, and end nearly all other natural causes of death. In order to keep the Earth’s population in check, humans have created the Scythedom, a collection of professional scythes who are tasked to glean, or kill, other humans at random. Teenagers Citra Terranova and Rowan Damisch become scythe apprentices, but during their training, they are quickly pitted against one another. In this dystopian future, Shusterman explores the themes of morality, power, loyalty, the impact of advanced technology, and the value of a human life.
By the age of eight, Neal Shusterman was already on his way to a career as a writer. In a letter to E. B. White, he informed the author that Charlotte's Web required a sequel--and that he would be wil...
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Neal Shusterman