WOW – Scythe – No Time for Tiny Bookshelves

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Breaking the Spine. This feature highlights an upcoming release that I am excited about.

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Release Date: November 22, 2016

Total Pages: 448

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

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Goodreads Book Description

In a world where disease has been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed (“gleaned”) by professional reapers (“scythes”). Citra and Rowan are teenagers who have been selected to be scythe’s apprentices, and—despite wanting nothing to do with the vocation—they must learn the art of killing and come to understand the necessity of what they do.

Only one of them will be chosen as a scythe’s apprentice. And when it becomes clear that the winning apprentice’s first task will be to glean the loser, Citra and Rowan are pitted against one another in a fight for their lives.

Why I’m Excited

Okay, so I’m intrigued by this for all kinds of reasons.

I need to know, like right now, how people get chosen to be gleaned. Is this like a Hunger Games lottery and “may the odds be ever in your favor” or what?
TELL ME MORE about this world and what it’s like. Disease free – okay got that. Are people still aging? What happens to the very old? How do people act? Is everyone scared, or is gleaning just a part of life?
How does the apprentice selection work? Are there tests? Blood samples and DNA analysis? Is Death the only profession with apprentices?
The inevitable love between Citra and Rowan is going to make this interesting. Okayyyy, I’m guessing but it seems like the obvious angle, right? RIGHT? Just tell me I’m right! And that they live happily ever after, please.

This is also book one in a series, so that adds additional intrigue for me. I hope that this one doesn’t end in an infuriating cliffhanger, like where Citra and Rowan are fighting and we think one of them might be dead but won’t find out until book two (or any equivalent scenario), because I don’t do well with cliffhangers like that.

So Tell Me