It’s time to review my entire journey of Arc of a Scythe. But first…

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Series Rating: 3 out of 5

Genre: Young Adult, Sci-fi/ Fantasy, Series

People who should read this: If you gave book 1 five stars or want an epic adventure that doesn’t make all that much sense. 

Click here to listen to my review of Scythe. And if you haven’t read book one, then click away. There will most definitely be spoilers. Actually, I bet there are spoilers for the whole series. 

Alrighty friends. After my epic battle with CJ about the merits of Scythe, I couldn’t wait to dive into the rest of the series. And like most people, I was assuming the rest of the series would continue on Rowan and Citra’s journey. I mean the series is called Arc of a Scythe, right? Assuming that the arc was about Rowan or Citra (or really about Scythes at all) was asking too much. 

Citra and Rowan became but a blip in the story after book 1. I’m assuming that Shusterman was forced to keep them because he created them in the first place. However, Rowan was a lost puzzle piece that never found his spot. His storyline was ultimately useless and he completely lacked a character arc. Citra had almost the same fate, but there was a small need for her to play a few pieces that kept the story going – not that one of the other characters couldn’t have done the same thing. In the end, she was mostly a talking head, moved about the board by the bigger pieces. They both felt useless when you consider Greyson's role in the last two books. Even Faraday accomplished more for the series than that pair did. 

Why else were Citra and Rowan killed off for three years? 

And then there’s the antagonist, Goodard. It’s giving lazy energy. We couldn’t be given a new antagonist, someone that had his sights set on Greyson and not on the consuming nature of wanting to destroy Rowan (at least his bloodlust was believable). Nope. Instead, there’s this fantastical story about Rand surviving the fire, dragging Goodard’s head behind her. Darkness doesn’t even begin to describe what comes after. It’s all fantastical plotlines that take a lot of swallowing and going with the flow. 

If you can stay on the rollercoaster, it’s one hell of a ride, though.

That’s because the books are a whirlwind. The story jumps through a lot of hoops with a lot of plot to cover. I was forced to hang on for dear life. I also struggled to rate the series as a whole, because, even though I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, I really enjoyed the ride. I was constantly trying to find time to read and the characters would hang around in my head. I don’t regret investing in the thick tomes, but there’s just not a lot to justify the time and effort to anyone else. Emphasized by CJ’s reaction when I gave her the rundown on the rest of the series. 

I’m really sad that Greyson was not a part of book one. He was the best developed character – or, at least the character that I cared about the most. He came from the bottom, not having much hope beyond putting one foot in front of the other, gets thrust into this conspiracy by the Thunderhead, and becomes the most valuable player in the world. He essentially is the entire arc of the story which is shown in the way his character grows and changes exponentially. You’d almost think his arc is the series titles, yet he’s not a Scythe. Would the story have been better as a duology with Greyson as the introduction to the world? The importance of book one, however, is not Citra and Rowan’s story, but the introduction of the universe’s rules and the background of the Scythes. I couldn’t imagine trying to figure that out on top of the stuff that was thrown at me. 

Still, the ending was a clusterfuck that I wasn’t really expecting or entirely satisfied with. I get that the answer is finally found, but it made the entire world (forget the story) feel pointless. And how come everyone else got the option? Why was no one else allowed to make the space choice? Then to have the climax come on so quickly and end just as quickly… I wasn’t satisfied at all. I can agree with the logic that Sushterman was serving, just not the overall path to getting there. 

Sushterman was able to deliver a few good things like Jeri. And the idea of the Scythdome as well. I don’t see anyone else producing this thought experiment. And my little dark heart loved that the story didn’t shy away from being dark and gritty. 

I really do wonder… does my review make you want to read the rest of the series? Let me know in the comments below. Otherwise, I hope that I made your decision a little bit easier.

Happy Reading.

Kait