Scythe by Neal Shusterman- Book Review

There are certain themes that run through the holiday season- happiness, hope, joy, and of course straight up death and destruction. Ok, maybe not so much the last part, but for some reason I decided this holiday would be a good time to read Scythe, the first of a new series by Neal Shusterman.

Scythe is the story of Citra and Rowan, two scythes in training picked by a leading scythe. Scythes are the new death bringers in a society where death is no more. Sickness, death, and aging have all been cured, so the society created a group of Scythes who randomly choose people to be eliminated from society. Scythes are above the law and are only self governed. Youth are picked to be part of a training program to become future Scythes. The only way a Scythe can be stopped is if a Scythe chooses self death.

Once Citra and Rowan are picked, the Scythe community decides only one of them can become a scythe, so now they are in instant competition with one another. The other aspect is whichever Scythe wins, the first person he/she must reap is the other.

More of the story continues as the two are also separated with one going down a traditional route and the other headed toward a bloodthirsty Scythe who loves to reap whole groups. What will happen as time ticks forward?

The thing that will be noticed immediately before reading this book is this is a long book. At  just shy of 500 pages, this book takes a long time to get to the ending we are waiting for. It is told in three parts bouncing back and forth between Citra and Rowan’s perspectives on what is happening in their lives. We also can guess where the book is headed at times, but there is a good enough twist to keep readers reading. Even at its heft, I found myself immersed in the world.

I will state the ending was sort of ruined for me when I found out 1. There is a sequel and 2. The cover of said sequel. Even knowing that, it was a great read.

I gave it 3.5 stars.

The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand- Book Review

This is tough to state, but I am not a fan of romance novels and especially not a fan of teen romance novels. I needed to state that first.

I am a huge fan of A Christmas Carol though and read it every single year. I also watch the Alister Simm version whenever it is on TV. It is one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

When I heard there was a teen romance novel with the center being a flipped Scrooge story, I bought in. I am glad I did as I got an enjoyable read which was just right for this season even if it was a teen romance.

We know the story of Scrooge- three ghosts visit a cranky, money grubbing old man who learns his life was shaped by misfortune which turned him into the person he now is. Christmas Day he wakes up repentant and transforms his life.

What if Scrooge though was a 17 year old girl and she stays a horrible person even after the ghosts? This was Holly Chase. She was a mean girl Scrooge and she failed to repent, so now she has been working as the Ghost of Christmas Past for the last 6 years (this happens in the first chapter) for a company called Project Scrooge.

Their job is to pick a Scrooge annually and get the person to repent of his/her old ways through research and finding all the right characters to fit the Scrooge narrative. Every year it has been an old man or woman and Holly is finding herself bored.

In her 6th year, after learning she has an intern, the new Scrooge- a 17 year old boy and he is cute! Holly’s life is about to change, but the question is- can she change this boy’s life in the midst of it?

There is a lot within this book not to like- it is pretty predictable and you will see the end coming a mile away, it is a tad too long, and it is a teen romance *wink*, but in December right before Christmas this is exactly what I was looking for!

I wound up having a lot of fun with this book. I really enjoyed the idea of the unrepentant Scrooge and getting a look at the life of the Ghosts. It was a bit of fun. What I wanted a bit more of is her life before the boy. It would have been nice to see how she interacted with the life in her first year, for example.

The only major problem is I did not see a lot of problems with the boy. He was rich and alone due to some life choices, but he is never really particularly Scrooge like. It was also a very quick romance- he sees her and is instantly wants to date her.

I am not sure how I would have taken this book out of the Christmas season, but it was just right for this time. I gave it 3 stars.

Top 10 (turned up to 11) Books of 2017

I read a lot of books and most of the books I read, I really enjoy. They all have nuggets I find in them which are just delightful. There are some books that just stick with me after reading them. They get a reaction from me, such as "Ohhhh! You have to read that one!" These are the 10+1 books that stuck with me all year or immediately after reading them.

There were three books that have stuck with me all year and two of them, I had the chance to read advanced copies of in January, so I had a great start to the year. Each one is different in its own way, but when asked "what was your favorite book this year?" Lincoln in the Bardo will come out of my mouth first, Sing, Unburied, Sing second, and Borne will come out third. Then the person will get angry because he/she asked for just one book.

Bardo got to me because it is the deconstruction of a book. It tells a lot in the complex, yet simple way it is told. The story itself was good, but how the story was told blew me away. I had no warning when I started this book and I did not like it the first few pages, but when I figured the rhythm and kept an eye on which publication or ghost was speaking, I was enraptured. I highly recommend the UK cover too.

Sing, Unburied, Sing is similar to Bardo. I had no idea what I was reading, in fact, I started it a week after Bardo and thought publishers had gone crazy for the year. Once I figured this was Ward, writing in the style of Faulkner, I just fell into the book. It is a rough book too and not light.

Neither Bardo nor Sing are books for everyone, which is why I talk about Borne to people. Vandermeer is becoming one of my favorite Sci Fi authors as he writes just straight Sci Fi. His worlds are different, usually with a nature spin on the story telling, but they are just good. Borne is a world that is alive, has a witch and a bear fighting, and is a dark dystopian world.

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There is no order to this list and these two books have nothing to do with one another, except they were books which stand out and are two books I have given away often.

Option B is one of the best books on living after a loved one has died. Sandberg begins with the story of the death of her husband and is raw and open about feelings and the deep difficulty of moving on, but having to move on. I have given this book away to some in my life who have lost loved ones and I know it has helped.

Coates' essay book about the 8 years of Obama is much needed, especially during this time. These are deep, yet short essays about items that were happening within each year of the Obama Presidency around race and race relations. Coates does not paint Obama into a pretty picture, but talks about the difficulties found within that year. A great book.

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 These two would fall under the funny, yet difficult biographies section, if I had such a section.

Alexie's autobiography on the death and relationship with his mother will have you both laughing and crying at the same time. His storytelling about his relationship with his mother, who had mental health issues, and her death are mixed with funny stories about poop and poetry he had written around those times. While the poems are not his strongest, I wondered if they were more journal entries or right at that moment poems.

Priestdaddy snuck up on me. I got it from Book of the Month on a whim. This is mostly about Lockwood's relationship with her father, who is a Catholic priest converted from Lutheranism. He is quite a character too. Almost Al Bundy like, as he rarely wears pants in the house and has some strange things come out of his mouth. This book was funny and I just loved it.

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These two books deal with death and relationships following death.

I am a huge Tin House Publishing fan, as most of the books they take on stick with you for a long time. While reading it, Rabbit Cake was not my favorite book of the year, but as I looked at the cover, I remembered everything about it. The madness after death, the brokenness of relationships, and just missing mom while trying to hold onto dad who is losing it. The more I thought about the book, the deeper is stuck with me, so it made the list!

Autumn is just beautiful. I have not read an Ali Smith book before and after reading Autumn, I ran out to grab more of her books and even ordered Winter from England, so I can read it before it comes out in the States. This is about platonic friendship between and older man and a young woman. It is told by different narrators, including Daniel who is the older man and is dying (boy a lot of my favorites are about death or dying). The book is looking back at life and taking a moment to appreciate the relationships along the way. The great thing is, Smith doesn't make it romantic as one would expect, except the main character, Elizabeth, has a hard keeping boyfriends because no one measures up to the love Daniel has shown her.
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Since I have picked so many books about death, how about some life ones...that also deal with death...sorry, it really wasn't my intention.

My last blog post was about Future Home of the Living God and I ended the post by saying, this one snuck into my best list and it is true. I describe this as Erdrich writing her own Margaret Atwood type book. One does not know what is going on and that is half the fun. It is about the strength of womanhood in the face of death and the desire to give life.

Long Way Down also snuck up on me. There is a juggernaut YA book that probably most people have read by now called The Hate U Give. It has been on the YA bestseller list for the entire year. That would have been on my list too, but I wanted to shine a small light on a smaller book that is just gaining traction.

This book is written in verse and takes place entirely within an elevator. Will is on his way to murder the man he believes killed his brother. Each floor has another person who has died by the hands of someone else within the community. The main lesson is the cyclical nature of death and murder, but being told through verse popped the book out a bit. It is a very short and quick read, but so well done.

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That is my list. I have others that would have made a "get this one too" list, but I tried to stick to 10 and turned it up to 11! I hope you enjoyed it.