Gleanings: Stories from the Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Abstract

Reviewed by: Gleanings: Stories from the Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman April Spisak Shusterman, Neal Gleanings: Stories from the Arc of a Scythe. Simon, 2022 [432p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781534499973 $19.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781534499997 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R* Gr. 8-12 This sharp, clever anthology, a love letter to a brilliant series, offers readers short takes throughout the timeline of Shusterman’s Scythe series. Shusterman himself contributes, as do other authors who have been impacted or influenced by the original trilogy. While some stories offer backgrounds to scythes that appear fully formed in the novels, others explore emerging scythes, immortal humans, or Thunderhead, the AI tasked with helping, protecting, and coddling humanity as they entered a period of time when immortality becomes possible (for those counting, that will happen in 20 years). The world Shusterman built is expansive and creative, allowing for significant further exploration on how people would respond when death no longer happens naturally but trained scythes could come for you at any point. The collection also dives into how scythes themselves might evolve depending on their personalities—some who relish power or cruelty and fervently throw [End Page 100] themselves into their roles while others reluctantly take on the title and perform the minimum number of killings necessary to keep their quotas. New readers will gather up enough key details sprinkled throughout the stories to appreciate this as a themed sci-fi anthology, but this collection is likely most powerful and memorable if read after the trilogy. The opportunity to explore a world created by one author but now interpreted through the perspectives of many is a rare treat, and much of the richness comes in finding the connections back to the original series. Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois