Scythe

This is the first book in Neal Shusterman's "Arc of a Scythe" trilogy and it took home a Prinz Honor award. Set in a "post-mortal" world, disease has been conquered, pain has been eliminated, everyone is guaranteed a comfortable living, and death is a thing of the past. All human knowledge has been gathered in an AI called the Thunderhead, which manages all human affairs optimally. The main problem is that the population keeps growing faster than the Thunderhead can optimize production to support them. Hence the Schythes were created to randomly "glean" a certain number of humans every year. They must follow 10 commandments that are supposed to safeguard them from human follies, but it isn't working. And the Thunderhead has no jurisdiction over the affairs of Scythedom so it cannot intervene to correct the corruption that is eroding the moral order. Two teens, Citra and Rowan, have been selected to be apprentices to Scythe Faraday, one of the Old Guard who still believes that scythes should be compassionate and never want to kill. But a new cohort of scythes, led by Scythe Goddard, seek fame and relish killing; they have become infamous for massacres of dozens or hundreds of people at a time. Since all scythes still abide by a quota, in between their murderous events, they party. When Goddard's clan orchestrates a terrible verdict on the two apprentices, Scythe Faraday ostensibly kills himself to set them free, but Citra and Rowan's troubles are just beginning.

Shusterman raises all sorts of philosophical questions about what makes life worth living in the interspersed entries of the scythes' journals. Chapters are told either from the perspective of Citra or Rowan. Characters are well-developed and the ending was a satisfying one, so it was worth the read and I will eventually get to Thunderhead, the sequel. Kirkus's review concluded: "A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning." School Library Journal says, "A brilliant and gripping sci-fi thriller that acutely explores the consequences of worldwide immortality and asks readers to think critically about the nature of morality." And Publishers Weekly says the story "is guaranteed to make readers think deeply."