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"I have not, Your Excellency. I was fully prepared to glean him. It was your own Parliamentarian who stopped me. It never occurred to me that hitting Rowan would grant him immunity."

Page 431

This quote tells us that Citra wanted to save Rowan and was really smart.

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"The quota hobbles us all! If it weren't for the quota, every day could be like today."

Page 264

This quote tells us that this Scythe is gleaning out of malice in want of killing others for fun.

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1) Thou shalt kill

2) Thou shalt kill with no bias, bigotry, or malice aforethought.

3) Thou shalt grant an annum of immunity to the beloved of those who accept your coming, and to anyone else you deem worthy

4) Thou shalt kill the beloved of those who resist

5) Thou shalt serve humanity for the dull span of thy days, and thy family shall have immunity as recompense for as king as you live

6) Thou shalt lead an exemplary life in word and deed, and keep a journal of each and every day

7) Thou shalt kill no Scythe beyond thyself

8) Thou shalt claim no earthly possessions, save thy robes, ring, and journal

9) Thou shalt have neither spouse nor spawn

10) Thou shalt be beholden to no laws beyond these

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A Scythe is the people who never die; they keep the population down by gleaning people in their desired ways. Sometimes a Scythe's motives are not in the right place. It is all for a general reason though.

They wear brightly colored robes to be recognized and can give immunity to the gleaned family and people they believe deserve it.

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In this book, Scythe Faraday had two apprentices, Rowan and Citra. This wasn't really allowed and was brought up at the Scythdom Conclave and it was settled that by the end of the year, the best one would have to kill the other.

In the end, the one who wins 'accidentally' granted thee other immunity and didn't have to kill them.

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The author believes that the population must stay controlled, this is shown throughout the entire book! Rowan and Citra are learning how to kill/glean. They have to learn with different Scythes that all have unique ideas about when and how it is done. There had to be deaths for the population to stay down. Without losing some people the world would over-populate and the earth would be too crowded. I think that this theme overtakes every aspect of this book.

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This is the place that if you did actually die, you would come here to come back to life, or regenerate.

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This is the house that Citra stayed in after Scythe Faraday was gone. She apprenticed under Scythe Curie and learned how she gleaned. I imaged this house white and welcoming for the families of the gleaned.

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Dear Neal Shusterman, I really loved your book. I thought that it was super unique and intriguing. I liked how it was very dystopian with the 'conquered death' thing. If I were to give any critique it would be with the way you named things. Like how the cloud turned into the Thunderhead. That sounds pretty weird and the fact that they could talk to it and all was kinda funky. Also, naming the place where all Scythes meet up the Scythedom sounds so generic. Other than those little things I really liked the book and am excited to read the rest of the series.

-Love, McKenley Stine

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I really liked this book. It had a unique plot that was pretty interesting. The fact that they conquered death and that they are now trying to keep the population down was pretty interesting but not overly gory.

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At Scythe Goddard's house there is never-ending party and pool. (He actually stole this house from somebody...) This is where Rowan stayed after Scythe Faraday was gone and where he trained.

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This is where all the major Scythe decisions and topics are discussed with all the other Scythes of MidMerica.

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I just imagined a fully gray house. The walls were symmetrical and just very boring. This is a very unrealistic idea but this is a common setting for Citra and Rowan. They lived here until Scythe Faraday died.