The teen daughter, Citra Terranova, stands up to him, which he finds amusing. There, he interrupts a family's dinner and joins them, seemingly unaware of their fears that he has arrived to glean them. Scythes are entirely separate from the Thunderhead's rule, not having to abide by any law beyond the Scythedom's.Ģ50 years after the Mortal Age, a Scythe named after Michael Faraday visits a house in MidMerica. Once becoming Scythes, they must take the name of a historic figure (such as Scythe Faraday or Scythe Volta). Scythes wear rings that grant immunity by transferring one's DNA to a databank. The Thunderhead finds this to be the best approach. Instead, a group of humans creates the Scythedom, an order of individuals who are responsible for killing ('gleaning') others permanently, unable to be revived by law. It also decides that death is still required in order to give life meaning, but is unwilling to be the means of death, as it is unable and does not want to be viewed as a killer. Utilising all of humanity's knowledge and power, the Thunderhead solves climate change, mental illness, and discrimination. Although everyone was at first skeptical, every government eventually subsided to the Thunderhead, and all of Earth became united peacefully. In addition, a nigh-omnipotent artificial intelligence called the Thunderhead was also created around this time, described as the 'evolution of the cloud.' The Thunderhead was carefully designed with perfect and caring motives, wanting only to be a loving guardian of humanity. These revolutionary technologies allowed humanity to triumph over death and ended what is posthumously referred to as the Mortal Age.

In addition, advanced medical technology allows any injury, even fatal, to be repaired in a matter of days through nanites (or for more serious injuries, a hospital procedure known as revival). In the year 2042, effective immortality is discovered, allowing humans to reset their physical age while retaining their memory. The book was an Honor Book for the Michael L. However, the new draft is being written by Gary Dauberman. The notable exception to the Thunderhead's rule is the Scythedom, a group of humans whose sole purpose is to replicate mortal death in order to keep the population growth in check.Ī feature-film adaptation is in the works. It is set in the far future, where death, disease, and unhappiness have been virtually eliminated thanks to advances in technology, and a benevolent artificial intelligence known as the Thunderhead peacefully governs a united Earth. Scythe is a 2016 young-adult novel by Neal Shusterman and is the first in the Arc of a Scythe series.

The arc of a scythe