The world is nearly perfect. There is no disease, poverty, or war. There's not even natural death. But with a growing population death must still happen. Enter the scythes. They are the only ones sanctioned to end a life. Death by Sycthe is the only way to stay dead. Neal Shusterman's trilogy Arc of a Scythe follows Citra and Rowan as they navigate the world. In Scythe , Citra and Rowan are apprentice Scythes and must master the art of gleaning, or ending a life. As they navigate their apprenticeships they learn what's behind the curtain of the Scythe world. What there learn, is that not all Scythes are honorable or serve the greater good. The Thunderhead is the benevolent AI that runs the world. It is incapable of malice or of breaking its own rules. It provides the citizens with everything they need. But it can't save them from the Scythes. The Thunderhead can't interfere with Scythe's affairs, no matter how much it may want to. It sees the corruption infecting the world, but because it is within the ranks of the Scythdom it can't do anything about it. It can only hope that Citra, now Scythe Anastasia, and Rowan, the unofficial rogue Scythe righting wrongs, can stop the infection from spreading. The Toll is the leader of the Tonists. Not his idea. All Greyson Tolliver wanted was to serve the Thunderhead as a Nimbus agent. The Thunderhead had other plans. Greyson did what the Thunderhead wanted and found himself the religious figurehead of a group of people whose symbol is a tuning fork and who follow the Great Resonance. Again, not his idea. The Arc of a Scythe trilogy weaves through years of scheming and death in a futuristic tale of loyalty, love, and honor. The first book was the best of the three, but they all had their merit. Scythe was a fast read, but The Thunderhead and The Toll slowed a little. Not in a bad way, but they focused more on political scheming than the first book did.