Scythe

 

Scythe by Neal Shusterman   Teen & YA Fantasy/Dystopian

(from Amazon)  Two teens must learn the "art of killing" in this Printz Honor-winning book, the first in a chilling new series from Neal Shusterman, author of the New York Times best-selling Unwind Dystology series.  A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: Humanity has conquered all those things and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life - and they are commanded to do so in order to keep the size of the population under control.  Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe - a role that neither wants. These teens must master the "art" of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.  Scythe is the first novel of a thrilling new series by National Book Award-winning author Neal Shusterman in which Citra and Rowan learn that a perfect world comes only with a heavy price.

(My Review)

Wow!  Such a good book.  This book is about a world in which the world's problems have been solved (hunger, disease, war, etc), and people can live indefinitely.  Therefore, in order to control the population, Scythes, randomly choose people to....kill.  The scythedom is seen as a sacred position to help protect society, and keep the population under control.  Young Citra and Rowan have been offered apprenticeships as scythes, which turns into a competition for their very lives.  This was seriously such a good book, which topics looking at issues of morality which can be applied to today.  I highly recommend this book!