The Toll left off with the death of a young girl, and the subsequent search for her killer. Gleanings picks up where that story leaves off, with new characters and a more detailed exploration of the world around them.
This anthology collection, Gleanings, is concerned with the ethics of killing for a supposed “greater good.” But it also highlights the performance of gleaning in this society, the identity shift that comes from becoming a scythe, and the unwieldy-yet-powerful nature of memory in a society where life goes on and on. ..
The first swing of the scythedom was a gift from the sky. It was a free gift, given to us by the wind. It was a way for us to be free and to do what we wanted. We could be whoever we wanted to be, and we could do whatever we wanted to do.
The poem is about the power of memory. It asks the question: How can we remember our past, when so many of them have been taken from us? The stories in this anthology explore different ways that people have tried to remember their past, and how it has affected them.
Some of Shusterman’s stories don’t contribute too much to his beautifully-conceived dystopian world. “Never Work with Animals” and its almost-too-silly premise at least offer some fun ridicule of corrupt scythes. And “Cirri” demonstrates Shusterman’s struggle to ground his stories in their sci-fi elements. While the Thunderhead (the artificial intelligence from which Cirri branches off) is a necessary and interesting facet of the dystopian series, I always find it more compelling when Shusterman focuses on the human emotions and struggles within a world that’s saturated by AI. ..
I enjoyed the way Gleanings treated its subject (scythes and their objective) a lightly derisive and mocking treatment.
The First Swing sets the stage for the rest of the stories in Arc of a Scythe. “The Persistence of Memory” and “A Dark Curtain Rises” are especially poignant because they show how the scythedom fails to achieve its goals. Gleanings wraps up the arc satisfactorily by showing how scythes and gleanings can be respectfully treated. ..
If you haven’t read the Arc of a Scythe series, it might be helpful to do so before reading this collection. This book is for diehard Neal Shusterman fans who want to explore further entries in his unique world. ..
Our thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced reader’s copy. Gleanings: Stories from the Arc of a Scythe will be published on November 8th 2022. You can pre-order the novel here!
