AcrossThePages

World: The immersive and elaborate world building of this book had me floored. Take the corrupt but human authority of this world and replace it with a sentient AI that watches over the world, and viola, you have the world of Shusterman's 'Scythe'. It's everything we used to imagine we will have by the twenty second century. A world that has everything and more and wants for nothing.

Characters: This technologically advanced world has immortal humans who are their own gods and bosses. They're detached with worldly associations, rules and code of conduct. Amongst them, we have our protagonists, Citra and Rowan, who though immortal, think and act like their ancestors, seemingly done with their life but also afraid of death. Citra is strong, impulsive, calculative, ambitious, morally grounded and compassionate while Rowan is observant, composed, loyal and cold. *They both find camaraderie hence grow protective of each other. *

Theme: Power Vs Temptation, Duty Vs Corruption, Survival Vs Loyalty.

Philosophy: For a Y/A sci-fi book, Scythe contained so many questions that could easily become highly debated topics amongst philosophers, or perhaps they are already are. If a world, meant to be kept corruption free, was left in the hands of an AI, that listened to no one and justly protected, provided and governed it, only to then create a system of grim reapers that killed people, based on their instincts or calculations, to keep the over-population in check, then what was the point of it all at the first place? Why to remove human touch in governance only to provide humanity with the power of killing at whim? Why to create immortality only to provide death for no reason? Why not control the population? Who checks power if the power is kept in limited hands? The constant loop!

Review: Absolute page turner. I couldn't put this book down. I loved everything about it - its world, its characters, the plot, the meaning behind that plot, the scenes, the subtle ways to portray creepy people and even subtler digs at humanity, religion and politics. Moral: Extreme and unchecked power, no matter the wielder and intent, will always tempt and corrupt.

Favourite Character: Scythe Curie

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RANTS:

I know people have inhibitions regarding Rowan but I think people don't give him enough credit. He was a teen, who got alienated, isolated and tortured by all means, but still managed to retain his moral grounds, when even adults would fail, either by fear or greed. But not this child.

Citra's growth from impulsive and stubborn to a thoughtful stubborn was an absolute delight to read. She began from a POV of a teenager who's fun but exasperating to read, to a girl you wanted to know more of.

Faraday and Curie were adorable, involuntary parents and I loved that.

QUOTES:

If they couldn’t find a way to trust each other, then what did they have beyond a learner’s permit to kill?

Please don't hate each other

“The world has a talent for rewarding bad behavior with stardom,”

My greatest wish for humanity is not for peace or comfort or joy. It is that we all still die a little inside every time we witness the death of another. For only the pain of empathy will keep us human. There’s no version of God that can help us if we ever lose that.

Setup: The book is set in a typical American high school environment, where kids are suffering and making themselves feel better about themselves by either getting wasted or bullying the weaker ones.

Writing: A fairly simple but impactful writing, that makes you think for yourself and really look into the lives of the characters. It doesn't use any elaborate words or complex narration style but perhaps its simplicity is what really scratches that itch in your brain.

Theme: The power of observing and noticing things and people around you.

Review: When I started reading this book, I didn't think it would turn out to be as deep, emotional and impactful as it did. It was a cultural reset personally to go back to books that make you really feel and care for its protagonist. I loved how the characters were written, especially Charlie, who's relatable, yet so much better than me. *It broke my heart to see how Charlie noticed every small detail and emotions of the people around him yet no one took the time to see how he felt or was going through.*. All in all, a really heart touching book, that everyone should read at least once in their life.

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• I just think it's bad when a boy looks at a girl and thinks that the way he sees the girl is better than the girl actually is. And I think it's bad when the most honest way a boy can look at a girl is through a camera.

Life would be so simple and honest if everyone looked at it through Charlie's lens.

• And I know that my aunt Helen would still be alive today if she just bought me one present like everybody else. She would be alive if I were born on a day that didn't snow. I would do anything to make this go away.

Poor baby 😭 The misplaced guilt is eating him alive and not a single family member notices it.

• I decided to do my math homework, which was a mistake because math has never made any sense to me.

Real!

Writing: The book is written in poetry verses that's very hard to navigate through at first but then gradually gets easy to follow.

Theme: There were so many significant themes around which the plot of the book, i.e. the scripture revolves. Sin vs Devotion, Good vs Evil, Temptation vs Purity, Hierarchy, Obedience and Faith.

Imagery: Milton uses vivid description to describe not only the lush paradise that is full of natural abundance that leaves Adam and Eve wanting for nothing but also grotesque and harsh hell in which Lucifer gets thrown into. For all his blind faith, he provides surprisingly detailed astronomical insights, through admittedly aligning it with God's creation.

Moral: I don't know what moral Milton wanted to give to his readers other than defying God has gave consequences, not just for ourselves but also for the people around us but all I saw was how parents who neglect their children and differentiate amongst them create monsters out of them.

Review: If you start this book, you're going to need two things first and foremost: patience and an open mind. Patience, because this book will feel a lot overwhelming at the beginning; there will be multiple references that you won't understand, the writing would be hard to grasp and the devotional faith might be too much (especially if you're not a religious person). An open mind because this has a lot of misogyny and unfair actions towards others in the name of divine destiny and the creator's plan so it might get frustrating. But once you get past these problems, you might actually start enjoying this poetry if not for the vision, then for the author's portrayal of his own faith for his religion.

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Which if not Victory is yet Revenge.

This was such a significant moment for understanding the hate and anger that festers upon Lucifer as a neglected son. It didn't matter to him anymore if he got destroyed, cursed or killed if only he managed to wreck every utopia that his Father was going to give to his siblings.

2. For neither Man nor Angel can discern Hypocrisie, the onely evil that walks Invisible,

So poetic and important how hypocrisy is defined as an invisible evil that walks ignored, unnoticed and creates a havoc wherever it goes.

3. For never can true reconcilement grow Where wounds of deadly hate have peirc'd so deep:

Also very interesting how almost all religious scriptures empathise that something once touched by hatred can never be mended to its original state.

4. By Ignorance, is that thir happie state, The proof of thir obedience and thir faith?

Lines that made me feel a little considerate towards Lucifer. (I hope I don't get jumped for saying this)

5. But Knowledge is as food, and needs no less Her Temperance over Appetite, to know In measure what the mind may well contain, Oppresses else with Surfet, and soon turns Wisdom to Folly, as Nourishment to Winde.

The relation of knowledge with sufferance is a saying all too common even today. The more you know, the more you suffer.

6. for what obeyes Reason, is free, and Reason he made right

The reason why I find religious scriptures so discomforting is the emphasis on not doubting what is being taught in the name of faith.

7. For dust thou art, and shalt to dust returne.

The goosebumps I had.

World: Set in modern Japan, the manga mixes the real world with the supernatural shinigami world smoothly. There's no difficulty in following the two worlds, nor is there any need to have a prior cultural knowledge of the set-up.

Characters: One of the most complicated set of characters in a single manga, I've ever seen. Though they appear to have a defined code of morals, each character constantly toes the line of their boundary and appear to act dubiously at all times, which is I guess the real charm of the manga. * Light, the protagonist, has a strong dislike towards criminals and wants to create a perfect world. Yet, at the clutch of real power, even he gets tempted and forgets the boundary between preventing crimes and committing atrocities. L, a detective, naturally inclined to prevent crimes, when thrown a challenge, forgets the main purpose of catching a criminal and would do anything, and I mean ANYTHING, to win this challenge. * So many other characters, all with their ups and downs, are all morally dubious and the author doesn't hide it.

Philosophy: The way this manga messes with your mind, like genuinely messes, is crazy. Every time you support a character's actions or thought process, that character immediately contradicts themselves and you're left wondering what does that mean for your moral grounds. The plot itself leaves you thinking about it, long after you've finished the story, about the limits of power. How much power is too much power? Does preventing crimes make you a criminal? If you leave no criminal, does that mean the only criminal left is you? Is there no other way to actually do your job? And so on and so forth.

Review: I can never find appropriate words to express how much I appreciate this manga. It was dark, gritty, harsh with characters that were either downright horrendous or unbelievably relatable, and posed so many uncomfortable questions through their actions. I liked how real this manga was and it forces you to come out of your cocoon and acknowledge the ugliness of the world we live in. I do accept that the second arc of the plot (you know after the second Kira) gets a little slow, boring and perhaps repetitive but I love the manga at its entirety. I only have fond things to say about it.

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No because Misa deserved better and we all know it; whether you agree with me or not, you know deep down that my precious girl really deserved to have the whole world.

The author built all of his base, only to slime L so suddenly, so quickly, so simply, out of nowhere, just like that? They did L so dirty. His only L was that he wasn't the main character of the story.

So Matsuda liked Sayu ever since she was a "high schooler" and expresses it in front of her family and we all decided to collectively ignore and move on from this? Like hello?

The ending! Holy shit! Though Light deserved what happened to him, I kinda felt bad for him NGL. That ending was brutal and pathetic. I guess karma.

Quotes

Start looking around you... and all you see are people the world would be better off without.~Light

This world is rotten, and those who are making it rot deserve to die. Someone has to do it, so why not me?"~Light

There are many types of monsters that scare me: Monsters who cause trouble without showing themselves, monsters who abduct children, monsters who devour dreams, monsters who suck blood... and then, monsters who tell nothing but lies. Lying monsters are a real nuisance: They are much more cunning than others. They pose as humans even though they have no understanding of the human heart; they eat even though they've never experienced hunger; they study even though they have no interest in academics; they seek friendship even though they do not know how to love. If I were to encounter such monsters, I would likely be eaten by them... because in truth, I am that monster.~L

However gifted you are, you alone can't change the world.~L

Under normal circumstances, humans should have continued to evolve as the greatest creatures upon this earth, but we were actually regressing. A rotten world. politics, law, education... Was there anybody around who could correct this world? But someone had to do it. ~ Light

Only I could do it! I was well aware that killing people is crime in itself! Yet at that point it was the only way to make things right! I thought to myself that someday people will come to realize this as much, and regard it as an act of justice! I had no choice but to act as Kira… it was the destiny given to me. I was chosen to renew this rotten world, to bring about true peace – a utopia.~ Light

For murderers, there is no good or evil. I know that.~ Light

Nobody can tell what is right and what is wrong, what is righteous and what is evil. Even if there is a god, and I had His teachings before me, I would think it through, and decide if that was right or wrong myself.~ Near

Humans are such ugly creatures.~ Ryuk

No...anything obtained by killing people can never bring true happiness.~ Chief Yagami

1. World: The story is set in various places due to the mention of soldiers, sailors, bankers and merchants, bustling here and there; but mostly takes place in France and Italy. The imagery of the scenery, from lush natural elements to luxurious manors to stinging poverty - each image is vividly described and set up for plot purposes.

2. Characters: The book is narrated through multiple POVs, chiefly, Edmond, Danglars, Fernand, Villefort, Morrel and Alfred. Some other minor characters also narrate a chapter or two and each one feels necessary for the plot. All of the characters, with their own goods and bads, help you understand their psyche through their narration. The multi-POV approach helps not only in breaking down the plot into digestible pieces without overwhelming info-dumping but also cleverly stitches the various sides leading to the same shape, i.e. the story's progression.

3. Writing: The writing style was actually pretty accessible, contrary to my expectation. There were certain places where it felt the piece was unnecessary but in no way it was unreadable at all. The moment you get past the first five chapters, you get used to the book pretty quickly. The pace was, as you can imagine, extremely slow, which I guess was inevitable. The slow burn really makes you feel the rage, the betrayal, the emotions of the characters and further along the things feel justified.

4. Politics: The political premise of the setting of this book is taken from the real world historical events like Bonaparte's exile, Royalists Vs Bonapartists, The Greek Independence War, Italian Carnival, etc. This not only forms an extremely strong political basis of Dumas' 'fictional' world but also creates a relatable world for the readers, not completely out of the bounds of the reality.

5. Parallels: The use of parallels in story writing is often used to emphasize the significant differences in the lives of the various characters, the polarity of the psychology, the extremity of circumstances and my favourite, the karma. Dumas uses a lot of parallels at different places in the book to mark different events.

* For example, he used the same phrase "Father And Son" to name two chapters, to show the stark difference between the two pairs of father and son - one pair that, though on the brink of poverty, lived honestly and loved each other to death (literally), on the other, the second pair that only kept up the pretences of their filial nature but actually couldn't care less about each other. *

5. Review: Before actually picking up the book, I was so intimidated by the size of it (like 1000+ pages are you kidding me?) but in a manic frenzy on the random afternoon, I downloaded the ebook and thank God I did. I don't think any classic is ever going to top this one for me. There's no element, literally, figuratively or emotionally, that isn't in this book. All kinds of similes, metaphors, oxymorons, active and passive voices, love, revenge, drama, politics, psychology, philosophy, anything that you can name and think of, is in this book. Heck even the things you cannot even imagine, like gothic scenery, the mortifying guilt manifesting as hallucinations of death and punishment, herbology ang poison making are present too. It's genuinely crazy. Often times when I read classics, I don't take care much about the characters; I always feel like the writing style sets apart the characters from my mind space - I can clearly understand that yes I'm reading a book and all this is fictional but Dumas' writing instantly makes you sympathatise with his characters' tragedy. You're going to feel betrayed, sad and lost as if all of it happened to someone you know. With all of its raving, there were certain weird elements that I had to keep an open mind towards, considering the time period of the book but other than that, A REALLY GOOD BOOK.

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Rants

1. Okay but Danglars was such a bitch. Out of nothing but pure jealousy he ruined so many lives.

2. I loved how Dumas symbolised the accumulation of knowledge corrupting am innocent soul. The more you know indeed the more miserable you are.

3. Edmond & Mercedes deserved the whole world you guys 😭;. I'll never forgive Dumas for doing Mercedes dirty.

Quotes

"We are never quits with those who oblige us," was Dantès' reply; "for when we do not owe them money, we owe them gratitude."

2. "We are always in a hurry to be happy, M. Danglars; for when we have suffered a long time, we have great difficulty in believing in good fortune."

3. "...joy takes a strange effect at times, it seems to oppress us almost the same as sorrow."

4. "Thus all my opinions-I will not say public, but private-are confined to these three sentiments, -I love my father, I respect M. Morrel, and I adore Mercédès."

Bro my guy 🥹

5. "In politics, my dear fellow, you know, as well as I do, there are no men, but ideas-no feelings, but interests; in politics we do not kill a man, we only remove an obstacle, that is all."

6. "...for in prosperity prayers seem but a mere medley of words, until misfortune comes and the unhappy sufferer first understands the meaning of the sublime language in which he invokes the pity of heaven!"

7. "misfortune is needed to bring to light the treasures of the human intellect."

8. "...to learn is not to know; there are the learners and the learned. Memory makes the one, philosophy the other."

9. "The cause was not in Dantès, but in providence, who, while limiting the power of man, has filled him with boundless desires."

10. "In every country where independence has taken the place of liberty, the first desire of a manly heart is to possess a weapon, which at once renders him capable of defence or attack, and, by rendering its owner terrible, often makes him feared."

11. "In life, our greatest preoccupation is death; is it not, then, curious to study the different ways by which the soul and body can part; and how, according to their different characters, temperaments, and even the different customs of their countries, different persons bear the transition from life to death, from existence to annihilation?"

12. "Hatred is blind; rage carries you away; and he who pours out vengeance runs the risk of tasting a bitter draught."

13. "...the most curious spectacle in life is that of death."

14. "For all evils there are two remedies-time and silence."

15. "Youth is a flower of which love is the fruit; happy is he who, after having watched its silent growth, is permitted to gather and call it his own."

16. "In matters of speculation, however, though "man proposes," "money disposes."

17. "Yet man will never be perfect until he learns to create and destroy; he does know how to destroy, and that is half the battle."

18. "Every man has a devouring passion in his heart, as every fruit has its worm;Ideas do not become extinct, sire; they slumber sometimes, but only revive the stronger before they sleep entirely."

19. 'Moral wounds have this peculiarity, they may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart.men who are truly generous are always ready to compassionate when the misfortune of their enemy surpasses the limits of their hatred.'

20. "it is the infirmity of our nature always to believe ourselves much more unhappy than those who groan by our sides!"

21. "Before we are alarmed, we see correctly; when we are alarmed, we see double; and when we have been alarmed, we see nothing but trouble."

22. "...according to the care we bestow upon it, death is either a friend who rocks us gently as a nurse, or an enemy who violently drags the soul from the body."

23. "Someday, when the world is much older, and when mankind will be masters of all the destructive powers in nature, to serve for the general good of humanity; when mankind, as you were just saying, have discovered the secrets of death, then that death will become as sweet and voluptuous as a slumber in the arms of your beloved."

24. "There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living."

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