Gleanings by Neal Shusterman

I received this book for free from NetGalley to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The New York Times bestselling Arc of the Scythe series continues with thrilling stories that span the timeline. Storylines continue. Origin stories are revealed. And new Scythes emerge!

There are still countless tales of the Scythedom to tell. Centuries passed between the Thunderhead cradling humanity and Scythe Goddard trying to turn it upside down. For years humans lived in a world without hunger, disease, or death with Scythes as the living instruments of population control.

Neal Shusterman—along with collaborators David Yoon, Jarrod Shusterman, Sofía Lapuente, Michael H. Payne, Michelle Knowlden, and Joelle Shusterman—returns to the world throughout the timeline of the Arc of a Scythe series. Discover secrets and histories of characters you’ve followed for three volumes and meet new heroes, new foes, and some figures in between.

Gleanings shows just how expansive, terrifying, and thrilling the world that began with the Printz Honor–winning Scythe truly is.

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A couple of years ago, I read and reviewed the Arc of a Scythe trilogy by Neal Shusterman. I absolutely loved the trilogy and gave it high marks here on the blog. Well, the other day as I was trolling through NetGalley, I noticed a new book by Neal Shusterman and the cover reminded me a lot of the Arc of a Scythe trilogy. Then I noticed the title – Gleanings. That was all I needed to see to know there was a new Arc of a Scythe book coming out. I requested it and was granted my request to read and review the book.

Gleanings is a collection of short stories that take place at various points in time during the Arc of a Scythe trilogy. In some cases, it gives some backstory – such as for Scythe Curie and Scythe Goddard. In other cases it tells what happened after the end of The Toll. And in still other cases, it gives some insight into the Scythes and their various personalities, squabbles amongst each other, and relationships with other people such as family or pets.

It was nice to revisit some old friends and enemies in the Scythedom, as well as to make some new acquaintances. I will say this – you will want to read this book last. Read the original trilogy first, then read Gleanings. This is because there are some spoilers in these short stories – which is fine because they’re meant to be read after the original trilogy.

Gleanings has stories that are written by Neal Shusterman as well as having co-authors like David Yoon and Michael H. Payne on some of the stories. All of the stories are very well written and fit in perfectly with the writing style shown in the original trilogy. You won’t be able to tell a difference between the co-authored stories and the ones Neal Shusterman wrote on his own – which is a good thing. I’m usually not a fan of co-authored stories, because often the writing styles don’t blend well. That isn’t the case here and I’m super happy about that.

If you’ve read the original trilogy and are hungering for more of the Scythedom world – I highly recommend you check out Gleanings. You won’t be disappointed.