✨ Adults Who Read YA ✨ discussion

this has been on my TBR for a while.. excuse to bump it up .. yayyyyyy

Haha same for me! I wanted to read it back in November and kept pushing it back- then another book club I'm in said they were reading this one- so it was kismet!

Coincidentally, I'm reading this with a second book group this month. I'm marking the pages with book tags (thanks Owlcrate!) so i should have some good questions since there is SO much I want to talk about!

Has anyone else started with Utopian book yet? Has anyone read a Utopian book before? If yes, what were they? I can't think of one. Only Dystopians...

For reference: [Utopian - adjective - 1.modeled on or aiming for a state in which everything is perfect; idealistic.

Dystopian - adjective - 1.relating to or denoting an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.]

I started reading this book.. only 40 pages in.. I keep getting distracted with other books.. literally read 8 other books this month lol and have 3 others on the go.. I like the concept and I find some parts really funny even read a few bits to my other half and he kinda wants to read it now too .. just have to put the time in once I get going I know i'll be able to do it.. darn distractions .. and I am pretty sure I've read a book like that before.. just cant remember

I feel you about distractions. That's what was happening with me when I was reading Eliza and Her Monsters . I would get distracted and when I could read I was really into it. I found myself asking if I still liked it and I do, but it was just hard to find time.

Christina wrote: "Has anyone read a Utopian book before? If yes, what were they?"

Get ready for a rant I've been waiting to write down for about a decade:

The only utopian book I've ever read was Extras, the final book in Westerfeld's Uglies series. And, dang, it was terribly DULL! I loved the dystopian world of Uglies as it was one of the first for this genre I had ever encountered; the plot explored the ideas of beauty, societal expectations, freedom, and individuality in a way that was accessible to a YA and middle grade audience through character development and complex issues that were handled and presented with a good combination of action and dialog.

Extras explores the utopia that comes after the problems of said society have been fixed and there's no ... anything. Most glaringly, there is no conflict of any sort. Things are absolutely perfect in this world and the entire thing reads like a Nancy Drew mystery.

*long exhale*

Melissa wrote: "Christina wrote: "Has anyone read a Utopian book before? If yes, what were they?"

Get ready for a rant I've been waiting to write down for about a decade:

The only utopian book I've ever read was..."




It's interesting that you say that because I read the first book ( Uglies ) a while back and was really 'meh' about it. I definitely feel more drawn to Dystopians (though I was worn out on it for a while there) and find Utopians an interesting concept.

If it makes you feel better, there's plenty of conflict (oh, so subtle conflict) in Scythe . But you've read it already, haven't you Melissa?

Questions to keep in mind (and I have a lot to say about this one and have been book tabbing my pages accordingly):

Which Scythe philosophy did you agree with most? Which did you disagree with? What about Scythe training?

So Scythe is a Utopia, or at least it's called a utopia inside of one of the chapters. And with good reason- the Cloud developed into The Thunderhead and everything is taken care of or cured, including disease and mortality. Scythes operate separate from Thunderhead control, meaning that the Thunderhead that has jurisdiction has no jurisdiction over the Scythdom.

The book also seems to dwell a lot on 'because everything is perfect, what else is there to do? To achieve?' But yeah, money and death and food aren't problems in this society. But there are other problems.... :D

PS, what would your Scythe name be?

Kat wrote: "From what I have seen/read, many authors will try to come up with a Utopian society before realizing that the way to create one is to inadvertently create a Dystopia."

That's so cool! This writing process makes a lot of sense as that seems to be the basis for many original dystopian societies in literature. Everything seems perfect, but someone starts to scratch at the surface and discovers the flaws in the structure.

Kat wrote: "So, is the Scythe world a Utopia?"

This is a really great question and one that a lot of my teens got excited about when I talked up this book. Though society itself is pristine, I feel like my vote is... no (?). The very definition of "utopia" notes it is "an imagined place" and it feels unreachable. There is no longer anything to strive towards; stagnation does not feel like a utopia.

I typed myself in circles before settling on the above. Any further thoughts on this one?

Melissa wrote: "Kat wrote: "From what I have seen/read, many authors will try to come up with a Utopian society before realizing that the way to create one is to inadvertently create a Dystopia."

That's so cool! ..."

I'm could see how you could do that. I think my argument is that it is open to interpretation? or that the Utopian they designed has changed and no longer meets the needs of its people? From what Scythe Curie writes, the Utopian was designed when humans/the Thunderhead cured death. Once mortality was cured, that's when things became stagnant- what is there to work towards? And people can "turn the corner" several times before even maybe meeting a Scythe.

It fits a Utopian description because housing, monetary, and food needs are all met. We have (kind of?) exponential room for human growth because a system has been created to adjust for them. This system both referring to the Scythdom as well as the Thunderhead's abilities.

Soooo....it's both? It is a Utopian in concept, but the concept has 2 flaws- it's peoples needs have changed and the Scythdom cannot always rebalance itself. Because of that, it's kind of changing away from being a Utopian.

Those are my circles of thinking lol.

Kat wrote: "Christina wrote: "Melissa wrote: "Kat wrote: "From what I have seen/read, many authors will try to come up with a Utopian society before realizing that the way to create one is to inadvertently cre..."

HA! There probably was! It's one of those pivotal points of being human.

I think ... this will be one book I don't finish!!!!!!!! I just am not picking it up .. I'm 100 pages in now .. and I'm bored, like the concept, etc. Interested to see where the "mass murder" type line goes but gawd I just cant lol and book goes back in 6 days

Ashley wrote: "I think ... this will be one book I don't finish!!!!!!!! I just am not picking it up .. I'm 100 pages in now .. and I'm bored, like the concept, etc. Interested to see where the "mass murder" type ..."

Haha, fair enough. It seems you and I have occasionally polar opposite opinions lol, definitely keeps things interesting!

What are your current reads?

bunch of romance ARCs .......and under rose tainted skies .. I always push through books even ones I hate except a few .. I think library books are different there's 2 I returned after a few pages because I'm like, well, that was free heh.. true it's always interesting with differences of tastes

I do the same thing with free books lol, it's mostly why I try to get ARCs or check books out :)

Final questions about Scythe:

What did you think about The Thunderhead?

What did you think about the Thunderhead vs. Scythe premise?

We are told by Scythe Curie that this is a Utopian society, do you think that is fitting? Or maybe that idea has started to shatter?

Who was your favorite Scythe? Which one do you think fit their chosen name best?

What did you think about the villain? Was he entirely wrong?

Overall thoughts? Remaining questions? (I read this for another book club and my copy is FULL of sticky tabs! I have so much more to say!)

Christina wrote: "What did you think about the villain? Was he entirely wrong? "

I absolutely loved the villain as I hated him so much, but he had his own philosophy that he stood by. As with any good villain, he didn't see himself as such; he thought everything he did was the right way to do it and all others were beneath him. It was an interesting take on an antagonist in a world where everything is "perfect;" he was a symptom of the broken system, demonstrating the dystopia that truly exists.

Christina wrote: "Overall thoughts? "

I expressed this in an in-person book club as well, but I'll mention it here as well. By the end of Scythe, we have seen that this is a dystopian world; progress of any kind seems to be at a standstill but it is clear that people can still do amazing things if they only saw the point. This is demonstrated by the weapons exhibit presented to the Scythes; new methods of gleaning are still being invented, but this is the only example we see where humans are accomplishing something beyond merely existing.

Think of what people could do if they had that drive to use all the knowledge stored in the Thunderhead!

Melissa wrote: "Christina wrote: "What did you think about the villain? Was he entirely wrong? "

I absolutely loved the villain as I hated him so much, but he had his own philosophy that he stood by. As with any ..."

As a librarian, the idea of the Thunderhead is both brilliant and scary AF. While patron privacy seems to no longer be an issue, it's an incredible idea to have so much information. I would like to think librarians would still be necessary to cultivate all of that info...though no one seems to use it?

I really loved the villain too! And yes, I too think it's more of a dystopia by the end.