Jackie's Bookbytes

“Outside the rain finally began to fall, surging in fits and starts. “I love the way it rains here,” he told her. “It reminds me that some forces of nature can never be entirely subdued. They are eternal, which is a far better thing to be than immortal.”
― Neal Shusterman, Scythe

“So Sara, what was your favourite thing that Santa brought you?” Lucas was passing the mashed potatoes down the table, and Isaac almost missed the one-word answer. “Jenna.” Everyone stopped talking. Well, that was interesting. Isaac looked unsure where her comment was headed. “Do you mean you asked Santa for Jenna to stay through the holidays?” “No, I asked Santa to make Jenna sleep in your bed.”
― C.J. Hunt, Silver Bells

“I have become the monster of monsters, he thought as he watched it all burn. The butcher of lions. The executioner of eagles. Then,”
― Neal Shusterman, Scythe

“If you’ve ever studied mortal age cartoons, you’ll remember this one. A coyote was always plotting the demise of a smirking long-necked bird. The coyote never succeeded; instead, his plans always backfired. He would blow up, or get shot, or splat from a ridiculous height.

And it was funny.

Because no matter how deadly his failure, he was always back in the next scene, as if there were a revival center just beyond the edge of the animation cell.

I’ve seen human foibles that have resulted in temporary maiming or momentary loss of life. People stumble into manholes, are hit by falling objects, trip into the paths of speeding vehicles.

And when it happens, people laugh, because no matter how gruesome the event, that person, just like the coyote, will be back in a day or two, as good as new, and no worse—or wiser—for the wear.

Immortality has turned us all into cartoons.”
― Neal Shusterman, Scythe