Scythe by Neal Shusterman is a young adult fiction novel about a futuristic society where AI rules and humans have reached their maximum functionality. There is no more death, no disease, every invention has been founded, and society is perfectly organized. Population control, however, is a concern, so exists the Scythedom--humans given the ability the eliminate random human beings from the population based on the statistical causes of death before the modern age. This novel follows two teenage scythe's-in-training who must compete to become the next scythe. The only catch? Neither of them wants the role.

Scythe challenges our students to question what a world run by AI may do to human involvement in society, the ethical dilemmas that come with the scythedom, and the meaning of a life without purpose.