Gleanings: Arc of a Scythe

What worked: I'm a huge fan of Neal Shusterman's Scythe series and of short story anthologies. GLEANINGS delivers on both of these and more!

Readers get to read about other Scythes in this very engaging novel.

Here's a few of my favorite short stories:

NEVER WORK WITH ANIMALS is a haunting tale of not underestimating animals from those you might glean.

A DEATH OF MANY COLORS shows what happens during a town's Hallow Eve when they believe conspiracy theories that include that Scythes aren't real. Only in this case, the consequences are very deadly.

UNSAVORY ROW where after a sibling's gleaning a former rule follower decides maybe being unsavory isn't that bad after all.

THE MORTAL CANVAS is a very chilling portrayal of a scythe rivalry that leads to the unique mortal canvas.

All stories are highly engaging, thought-provoking, and haunting. For example, PERCHANCE TO GLEAN shows how not even dreams are safe from being gleaned. The cost of immortality is almost too much with the fear of being chosen to be gleaned for the better good of this futurist world.

Captivating future stories set in the world of Arc of a Scythe trilogy. Highly recommend.

GLEANINGS is a fun collection of short stories set in the world of the ARC OF A SCYTHE series. This is a great addition for fans who aren't full ready to leave this trilogy behind. It includes origin, alternate, and expanding stories from the world that help to flesh out side characters more and give more context to the original trilogy. Readers who loved the originals will love getting back into this world and learning more.

There are many fun stories in this collection, and many are collaborations with other famous authors. My particular favorite might be A MARTIAN MINUTE that follows Carson and explores Mars, but there are plenty of stories to appeal to different readers. The included stories really span the gamut so there are some that will appeal to particular readers more than others - almost like fanfic from really great authors about the Arc of a Scythe world.

Overall, I would recommend this book to fans of the series who want to read more from this interesting world!

What I liked:
Have you ever finished a story and wished so much that there were more books but books that told the backstory of a particular character or extended a specific character beyond the primary level? Gleanings do just that, and for sure, you will enjoy this more if you read the series before you pick this one up. The stories followed the events from the end of the toll, tell us how Goodard became Goodard, and some just took some science concepts that we experience in the series. And give us a more in-depth look at them, such as hybrid animals and what happens to animals when they die now that death is done.
Final Verdict:
Like with any collection of short stories, some are more in-depth than others, but returning to the world of the scythes is enjoyable, and now I want to go back and reread the series with the insights I gained from this collection of stories.