Gleanings

Arc of a Scythe

By: Neal Shusterman

Narrated by: Neal Shusterman, Megan Tusing, Greg Tremblay, Nicky Endres, Jarrod Shusterman, Fiona Hardingham, Rachel Nalebuff

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times bestselling Arc of the Scythe series continues with “captivating…thrilling” (School Library Journal) 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.

©2022 Neal Shusterman (P)2022 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

"Author and narrator Neal Shusterman invites listeners back to the thrilling Arc of the Scythe series with this short story collection featuring multiple narrators. His warm, companionable delivery reveals secrets and origin stories of existing and new characters. Narrator Greg Tremblay’s familiar vocal versatility and Fiona Hardingham’s English accent and humorous tone make the two stand out in this collection. The final story features Tremblay, Megan Tusing, and Nicky Endres together in a fascinating mental conversation between Cirrus, the AI offspring of the Thunderhead, and one of the many survivors from Earth. This audiobook collection spans the entire timeline of the creation and downfall of the Scythes and is essential for fans of the original series."—AudioFile Magazine

Man I love this series!!!

I have had this on my wishlist for months waiting for it to be released and it did not disappoint!! So glad to be back in the Scythedom! Can't wait for the whole series to be a show on Netflix or HBO Max!! Come on already...this is the age of mortality so we can't wait around forever!

Great book, but not on Audible

I don’t think they needed to have multiple narrators. Also, it seems like the sound quality is lower than the other books in the Scythe Trilogy. They should have just let Greg Tremblay do the entire book. Besides that, I liked it.

not quite what I expected

I'm a huge fan of the OG trilogy, listened to it multiple times. As the title implies, it is a series of short stories that take place throughout the timeline of the trilogy but felt out of chronology out of order making it tough to follow. it's great to see that Greg got to be a part of this bonus project but it was a bit jarring to hear many other voices after Greg did the whole trilogy solo. I'm a big fan of the ember in the ashes so it was a pleasant surprise to hear Fiona. Still an excellent book and well written. kudos

Things I longed for/didn't know I needed

This book was FANTASTIC! The ending I wanted, but never expected I'd get. Plus, there were a lot of things added here that helped build the world that I didn't know I needed to hear about. Make sure to read the other books before this one!

An in between

What could we have expected from this book. For in my case I was not expecting stories that happened in between books or during the books themselves or even in between lines of said books. Needless to say this book put a perspective of the the series into a clear view for others to understand.

Always an adventure

I so enjoy these books! They transport me to another world but with practical real life philosophies that apply even to our world.

So much fun!

Nice finish

I liked this addition to the end of the series. Tied it all up a good listen!

I could listen over and over again

Amazing story collection from the world of Arc of a Scythe. I really wish another story collection were on the horizon.

Sharpens The Blades

The strongest part of this collection is how well it expands the world, and in some cases, our understanding of events that were referenced in the Arc trilogy.

There are different kinds of stories here, different genres, that all benefit your total understanding of the world.

I would love to hear more stories here if they continued to flesh out the total history we are vaguely aware of.

Neal is a fantastic writer, and I really value his perspective, and overall messaging. There’s beauty in all of these stories.


Only thing worth noting is that, in comparison to Greg Tremblay, he and his son Jarrod are not the best readers. I found it difficult to stay in tune with the story Jarrod reads in particular due to Scythe’s having similar names and Jarrod’s lack of clarity as a narrator.

Greg and company do a GREAT job and as you get to the end of the collection they incorporate the voices of others throughout the collection into one single story. It’s awesome design, and it was very satisfying.

All Scythe fans should read this.
I’m looking forward to incorporating it in my next re-read of the trilogy.

best sci-fi

The stories in this were absolutely awesome and do what the best sci-fi does: asks the question what does it mean to be human and what does it mean to live? The stories in this book will stay with me long after and I highly recommend it.