TW/CW: Much talk of death, loss and grief. Some talk of suicide. Violence.

REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Gleanings is a collection of short stories that takes place after the events of the Sythe trilogy. There are 13 different stories, each with different characters and a different time setting.

I found most of these stories to be very dark and some of them very upsetting.I really enjoyed the original trilogy, but that was because there were a lot of people fighting against the corrupt scythes and trying to make them better people – or at least to find a different world where Scythes weren’t necessary. In this book, you get into the minds of a few too many twisted Scythes for my taste. I found most of the stories to be incredibly, incredibly dark, especially for something that is supposed to be a collection for the YA community. I can’t deny that they were well written, but it definitely lowered my mood as I read them. But if you’re looking for something that’s really dark and terrifying, this book might be for you.

Oooo I loved getting back into the Scythe world! I really enjoyed getting more background info on old and new characters!

Thank you to Simon & Schuester and Netgalley for this eARC!

This book is perfect for those who couldn't get enough of the Scythe series. I know my YA patrons will be eager to read it.

I LOVED the short stories from the Scythe world and the background it gave on a few of the well-known scythes and some of the not-so-known. This is a fantastic addition to the Scythe world and a beautiful way to close it out as well.

I was stoked to read this and was not disappointed, we follow familiar faces as we get their backstory or random newcomers and just general tales of gleanings. The book has various stories that take place before, during, and after the base trilogy so it was exciting to see more of the world of the Scythes and Thunderhead. Overall I loved reading it and would recommend

I readily recommend Neal Shusterman’s work for young readers as some of the best science fiction on the market. This latest, The Gleanings, is a wonderful example and keeps the reader intrigued with a well-crafted world.

Thank you to Simon & Schuester and Netgalley for this eARC! I was overjoyed to return to the Scythe universe, and this DID NOT DISAPPOINT!

Told in short stories from many different times in the Scythe series, this delves deep into other aspects of the postmortal world (ie, owning a pet, the Mars settlement, being the relative of a scythe, the Antarctic region, to name a few...).

While some of the stories were a little long (the one about the scythe with a dog was a bit hard to get through), the majority were FANTASTIC and I loved dipping into different times, places, and viewpoints of the universe.

My favorite of the series!

5/5 stars hands down. Full review to come at Maeflower Reads.

I had so many emotions during this book. It shocked me, made me tear up, made me laugh. The combination of Neal Shusterman’s writing alongside his co-authors’ made this a unique experience to read. It was such a pleasure reading this and returning to the world of the Scythedom.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

Really great story collection that travels up and down the timeline in the Arc of the Scythe series. The stories really add to the world—looking at it from unexpected angles—and a few familiar characters make appearances too. My favorite stories were “Never Work With Animals” and “Meet Cute and Die.”
Fans of the series should definitely check it out!

I was so, so happy to return to this world and understand characters more, both new and old. I do feel that this world has way more potential too, as there are so many more things left to be discovered and analyzed more... Shusterman, when's the next book?

Reading Gleanings and going back to the world of Scythe was fantastic. When I finished the series, although I remember thinking that the ending was appropriate, well done, and narratively well crafted, I also remember thinking that I was somehow unsatisfied. I don't remember if I was somewhat irked by the ending being somewhat happy, or whether I didn't have all of the answers that I wanted. Well, here are some of the answers!!

The stories in this book mostly take place during/prior to the series, although there are a few that do take place just after the conclusion of The Toll (or at least, right at the end). I ended up reading this without going back to reread the original trilogy, and although there are certainly things I missed, I also think that it was perfectly okay to read without having read the original recently (although it will probably make you itch to go pick up Scythe again. I know it did for me). Like many short story collections, I didn't love all of the stories in the same way, but there were a few that really struck me. The story that details the early life of Scythe Curie was excellent (you get to see the gleaning that brought her to prominence), and I also really loved the story focusing on the last piece of mortal art. That story in particular made me think about what it would mean to be deathless, to be able to live forever (mostly) and how that would and could change the way in which we approach artistic endeavors.

I really enjoyed reading this and I definitely recommend it, although in order to understand the stories you do have to have read the series (or at least be willing to be very confused). Enjoy your return to the world of the scythe.

I was so excited to pick up this continuation of the Sycthedom and let me tell you, it did not disappoint! This was a fantastic addition to this series. I enjoyed all of these, some more than others, but not one disappointed me. At all! You do need to read the entire series before this one, but read them!

Many of us have been unable to let go of the world of scythe. This collection provided us with stories that happened before, during and after the trilogy. L loved seeing how the characters we know and love (or hate) became who they are. I strongly recommend this to everyone who has read the trilogy and encourage everyone who hasn't read the trilogy to read it, then this. Thank you to netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely adored this continuation of the Scythe trilogy. Neal Shusterman did a wonderful job with this title--my students LOVE this trilogy, and I cannot wait to recommend this book to them. We will be purchasing this title for our school library and teacher's classroom libraries!

Returning to the world of Scythe felt so achingly bittersweet, knowing the series is well and truly over but grateful to have these few stories to grasp onto just for a little while longer. Gleanings is comprised of a series of short stories (plus 1 poem!) which serve to expand the known canon as well as speculate on events long past the conclusion of The Toll.

The stories featuring characters we had once known, from Ben Terranova to Scythe Curie to Rowan, were beautifully written; drawing the reader into fresh POVs and new perspectives on the events of the series. The stories with fresh new faces were almost equally as compelling, reflecting on the broader "dystopian-utopia" landscape of Scythe through elements like dreams and art and pets. Though I appreciated how these short stories enriched the world-building of its universe, a few of the plots felt a little overly drawn out and disjointed, forming an overly repetitive narrative before reaching the climax and conclusion.

Regardless, I was very excited when Gleanings was first announced and overjoyed when I was able to get my hands on this eARC copy courtesy of Netgalley. The Arc of a Scythe will always hold a place in my heart as one of my favorite science fiction series and I highly recommend picking up Gleanings when it hits the shelves in November.

4.5 stars

This was one of the better anthology’s I have read. It’s a been a few years since I’ve read the Arc of Scythe series, and I felt that all of the short stories did a great job of transporting you back into the world of this series. Since I didn’t remember a whole lot about the original series, I was a little confused at times about who’s who and some of the elements of the world like the Thunderhead and scythe system, but any questions I had were answered by the end of the story. Overall, it was an enjoyable read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for sending me an e-ARC of this book!

Wow, ok, Gleanings, one of my most expected books of the year. I was so happy to get into it, because honestly, I will never be ready to let go the world of the Arc of Scythe. In this book, we have some very interesting stories about this world, and about some things that happened before, during and after the trilogy.

The "origin stories" we get in this book are AMAZING. We get to find out how some loved and some hated Scythes became what they were during the trilogy. I was really invested in these stories, and they became my favorite from this book.

We also get some additional stories of things that happened before or during the trilogy but where our main characters didn't have anything to do with Rowan or Citra (or they might have been related, but you know, Rowan and Citra weren't really available all the time to know what was happening everywhere). These stories are really good too. I loved getting to find out more about how some other cultures worked in this world, and how Scythes from other countries lived and worked in their own societies. I also found these stories, co-written with some other author, were really in harmony with Neal's writing style and never leave the essence of the Arc of Scythe world.

And finally, we have the post The Toll stories. These weren't many, and I found these to be the less impressive. I expected more post-The Toll stories honestly, and the ones we got are interesting, yes, but I wish the author had really showed some of our favorite characters to see how their life went after the end of the trilogy. I get now that he really wanted The Toll to end there.

Honestly, if you're a fan of this world, you'll really like this book. It might not have what you're expecting, but it has something amazing in it anyway.

This is my ranking of the stories in this book:
1.Formidable
2.A Martian Minute
3.The Persistence of Memory
4.The Mortal Canvas
5.Anastasia’s Shadow
6.Cirri
7.A Dark Curtain Rises
8.A death of many colors
9.Unsavory Row
10.Perchance to Glean
11.Meet Cute and Die
12.Never work with animals

*arc from NetGalley*
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Pub date: November 8, 2022
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If you are a fan of the Arc of the Scythe books, you are NOT going to want to miss out on these stories! 🤯 I was mind blown in over half of them (mind you, I read the final book the month it came out and the other 2 a year before that so it’s been a while and I could be forgetting some things that were mentioned in those), but wow were these stories amazing.
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The Halloween story to start with had me hanging on to everything happening. And CARSON OMG WHAT A STORY I LOVED IT! My favorite story in the book honestly. Also Penelope was a phenomenal. The wit on that girl.
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I don’t want to say too much as to not ruin anything for anyone excited to read these stories. But again, if you’re a fan of the Scythdom, preorder this bad boy NOW!
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🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

I am a huge fan of Arc of a Scythe and was super excited to hear of this! I'd suggest to anyone who wants to read it to do a re-reading of the series because I know I missed details. Still, I thought there were SO many clever stories in here, it was great.

First line: Slicing through the air with effortless aplomb, the moment you take your first swing, you wield your axe like you are a master in the art of gleaning.

Summary: In a collection of short stories we dig deeper into the stories of the Scythedom.

My Thoughts: I was beyond excited when I saw that there was a new book coming out in the world of Scythe. I absolutely loved the trilogy and a chance to return to it was too good to pass up. I remember getting the first book just as the pandemic started and having to go buy a copy of the second book because I could not wait for it to be returned to the library. It was such a different world than anything I had read before. I was immediately hooked.

I really enjoyed the stories in this collection. I believe my favorite one was the story of the scythe and the dog. I tried to explain it to a friend but I don’t think I did it justice. But all the stories were neat little looks into what happened before, during and after the time of the Scythe trilogy. The imagination and storytelling is worth every moment of reading. I wish I could go back and reread the trilogy again for the first time. This is a definite must read for anyone who loved the series just as much as I did.

FYI: A few spoilers but not so obvious that it ruins the trilogy for first time readers.