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caityreviews's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I really loved the majority of the short stories, although I didn't like a couple of the. The highs are as good as the original trilogy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
vkitoria's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
this was fun! i love the scythe trilogy and i was so psyched to read this.
some of the stories, i didn’t particularly care about (mostly the ones that had nothing to do with the characters from the trilogy); a death of many colors, unsavory row, and meet cute and die were probably my least favorite.
overall, i liked getting to learn more side details from the scythe universe, but more origin stories (like formidable and a martian minute) would’ve made the collection stronger.
i loved the rowan cameo in never work with animals, but i wish we had seen citra! i thought giving her brother a story was a great idea, but i missed her. also, when the last story revealed that curie was being revived (kind of), i was hoping she would be reunited with faraday or citra, but oh well.
some of the stories, i didn’t particularly care about (mostly the ones that had nothing to do with the characters from the trilogy); a death of many colors, unsavory row, and meet cute and die were probably my least favorite.
overall, i liked getting to learn more side details from the scythe universe, but more origin stories (like formidable and a martian minute) would’ve made the collection stronger.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
esme_may's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Never Work With Animals is my favourite by far, Meet Cute and Die coming in second. Was so nice to revisit this series and I’d love to see more from it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, and Medical content
bookedandbusy's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved these short stories! It was great being back in the world and with some new and old characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Blood
phantastic's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Gleanings is a collection of 12 short stories (and 1 poem) from the Arc of a Scythe universe, featuring characters both new and old. While the book serves as a great way to get readers interested in the Arc of a Scythe universe again, the stories vary in quality: ranging from must-reads for all fans of the main series to stories that teeter between boredom and occasional amusement.
Rankings:
- The Mortal Canvas
- A Martian Minute
- Anastasia’s Shadow
- A Dark Curtain Rises
- Cirri
- A Death of Many Colors
- Perchance to Glean
- Unsavory Row
- Formidable
- Meet Cute and Die
- The Persistence of Memory
- Never Work with Animals
The Mortal Canvas is a story with vast emotional depth with great emphasis and respect for artistic value. Under the pressure of a scythe, four students have to compete with one another to create “the best art piece,” yet struggle to understand how to truly create from the soul due to the freedom of immortality. Each character had personality and uniqueness that made their interactions with one another rich and memorable. I found myself rooting for every one of them throughout the story, and the reveals at the end leave an impact that will not be forgotten soon.
A Martian Minute serves as the selling point of Gleanings, being both backstory for Goddard and a reveal of how the Mars colony was sabotaged. Although it was the longest story of the book, it didn’t feel like it dragged on at any point, with it always remaining tense and exciting. You get wonderful insight into Goddard’s upbringing and how it shaped him as a person - perhaps developing a twinge of empathy for the person he used to be. Additionally, this story gives us far greater insight into Xenocrates’ mind than seen throughout the main series. This story is a must-read for any fans of the series as a whole.
Perchance to Glean uncovers many mysteries relating to the RossShelf charter region and its communal dreaming experiment, following two dreamers and their desperate escape from a pursuing scythe; however, the rules in dreams are less harsh than reality’s, leading to one of the most explosively fantastical adventures, featuring many creative elements that never failed to grip my attention. Despite that, the ending took a sudden shift in tone that was jarring, abrupt, and felt like it destroyed everything that the story was building up toward. Had it ended differently, Perchance to Glean could’ve easily landed in 1st or 2nd place on my rankings.
Overall, Gleanings offers a decently enjoyable selection of narratives from the Arc of a Scythe universe. Not every story will be a hit, but most will leave you feeling satisfied with your read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Injury/Injury detail
azrah786's review
4.0
**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, blood, gore, murder, death, animal death, animal cruelty, suicide/suicidal ideation
--
A fun bundle of short stories returning to the Arc of a Scythe universe – giving an insight of happenings across the whole timeline of the series as well as before and after!
The collection touches on characters both old and new, with many links to the storyline of the original trilogy but also elements from the world that were not touched on as much. You can expect lots of scythe action, thunderhead introspection, origin stories as well as narratives from regular members of society.
I kind of feel like this anthology is the series getting the Black Mirror treatment – yes this series is an eerie dystopian in itself but each story adds another layer of wtf-ness to it and leaves us with much to think about.
If you enjoyed Scythe, Thunderhead and The Toll in any way definitely give Gleanings a read. And if you are yet to pick up the series then what are you waiting for!!
Final Rating – 4/5 Stars
CW: violence, blood, gore, murder, death, animal death, animal cruelty, suicide/suicidal ideation
--
A fun bundle of short stories returning to the Arc of a Scythe universe – giving an insight of happenings across the whole timeline of the series as well as before and after!
The collection touches on characters both old and new, with many links to the storyline of the original trilogy but also elements from the world that were not touched on as much. You can expect lots of scythe action, thunderhead introspection, origin stories as well as narratives from regular members of society.
I kind of feel like this anthology is the series getting the Black Mirror treatment – yes this series is an eerie dystopian in itself but each story adds another layer of wtf-ness to it and leaves us with much to think about.
If you enjoyed Scythe, Thunderhead and The Toll in any way definitely give Gleanings a read. And if you are yet to pick up the series then what are you waiting for!!
Final Rating – 4/5 Stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Murder
stacey_the_chapter_conundrum's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Happy Release Day!
Gleanings is a short story collection set in the same world as the Arc of a Scythe trilogy and it does a fantastic job of pulling you back into that world. It includes stories that take place before, during and after the events of the original trilogy through a couple of familiar POVs (though mostly through fresh ones from characters that were on the periphery of the story in the original series). It showcases the origin story of one key character and the basis for a continuation story of a different fan favourite character. It requires that the reader already have knowledge of the society and events within all 3 of the original novels so I would definitely recommend only reading it after you've read the core series!
Going into this collection, I was very hopeful that we would get to see some expansion of the world building or lore (specifically in regards to how the Thunderhead or society functioned), some new material about the key characters of the series centered around their plot (regardless of the timeline) as well as some new ethical or philosophical issues to ponder (true to Shusterman's style in Scythe) however this collection really didn't deliver on any of those aspects for me personally and so was a disappointment while simultaneously being a comforting read. It's really more focused on pulling you back into an already familiar world through mostly fresh perspectives and giving you glimpses into things that could have been or were happening elsewhere in the world. I was really hoping for some earth shattering secrets and reveals pertaining to the original trilogy but instead got some cameos and side character development. It was fine and I enjoyed the writing but it just was not what I was looking for.
As with most collections, I enjoyed certain stories more than others and definitely felt that this collection had it's ups and downs. I wish that some of the better stories had been extended and fleshed out more (especially the origin story; it could have used more nuance for sure) and that some of the others not really related to the events or characters of the original trilogy were just cut.
Here's my ranking of all the stories from best to not so great:
-A Martian Minute
-Unsavory Row
-A Dark Curtain Rises
-Formidable
-Meet Cute and Die
-Anastasia's Shadow
-The Mortal Canvas
-Never Work With Animals (CW for Animal Cruelty/Animal Death)
-A Death of Many Colors
-The First Swing
-Cirri
-The Persistence of Memory
-Perchance to Glean
Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Gleanings is a short story collection set in the same world as the Arc of a Scythe trilogy and it does a fantastic job of pulling you back into that world. It includes stories that take place before, during and after the events of the original trilogy through a couple of familiar POVs (though mostly through fresh ones from characters that were on the periphery of the story in the original series). It showcases the origin story of one key character and the basis for a continuation story of a different fan favourite character. It requires that the reader already have knowledge of the society and events within all 3 of the original novels so I would definitely recommend only reading it after you've read the core series!
Going into this collection, I was very hopeful that we would get to see some expansion of the world building or lore (specifically in regards to how the Thunderhead or society functioned), some new material about the key characters of the series centered around their plot (regardless of the timeline) as well as some new ethical or philosophical issues to ponder (true to Shusterman's style in Scythe) however this collection really didn't deliver on any of those aspects for me personally and so was a disappointment while simultaneously being a comforting read. It's really more focused on pulling you back into an already familiar world through mostly fresh perspectives and giving you glimpses into things that could have been or were happening elsewhere in the world. I was really hoping for some earth shattering secrets and reveals pertaining to the original trilogy but instead got some cameos and side character development. It was fine and I enjoyed the writing but it just was not what I was looking for.
As with most collections, I enjoyed certain stories more than others and definitely felt that this collection had it's ups and downs. I wish that some of the better stories had been extended and fleshed out more (especially the origin story; it could have used more nuance for sure) and that some of the others not really related to the events or characters of the original trilogy were just cut.
Here's my ranking of all the stories from best to not so great:
-A Martian Minute
-Unsavory Row
-A Dark Curtain Rises
-Formidable
-Meet Cute and Die
-Anastasia's Shadow
-The Mortal Canvas
-Never Work With Animals (CW for Animal Cruelty/Animal Death)
-A Death of Many Colors
-The First Swing
-Cirri
-The Persistence of Memory
-Perchance to Glean
Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
Minor: Animal death