COHORTS

This first installment in JCK’s Scythe YA fantasy saga follows two orphaned boys as they train to become warriors and discover life-changing secrets about their murky past.

Soekka and Sprenger are teenagers growing up in the village of Durado, one of the great “scythe” villages of Cascadia. They’re training to become scythes—“the apex of fighters in all the world”—and are at the top of their class, due in large part to instruction and mentorship from village leaders, who are covertly preparing the boys for roles in a mysterious future plot that involves the sustainability of the village. As their training progresses, the pair find out troubling information about their parents’ deaths in a recent war. Both boys, it seems, have connections to elite scythes who were paired with massive, mythical beasts—animal companions that were outlawed at the end of the war and thought to be all dead. Throughout, JCK strikes a tone that will appeal to YA readers, exploring themes that will be relatable to its intended audience—such as the power of family and friendship, finding one’s place in the world, and relying on others. The novel features a number of violent scenes, but they never feel gratuitous. Its greatest strength is its creative fantasy worldbuilding: Durado, for example, is a place that’s hidden among a forest of monstrous trees where the populace travels via a network of branches. The dynamic between the warriors and the mythical beasts, although it draws on a common fantasy trope, is well done and filled with potential. The narrative does, however, suffer from some noticeable flaws. Its latter half is action-packed and powered by a sense of immediacy. However, its first half is sluggish and has an overabundance of extended—and ultimately boring—sparring sessions and sequences of students practicing specific fighting forms. Also, a subplot involving a sick king and a bratty prince feels like an afterthought and is largely unexplored.

A promising foundation of what could be a solid fantasy series, despite uneven execution.