The Scorpion Rules (Prisoners of Peace, #1)

by Erin Bow

The world is at peace, said the Utterances. And really, if the odd princess has a hard day, is that too much to ask?

Greta is a duchess and crown princess—and a hostage to peace. This is how the game is played: if you want to rule, you must give one of your children as a hostage. Go to war and your hostage dies.

Greta will be free if she can survive until her eighteenth birthday. Until then she lives in the Precepture school with the daughters and sons of the world’s leaders. Like them, she is taught to obey the machines that control their lives. Like them, she is prepared to die with dignity, if she must. But everything changes when a new hostage arrives. Elián is a boy who refuses to play by the rules, a boy who defies everything Greta has ever been taught. And he opens Greta’s eyes to the brutality of the system they live under—and to her own power.

As Greta and Elián watch their nations tip closer to war, Greta becomes a target in a new kind of game. A game that will end up killing them both—unless she can find a way to break all the rules.

• ISBN10: 1481442716
• ISBN13: 9781481442718
• Publish Date: 22 September 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[Chelsea]

Thoughts When I Finished:

I felt confused after reading this book but still intrigued enough to want to pick up book two.

What I Loved:

Talos. He was the only character that I really, really liked. I feel like even though he’s not fully human, he still thinks in a way that makes logical sense to me. I actually agreed with most of his decisions but I’m excited to see if he becomes worse.

I loved the idea of this book most of all. I thought it was cool that in order to keep the countries on their best behaviour the AI took hostages from each country and raised them himself basically. They could only learn what he wanted them to turn, which could technically be a good thing. It was a little mean that they died if their country went to war but it made for an interesting book.

What I Didn’t Like:

The romantic relationships with Greta really annoyed me. It felt like she could never pick between these two people. She would even make out with one while another was around. It was just strange and both relationships seemed like they were just throw in there.

I wish we could have seen more than just the little institution in Saskatchewan. I was hoping we could see more of Greta’s home and family but we never got that chance. I think the world building could have been a lot better because we didn’t see much of anything. We were stuck in the same place for the whole book without knowing what was happening around it.

I feel like I was waiting for something to happen during the whole book and nothing really did. I understand that the author was probably setting up for the next book but this book dragged on a lot and nothing exciting really happened. It could have easily been condensed into half of a book.

Who I’d recommend To:

I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a different kind of dystopia book. This is really like no other dystopia I’ve seen before. Also, there’s a little bit of a F/F relationship if you’re the kind of person that likes reading about those. This is also a great book for people who aren’t afraid to love the villain because let’s be real here, he was the best character by far. I’m excited for the next book just for him.

Quick Review:

This book showed a lot of promise and unfortunately ended up disappointing. The plot, characters, and world building were all lacking a little something extra and there was nothing to really push you into loving any of it. Luckily, I’m still interested enough to continue on with the next book in hopes that it lives up to what I expected. I suggest everyone giving this book a shot though because you could easily fall in love with something I didn’t. It’s an interesting idea but wasn’t executed as well as I hoped.

[Stephanie]

Definite 4.5. The world is very strange and different. Not what I was expecting but super enjoyable.

[Beth C.]

The world has been brought to the brink of collapse, and in order to keep humanity from totally wiping itself out, an AI (artificial intelligence) formerly known as Michael, has taken over. Now names Talis, he has instituted a new policy - any ruler of any area must send their child to be a hostage. In the event there is war, the children of those areas involved will be killed. Greta is just one such hostage, who has been at the Precepture since she was 5. Now only 16 months away from turning 18 and gaining her freedom, her country is heading towards war. And the new hostage at the Precepture may be what causes her death.

Intriguing premise, where the it's not the poor that pay the price, but the ruling class instead. It's definitely a well-thought-out system in place within the story, in a world that is far different from now - and yet, all to much the same. Global warming caused catastrophic flooding, causing mass migrations, causing border disputes - then water disputes. Disease and famine and wars decimated the population, leaving roughly 1/3 behind.

The characters were a tad bit rough. Greta was interesting, as were her fellow hostages in her group. She did come across as a bit naive, and sometimes even willfully stupid, though that was somewhat rare. Elian, however, just did not make the jump to believable. Too whiny and, well, immature. Talis was the most interesting, as a spoiled, smart-mouthed AI who has forgotten what it was to be human.

Overall, even though the characters were not quite as developed as they could have been, the story itself was interesting and thought-provoking. It will be worthwhile to read the sequel, and hopefully a few of the rocky bits will have been cleaned up.

[jnikkir]

This review can also be found at my blog, There were books involved...

-----------------------------

The Scorpion Rules was... something. And when I say 'something,' I mean a few things.

1. It has substance.
2. It was absolutely not what I was expecting.
3. It's a little odd--in a good way.

This is one of those books where the blurb cannot go into the actual details of the story because holy freaking spoilers, Batman!!! That blurb (and I) cannot mention half of the awesome stuff that is present in this book because it would absolutely spoil huge elements of the plot.

That being said, I do want to talk about the three points above.

1. This book has substance.

I absolutely loved the worldbuilding in The Scorpion Rules, becuase it dealt with things that I found incredibly thought-provoking. First off, the entire government and keeping of the peace is based around world leaders giving up their children as hostages -- if one world leader starts a war, their child will be killed. This system influences relationships so deeply -- the relationships of parents with children; the relationships among those hostages, who all live in the same compound; and the relationships of the hostages -- the heirs to their respective countries -- with their own feelings of responsibility and duty to their countries, if that makes sense. It was all seriously interesting.

The other amazing thing that The Scorpion Rules deals with is the idea of AI's, or artificial intelligence. The only reason the system above is in place, and the reason it can't be changed, is Talis -- the AI who took it upon himself to essentially take over the world, and to create and uphold this system. I can't say too much for fear of spoiling things, but rest assured, if you like books where artificial intelligences are main characters, and that deal with all the implications and complexities of AI's, you need to pick up this book. Talis is at once super terrifying and super freaking awesome, and I adored him, and I'm not gonna lie -- I kind of want to be BFF's with him, as weird as that sounds. (Note: You do have to make it about halfway through before Talis really shows up to the party, but it is worth it.)

And finally, the (human) characters themselves. Greta, the main character, took me a while to like. By 25% through the book, I was convinced I would not like her, ever. She's emotionally pretty flat, at first, and I couldn't get a handle on her for quite a while. But as the book progressed, I found myself glued to her story, and I ended up loving her character arc.

And while Greta is the main character, there are so many other Children of Peace who wormed their way into my heart. I was really impressed with how Bow was able to take them from (what I thought were) minor side-character roles, to becoming fully fleshed-out characters whom I loved by the end. Every single one of these characters will surprise you in more ways than one. They might even make you cry. (Spoiler: they totally made me cry.)

And of course, I really loved that The Scorpion Rules focused so much on the character arc's -- there's a lot in the beginning that feels very political and confusing, stuff that might turn a reader off (I'm usually not one who likes a lot of names/dates/countries' alliances/etc to pay attention to) -- but that stuff doesn't need to bog you down, trust me. The whole point, for me, is the character arcs, and they are worth it.

2. This book was not what I was expecting.

If you make assumptions about this book based on the blurb, I can almost guarantee that you will be 90% wrong. As I mentioned earlier, the blurb cannot mention stuff that happens becuase massive spoilers, but trust me when I say, that blurb is pretty darn misleading. For one, it doesn't mention Talis, which, woah hello huge selling-point right there. It also seems to imply that a large part of the book is likely focused on a romance between Greta and Elián. I mean... sort of... not really... a little bit... alskdjfspoilers. I mean, if you're looking for a ship... there is one. That's all I'll say.

2. This book is a little odd -- in a good way.

First of all, there's the pacing -- which is slow. Very. Slow. At least in the beginning. The Scorpion Rules is sort of divided into two parts -- there's the first half, which works up to what I thought would be the entire book's end-game, but which happened halfway through -- and threw me for a loop, because from then on out I had no idea what was gonna be thrown at me.

And then the second half of the book was intense and insanely spoilery for me to talk about anything so I have to shut up now. It was REALLY good, though. And you absolutely need to get to that halfway point for the rest of the book to have such a big impact. It's worth it.

 
In conclusion...

Because of the strange pacing, I think The Scorpion Rules definitely benefited from the fact that I read most of it in a day. Honestly, if you don't do that, and instead you read a little bit at a time -- especially in the beginning -- you may be inclined to DNF, depending on your tastes. This is a mistake. If you pick up this book, please for the love of all that is holy keep reading.

I powered through the slower beginning and let myself sink into the interesting world-building and the introduction of all the characters; and then once I hit the halfway point, there was no turning back. I was totally invested, and I finished the second half of the book in one sitting. The Scorpion Rules may be a little odd in its pacing, but the characters are so good, and it kept surprising me right up until the end.


Finally, a bit of a note: I was completely unaware that this book is the start of a series when I read it. That being said, I think that it does a very good job of standing on its own. Not everything is tied up, and the ending isn't all kittens and rainbows, but the story is complete, which I really loved.

--

There were books involved...

[jeannamichel]

Set 400 years into the future, Greta has lived most of her life as a hostage or Child of Peace. A group of children, each from a separate territory of the world, are chosen as hostages to keep leaders from declaring war. Talis, master of the world, holds a strong belief of keeping it personal. If a leader is to declare war, the child from that territory is killed. When a new hostage takes Sydney’s place, Greta realizes that the system she was following so blindly is incredibly wrong. It is time to break some rules.

If writing a book had rules, Erin Bow broke them all. The action was superb, keeping readers on their toes. If those readers choose to stick around for that long, that is. The Scorpion Rules sounds fantastic. The premise is original; the idea of keeping royal children as hostages of peace is amazing. It could have been a tremendous page-turner but instead, it fell short.

With most science fiction and dystopian novels, authors need to take some time to describe their world—to build it up from scratch, or from our predicted world in the future. Bow does this to an extent but stops explaining her world, as if she got bored with it. There are robots (the correct Bow term is AI) but what do they look like? There are scorpions who are also robots, I think.

This book is teetering on the edge of being a joke and being serious. This is the book where Erin Bow translates goat bleats, the goats having even more ridiculous names then their conversations. This is the book where royal children farm and garden. This is book where holy utterances, a highly quotable piece of work by the master of the world, is written in overdramatic sass which is entertaining but also strange coming from a robot. This is the book where the protagonist pretends to be in The Bachelor, while having less emotions than that sass robot.

Talis, the master of the world (and he won’t let you forget it), is the only character worth mentioning—all the others fall incredibly flat. It doesn’t surprise me that Greta herself chose such an ending. I’m sure readers are meant to see a difference between first-page Greta and last-page Greta but I can’t find any. She is flat and a bit boring. It is still unclear as to why all the children choose her to be the leader of the pack; where does all this power come from? Is it because she’s from Canada? Talis, on the other hand, has spunk but is absent in most of the novel.

The Scorpion Rules could have been awesome—should have been awesome. Instead it’s a mashup between Animal Farm and The Bachelor with robots; for me, those ingredients don’t make for a good or even okay novel.

[shannonmiz]

This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight
I have incredibly mixed feelings toward The Scorpion Rules. On one hand, the story was definitely unique, it was diverse, and I was absolutely intrigued. On the other, I didn't care much about the characters, which made it harder to care about what was happening to them.

Things I Liked:

• First, the fact that kids were coming from around the world is a plus in itself. The fact that they were hostages in this place as a deterrent for war? Fabulous! The concept as a whole was pretty fabulous


• The villain is kind of hilarious. I laughed out loud a few times at what Talis (an AI) had to say about things. Yeah, he did some awful stuff, but I don't know that he was awful, or just trying to do what he thought needed to be done.


• There were other lighthearted moments among the hostages, which was nice because they were trying to make the best of a really horrible situation.


• The political landscape intrigued me a lot. Even more, the psychology behind the things the leaders have done or intended to do fascinated me. Because anyone who declared war needed to realize that to do so, they were effectively killing their own kid, which is super messed up!

And the Things I Didn't:

• The characters were pretty "blah" overall. Sadly, Greta may have been the one I cared least about. At least the others had personality quirks, and even though Elian's rebellious streak was annoying, he had some personality. I never really connected with Greta. It wasn't that I disliked her, I just didn't really like her that much either. The threat of her death didn't affect me as much since I kind of didn't care.


• I was really confused about some of the world-building. How did this particular AI come to power? What about other AIs? What does the world look like now? And of course, what precipitated this huge shift? Those questions were huge, and I never really got sufficient answers. I also had basically no idea what the AIs were supposed to look like, so in my head, this was them:


• The love triangle seemed unnecessary at best. I didn't really feel much chemistry with either love interest, but Greta went back and forth in her head for so long that I completely lost interest in who she'd eventually end up with.

 

Bottom Line: This one is also apparently getting a companion novel, which is partly why I am giving it three stars. The storyline itself was interesting enough to keep me going, and maybe we'll get more answers about the world in the next book (and a character that I like more than Greta? Fingers crossed!), and there was enough action to keep me entertained. A few more answered questions and more likable characters could have made this one fabulous.

*Copy provided by publisher for review