The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow

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.

Reviewed by Chelsea on

3 of 5 stars

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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.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 13 January, 2016: Finished reading
  • 13 January, 2016: Reviewed