Note: I received an ebook copy of The Scorpion Rules from the publisher, via NetGalley. This has not influenced the content of the review as I cannot be bought for a simple ebook and would require at least a comfy armchair before I would even consider compromising my integrity.
Does the world need yet another story about a plucky white heroine in a dystopic future world and a love triangle? I might have said no before reading The Scorpion Rules, but I’d have missed out on a genuinely excellent book. Greta is a Child of the Peace: a hostage for the good behavior of her parents, the king and queen of (basically) Canada. At the behest of an all-powerful AI being called Talis, Greta and the other children of ruling monarchs/presidents reside in the Precepture, where they are monitored at all times. If any ruling nation decides to go to war with another, the two nations’ rulers’ children are killed. Talis permits no exceptions.
I knew from the book’s description that Greta’s world is disrupted by the arrival of an unwilling and rebellious hostage called Elian. So when the book opens on Greta chatting with her longtime friend/classmate — a white straight boy called Sidney — I thought I knew roughly where the book was going. I have read dystopian fiction before.
Wow did I not know where the book was going. I didn’t know where any part of this book was going. Erin Bow starts with a brutal premise, and she commits to it a thousand percent, never shying away from the terror these kids face every day. Nor does she elide the benefits of the hostage system, even as she acknowledges that Talis is kind of a psychopath. No matter what these characters do, no matter how pure their intentions or how good their hearts, the most likely outcome for them all is a sudden, terrifying death.
But the way to my heart is really through plot, not premise, and The Scorpion Rules burns through plot like it’s going out of style. Every time I’d glance at my status bar to see how much more book was left, I couldn’t believe there was any, because it had felt like everything that could possibly happen had already happened. Instead the characters kept on resetting the board for what was possible, and the hits just kept on coming.
Although the book focuses tightly on Elian and Greta and Greta’s best friend Xie, Bow wins points from me for her portrayal of the other four hostages in their age group. It’s a group of kids from all over the world, and although they are not as central to the plot, Bow also does not make them satellites to the main characters. They are not foregrounded, but you can see — even when Greta doesn’t have the bandwidth to pay attention — that they are the protagonists of their own lives. Their world and their concerns are not limited to the way they affect Greta (although they do affect Greta, and vice versa). And that is excellent from a writing standpoint (yay for vivid side characters!) and excellent from the standpoint of populating a diverse world.
Seriously, though, guys: Should we maybe just let an AI be in charge of our weapons systems? They might be better at handling it. (To find out whether Talis is better at handling it, you will have to read the book.)