THE SCORPION RULES BY ERIN BOW {review}

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published September 22nd 2015 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Rating: ★★★★★

Futuristic dystopian young adult novels are a dime a dozen, but The Scorpion Rules brought some new twists to old ideas.

It's at least five hundred years in the future, where the ice caps have melted and the face of the world has changed drastically. The countries we know are no longer, replaced by places like the Pan Polar Confederacy and the Cumberland Alliance. An oddly informal artificial intelligence named Talis keeps a peace, of sorts, by blowing up cities and maintaining a system of ritual hostage taking. The hostages, called the Prisoners of Peace, are the main characters of this story. All leaders of all nations must submit one of their own children to be a hostage in order to lead. When nations declare war on each other, the children are executed by the mysterious Swan Riders, the idea being that leaders are less likely to declare war if their own child's life is on the line.

The main character is named Greta Gustafson Stuart, Duchess of Halifax, princess of the Pan Polar Confederacy (basically, Canada) and has spent most of her life in one of Talis' preceptures, constantly watched over by AIs of all sorts. They look after goats and chickens, grow all their own food and live sparse, utilitarian lives being constantly prepared for ruling after their parents. Greta is strong, poised and quiet, though her mind is always working. Borders change in what used to be the United States and a new hostage, Elián, is brought to the precepture. Unlike the other Prisoners of Peace, Elián fights constantly, unwilling to accept their strict lives as lambs to slaughter and he is punished physically and mentally by the AIs for it.

Greta responds immediately Elián, drawn to him and his foolhardy bravery. Their connection is well-drawn, it comes across well on the page. There is a love triangle, of sorts, in The Scorpion Rules, though not really. Though Elián and Greta kiss, the main romance is between Greta and her roommate, Xie. I truly enjoyed the way the relationships between Greta, Xie and Elián played out. The friendship and genuine connection between Greta and Elián is lovely and heartfelt, his desire to rebel that awakens an innate leadership within her, as well as the fact that their nations are on the brink of war, so there is a very real possibility that they will die together, and soon.

Talis, the dictatorial artificial intelligence that oversees all, is a character I think a lot of people will love, but I didn't. Callously glib in a way I suspect is supposed to be charming, Talis is cruel, sadistic and irreverent, consistently claiming he is acting in the best interests of humanity while ordering the individual murders of children as well as the mass depravity of destroying every person in whole cities on the regular. That sort of facile wise-cracking makes for a great villain, but it's hard to find charming or sympathetic.

The characters are diverse: Xie is East Asian (and queer), as are several of the secondary characters; Elián is Jewish; and f/f romance is an essential, though not dominating, force in the story. It serves as both an anchor and, towards the end of the novel, a unique emotional complication. It was very refreshing to read f/f romance as an important component in a novel like this, a sweet part of a whole that you do not often see in fiction.

I liked much about The Scorpion Rules. The pacing was slow, but to me it felt necessary, developing the world and characters. It's a more sophisticated science fiction story than most young adult fiction, more about complexity and choices then action and adventure.