The Scorpion Rules

By: Erin Bow

Narrated by: Madeleine Maby

The children of world leaders are held hostage in an attempt to keep the peace in this “slyly humorous, starkly thought-provoking” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) novel.

Greta is a Duchess and a Crown Princess. She is also a Child of Peace, a hostage held by the de facto ruler of the world, the great Artificial Intelligence, Talis. This is how the game is played: if you want to rule, you must give one of your children as a hostage. Start a war and your hostage dies.

The system has worked for centuries. Parents don’t want to see their children murdered.

Greta will be free if she can make it to her eighteenth birthday. Until then she is prepared to die with dignity, if necessary. But everything changes when Elian arrives at the Precepture. He’s a hostage from a new American alliance, and he defies the machines that control every part of their lives—and is severely punished for it. His rebellion opens Greta’s eyes to the brutality of the rules they live under, and to the subtle resistance of her companions. And Greta discovers her own quiet power.

Then Elian’s country declares war on Greta’s and invades the prefecture, taking the hostages hostage. Now the great Talis is furious, and coming himself to deliver punishment. Which surely means that Greta and Elian will be killed...unless Greta can think of a way to break all the rules.

V much good

Narrator has very weird stilted delivery, with a lot of unnecessary pauses in the middle of lines and terrible accents. Story was excellent, with compelling characters and ideas.

Awesome setting, lacks character depth

I loved the futuristic setting and the descriptions- they offered a glimpse, but didn't take up half the book. I think that the awesome setting and plot would've made for a masterpiece had the characters not lacked so much emotion! I didn't feel connected to them or moved by their struggles and emotions. They seemed quite distant.

I'd love a sequel- with some more character depth.

A very compelling book

The story was amazing, I couldn't stop listening.

The only thing that held it back, in my opinion, was the narration. It wasn't terrible, but some of the character's voices were inconsistent and I wasn't always sure who was supposed to be talking.

Wonderfully Surprised

I wasn't sure that I was going to like this book, but quickly found myself absolutely immersed in the audiobook as I was driving long distances between my residence and my parents' residence!

The characters are enticing and you quickly find yourself rooting for all of them in what seems to be an impossible situation. There wasn't a single character I didn't like (except Tolliver Burr for clear cut reasons). If you like YA dystopian literature, you will love this one. I'd say it's similar to The Hunger Games, but it sort of marches to the beat of its own drum in an amazing way!

I will absolutely be adding this to my classroom library next school year and I'm so glad that I already have the second book sitting on my shelf :)

Fantastic

Great story and reader. The use of AI and hostage children in a post apocalyptic world was fantastic. One of my new favourites