{"id":2071,"date":"2015-10-13T00:39:48","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T07:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/?p=2071"},"modified":"2015-10-13T00:41:12","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T07:41:12","slug":"book-review-the-scorpion-rules-by-erin-bow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/book-review-the-scorpion-rules-by-erin-bow\/","title":{"rendered":"Book review: The Scorpion Rules, by Erin Bow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bow<\/a>Bow, Erin. The Scorpion Rules<\/a>.<\/em> (Prisoners of Peace, #1). Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2015. $17.99. 384p. HC. 9781481442718.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Four hundred years ago, the world as we know it developed an Artificial Intelligence, Talis, and charged it with saving humanity – which Talis did… by taking control. After annihilating a few cities to make a statement, Talis took the children of every ruler as a Prisoner of Peace until they reach eighteen – if they reach eighteen. If the parents, the leaders and governing dignitaries of countries, go to war, the Children of Peace?s lives are forfeit.<\/p>\n

Our main character, Greta Gustafsen Stuart, Duchess of Halifax and Crown Princess of the Pan-Polar Confederation, and the other Children of Peace in her Precepture live in fear of the dust plumes that indicate a Swan Rider is coming. Swan Riders, tasked with taking the Children into the Gray Room, only come when war is declared, and on the morning The Scorpion Rules begins a dust trail is spotted.<\/p>\n

This is a romance, but it is a simmering love that backgrounds the plot. The characters rarely acted out of character or beyond age-appropriateness, considering the circumstances. GLBTQA+ pairings were in the fore- and back-grounds, and there was even a developing romance between the main character and two other characters, but these were handled the same way heterosexual pairings are treated in novels: As a matter of course.<\/p>\n

If readers are coming to The Scorpion Rules to experience a sexual crisis alongside the main character, they will be disappointed. I honestly thought Geta was going to come out as asexual, but it turns out she romantically loves a female cohort and is falling in romantic love with a boy recently brought to the Precepture – and this, too, is treated as a matter of course.<\/p>\n

This book had action, Artificial Intelligence, intrigue, plots to overthrow sentient computer overlords, and political drama! The characters were politically savvy, flushed-out, teens lead by a likable female protagonist. The writing – especially the dialogue – is witty and smart. The Scorpion Rules presents a whole, interesting story, delivers a neat ending, and leaves me excited for Erin Bow?s next Prisoners of Peace installment all at once.<\/p>\n

Fans of Ernest Cline?s Ready Player One, Veronica Roth?s Divergent Trilogy, The 5th Wave, and Marie Lu?s Legend series will want to grab a copy of this title!<\/p>\n

Sarah Burkard
\nAdult and Digital Services Librarian
\nGlencoe Public Library<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bow, Erin. The Scorpion Rules. (Prisoners of Peace, #1). Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2015. $17.99. 384p. HC. 9781481442718. Four hundred years ago, the world as we know it developed an Artificial Intelligence, Talis, and charged it with saving humanity – which Talis did… by taking control. After annihilating a few cities to make a statement, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1197,"featured_media":2072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31,108,21],"tags":[110],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}