The Scorpion Rules / Erin Bow

1/5

The Scorpion Rules is set in the future when an AI named Talis has taken over the world, and to keep the peace between nations, has each country send its leader's child to be kept as a hostage, discouraging any national leader from declaring war.

I'm just going to jump straight into the issues I found with this novel. I was super excited for The Scorpion Rules because the premise was exciting and sounded like a Winner's Curse deal. But unfortunately, Erin Bow's novel lacked the traits I need in a novel. Greta, our protagonist, is bland, dull, and passive. Her lack of any interesting or admirable characters is worsened by the monotonous narration. I understand that Greta starts the novel as the goody-two-shoes and is supposed to grow stronger and more rebellious, but her development was portrayed poorly. It was told, not shown. I didn't feel any growth, and then about two-thirds into the novel, Bow adds in a few sentences where Greta blandly literally states she has changed without noticing in the past two weeks. And that was it for growth. 

By all rights, the plot should have been high-stakes and intense, but it never felt that way. Bow never gave me any reason to care about the characters. I never related or invested. My lack of interest and the boring plot was only exacerbated by the dull writing that consisted almost entirely of simple sentences, and most of these sentences were about farming. Yes, farming. Now, I have nothing against farming or agriculture or gardening, but it didn't forward the plot! 

So other than the boredom of the novel, the one other considerable problem I had with The Scorpion Rules is the portrayal of Talis. He is not human, and he rules the world, and he has implemented many cruel policies. And yet his dialogue is disturbingly similar to those of the hipster high school boys one would find in most YA realistic fiction novels. Bow writes him as witty and sarcastic, and this creates a very awkward contrast with Greta's dull narration. His character, put simply, is trying too hard.

I'm impressed with myself for just reaching the end of the novel. I started flipping pages at a consistently rapid place about halfway through, but started feeling bored less than a third of the way in. I was so happy when I reached the end. The Scorpion Rules was definitely not for me, and unless you can overlook the issues previously stated, I would not recommend it.