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Title | The Scorpion Rules
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Author | Erin Bow
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Cover Art | ---
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Publisher | Margaret K. McElderry Books - 2016
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First Printing | Margaret K. McElderry Books - 2015
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Title | The Swan Riders
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Author | Erin Bow
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Cover Art | ---
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Publisher | ---
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First Printing | ---
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Category | Science Fiction
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Warnings | None
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Main Characters | Greta, Elian, Talis
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Main Elements | Dystopia
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Website | ---
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 The Scorpion Rules
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.
This book was available for free for one month on rivetedlit.com so gave it a try and was very glad I did. In a dystopia world, peace is maintained between nations by an A.I. who requires a child from the various leaders to be held hostage and will be executed if that nation makes aggressive moves towards another. I don't know if that would ever really work, you could have an ambitious enough leader to not care, or one desperate enough if their lands can't support their people, in fact, that's exactly what happens to Elian.
While the premise was kind of interesting, what really caught my attention was the A.I. who is, simply put, a freaking insane binky bonkers nutcase. The world isn't being ruled by an evil overlord A.I. or one that is so logical that it is coldly uncaring, this one just went off the deep end and kept going. And yet, he was oddly charming in his own way. And Greta, Elian and the other children need to figure out what to do to survive (some of it involving letting loose a lot of really stinky male goats).
Now to get my hands on a copy of the second book
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