The Scorpion Rules

Dear Simon & Schuster, who sent me this advance copy: thank you for nothing. Now I have to endure what will be at least a year (probably two) before I can get my grimy hands on the sequel to this. Yes, I entered the giveaway so I brought this on myself but some sort of warning label (especially for those with heart conditions who could die from the anticipaction) should have plastered the cover...

On a painfully realized dystopian earth, nations submit to control by UN robots who were formerly human and each country's leader sends thier children to be raised in a robot-monitored boarding school-cum-hippie farming commune, where they serve as hostages against the possibility of more wars. Princess Greta lives in one of these prefectures in the wilds of Saskatchewan with her cohort of six, plus the younger children of other world leaders, some comic livestock and plenty of disciplinarian spider bots. This is the set up for the most amazingly marvelous sci-fi tale I have read in years. By turns horrifying and hysterically absurd, Greta's journey of self-realization is twined with the arrival of reality in a very tangible way for the whole class.

I already started to read it again. Erin Bow needs to be my new best friend immediately so I can steal a draft of the next volume when she isn't looking.

Erin Bow is my favorite author, and THE SCORPION RULES is another bullet point on the list of reasons why. Erin can write prose like no other YA author I know. I consistently must stop to sit here and think “holy shit, what a beautiful line” after a particularly compelling piece of it.

As always, Ms. Bow's world building is extensive and fascinating. Her other books have been based on existing cultures, but in this futuristic novel, Bow builds an entirely new and rich culture to explore. I loved every detail, every anecdote, every moment of hilarity and gravity in this brave new world.

I believe, however, that Erin Bow's greatest strength lies in her ability to construct and develop wonderful characters. I adore and feel for them all. Talis, especially, is a gem. The struggles that Greta and her friends face are more serious than those faced by protagonists in most adult books, and they make and break themselves in rising to meet the challenges. My heart broke and knitted itself back together multiple times over the course of this book, each time more acutely than the last. The feeling that THE SCORPION RULES left in my chest is the reason that I read.

Additional props for a strong, well-developed, totally heartrending queer romance of the kind that every YA novel attempts to achieve but rarely does. Seriously, holy shit.

Basically, Erin Bow has outdone herself and I am so glad that this book is the first in a series because I cannot wait to read more.