It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, but I feel like writing a blog post today, and I am really really excited to talk about the book I’m currently reading! It’s my first encounter with some Canadian YA! Believe it or not. I don’t think we come out with a lot of YA that really interests me. I’ve been bingeing Fantasy and Sci-Fi lately, and I think that the Canadian YA that’s been coming out has been more contemporary.

I’ve always read Fantasy and Sci-Fi more than anything else (which is something you would know simply by glancing at my bookshelves), and it is the rare occasion that I will read something contemporary. I read numerous cheap romance novels when I was in high school, and I suppose those count, but I don’t really feel entertained or intellectually stimulated by such novels anymore.

Needless to say, my being drawn to Fantasy and Sci-Fi is precisely why I picked up…

The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow!

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.

I am about a quarter way into the book, and am really enjoying it so far. The author has really put a lot of thought into this world she has written about, and I am very curious to find out more. I also really enjoy history and detail, which you will know if you’ve read some of my past reviews, and Bow provides all of this.

It also helps that I’m very very very happy to see some Canadian locations making their appearance in this book! Not hating on American locations at all, but it’s just nice to read about places you’ve been, or places in your country in general. It’s also quite exciting to see how Bow imagines these locations to be hundreds of years later (as the events in The Scorpion Rules take place 400+ years in the future).

The characters are diverse so far, and the plot is setting itself up nicely. It’s very very possible that this may turn into one my favourite books (and perhaps in combination with the sequel which came out 3 days ago, one of my favourite series) of the year.

And I have to cut this post short, because I really want to get back to reading this book!

If this book sounds like something up your alley, you can purchase it here!

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Have you read this book? If you have, what did you think? If not, are you planning to read it? And what are you guys currently reading?! Let me know in the comments below! <3