It’s Friday, so I’m hooking up with Freda’s Voice for The Friday 56 and Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings. The book I’m reading this week is The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow.
Here’s the beginning:
Once Upon a Time, at the End of the World
Sit down, kiddies. Let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time, humans were killing each other so fast that total extinction was looking possible, and it was my job to stop them.
From page 56:
In my cell, two thousand miles from my mother, the blank paper looked up at me. Surely she would warn me. Surely, she would not let me be surprised…My mother would not approve if I died with a scene.
Analysis:
I got this in my Quarterly Box on Tuesday, and started it because it was the one of the two from that box that I plan on reading for which there was audio available at the library. I like to be able to continue reading (with my ears) when I’m doing things like driving or cooking dinner, then pick back up seamlessly when I go back to the book before bed.
The beginning was enough to whet my reading appetite. I didn’t read the back before I started, so out of the gate I had questions. Who was this character who was responsible for stopping the end of the end of humanity, and how was this character going to go about it? I liked that that it began like a children’s story. It makes this heavy storyline start out light and innocent.
The 56 today makes me wonder about the nature of the relationship between the protagonist and her mother. They must correspond, and her mother must be the type who dislikes dramatics. I’m interested to find out what comes between the beginning and the 56 so I can answer my questions. (Currently, I’m in chapter 3.)
What did you think about the beginning and the 56? Enough to interest you in the story?
the (book) supplier 