Author: Erin Bow
Series: The Prisoners of Peace #2
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Published: September 20th, 2016
Source: ARC received from Publisher - Simon and Schuster Teen
ABOUT THE SWAN RIDERS:
Greta Stuart had always known her future: die young. She was her country's crown princess, and also its hostage, destined to be the first casualty in an inevitable war. But when the war came it broke all the rules, and Greta forged a different path.
She is no longer princess. No longer hostage. No longer human. Greta Stuart has become an AI.
If she can survive the transition, Greta will earn a place alongside Talis, the AI who rules the world. Talis is a big believer in peace through superior firepower. But some problems are too personal to obliterate from orbit, and for those there are the Swan Riders: a small band of humans who serve the AIs as part army, part cult.
Now two of the Swan Riders are escorting Talis and Greta across post-apocalyptic Saskatchewan. But Greta’s fate has stirred her nation into open rebellion, and the dry grassland may hide insurgents who want to rescue her – or see her killed. Including Elian, the boy she saved—the boy who wants to change the world, with a knife if necessary. Even the infinitely loyal Swan Riders may not be everything they seem.
Greta’s fate—and the fate of her world—are balanced on the edge of a knife in this smart, sly, electrifying adventure.
LINKS: Amazon | Barnes and Noble
My Review:
I was so excited when I saw that Irish Banana Tours was going to be featuring this book. I really enjoyed the first one in the series, and was excited to see where it would go from where it left off. If you want to read that review instead of reading this one, go check that out HERE.
This book fit into something that I often notice as a trend in second books in a series, an "on the road" or traveling story. That's not a bad thing, just not always the most fun for a story. I really liked the way this book went about making the Artificially Intelligent being, Talis, feel what it was like to be human again, since he hadn't been human in such a long time. Being with Greta and seeing just how the transformation into being an AI so recently after being human was definitely an eye-opener, and really helped explain a lot of the things in the story. There are also the issues the Swan Riders themselves are dealing with, that the AI don't even have any record of. There is also a debilitating palsy type of condition that the Riders go through after being possessed by Talis or other AI. Meeting some of the other AI personalities was also intriguing. The fact that someone let a 9 year old girl become one of an AI group that would eventually be in charge of the whole world is really kind of a horrible thought.
Where the story left off this time makes me think there could be another book, although it is possible to end it where it did. I really do hope for another book though, as there are still some things I didn't quite understand completely yet, or issues that I didn't feel had been resolved satisfactorily for me. But once again this was a really unique look at a future where AI is in charge of our human lives, and tries to keep peace the way it thinks is best. And I was glad to see that Greta got the chance to see Elian once again, and find out just what he would think of her now, even if there was more of a rebellion that he had become part of.
ABOUT ERIN BOW:
In the beginning, I was a city girl from farm country—born in Des Moines and raised in Omaha—where I was fond of tromping through wood lots and reading books by flashlight. In high school I captained the debate team, founded the math club, and didn’t date much.
In university I studied particle physics, and worked briefly at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva, Switzerland. Physics was awesome, but graduate school kind of sucked, and at some point I remembered that I wanted to write books.
Books: I have six of them — three novels, and two volumes of poetry and a memoir (the poetry under my maiden name, Erin Noteboom). My poetry has won the CBC Canadian Literary Award, and several other awards. My two novels, Plain Kate and Sorrow's Knot, also have a fistful of awards, including Canada's top award for children's literature, the TD. The third novel, The Scorpion Rules, still faces its award season. No one read the memoir.
Right now I'm looking forward to the publication of my fourth novel, a companion piece to The Scorpion Rules called The Swan Riders, which will be out September 20 from Simon and Schuster. I'm at work on an new an entirely different novel, and a book of poetry about science.
Did you notice I got to Canada in there somewhere? Yeah, that was true love. I'm married to a Canadian boy, James Bow, who also writes young adult novels. We have two small daughters, both of whom want to be scientists.
Giveaway:
- 3 Finished Copies of THE SWAN RIDERS (US Only)
Tour Schedule:
Week 1:
9/12: Fangs and Fur Fantasy Book Review - Review
9/13: The Cover Contessa - Guest Post
9/14: Live to Read - Review
9/15: Such A Novel Idea - Q&A
9/16: Intellectual Recreation - Review
Week 2:
9/19: Novel Ink - Q&A
9/20: The Story Sanctuary - Review
9/21: Book Stacks Amber - Playlist
9/22: Lisa Loves Literature - Review - YOU ARE HERE
9/23: A Backwards Story - Q&A