Release Date: September 22, 2015
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Pages: 384
Received: eARC from Publisher
Star Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
A world battered by climate shift and war turns to an ancient method of keeping peace: the exchange of hostages. The Children of Peace - sons and daughters of kings and presidents and generals - are raised together in small, isolated schools called Preceptures. There, they learn history and political theory, and are taught to gracefully accept what may well be their fate: to die if their countries declare war.
Greta Gustafsen Stuart, Duchess of Halifax and Crown Princess of the Pan-Polar Confederation, is the pride of the North American Prefecture. Learned and disciplined, Greta is proud of her role in keeping the global peace, even though, with her country controlling two-thirds of the world’s most war-worthy resource — water — she has little chance of reaching adulthood alive.
Enter Elián Palnik, the Prefecture’s newest hostage and biggest problem. Greta’s world begins to tilt the moment she sees Elián dragged into the school in chains. The Prefecture’s insidious surveillance, its small punishments and rewards, can make no dent in Elián, who is not interested in dignity and tradition, and doesn’t even accept the right of the UN to keep hostages. [goodreads]
My Thoughts
I haven't had the time for a good dystopia, and this one makes me want to read more. It was incredibly dark and there were scenes that uplifted the situation at the right time. It includes LGBTQ, aka there's gal pals relationships in a sci-fi! I love representation especially if it's in a genre where it's heavy on minor straight characters. Also, there's interracial relationships and I'm so happy this author made these characters. I also enjoyed the culture, story building, and writing because this story felt very weaved perfectly.
Everyone is talking about the "villain" in this story, Talis, and I want to start there too. He wasn't incredibly one sided, but he had a real, full character. Talis was witty and endearing. He is such a fascinating character and even though we don't agree with all his actions of taking children hostage and going to drastic measures when a nation doesn't follow his line up, he conventionalized world peace.
The romance was little, but it wasn't the whole story. The descriptions of this world and characters felt so surreal, I was fueled by action. It's a complex, science fiction novel and was very original. It's amazing to see something else in this genre and especially something I enjoyed. This one is worth your time.
4/5 STARS
Everyone is talking about the "villain" in this story, Talis, and I want to start there too. He wasn't incredibly one sided, but he had a real, full character. Talis was witty and endearing. He is such a fascinating character and even though we don't agree with all his actions of taking children hostage and going to drastic measures when a nation doesn't follow his line up, he conventionalized world peace.
The romance was little, but it wasn't the whole story. The descriptions of this world and characters felt so surreal, I was fueled by action. It's a complex, science fiction novel and was very original. It's amazing to see something else in this genre and especially something I enjoyed. This one is worth your time.
4/5 STARS
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