Erin Bow

In the future, the UN has brought back an ancient way to keep the peace. The children of world leaders are held hostage—if a war begins, they pay with their lives. Greta is the Crown Princess of the Pan Polar Confederacy, a superpower formed of modern-day Canada. She is also a Child of Peace, a hostage held by the de facto ruler of the world, the great Artificial Intelligence, Talis. The hostages are Talis’s strategy to keep the peace: if her country enters a war, Greta 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. Greta is furious that Elian has disrupted their quiet, structured world. But slowly, his rebellion opens her 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 mete out punishment. Which surely means that Greta and Elian will be killed...unless Greta can think of a way to save them.

The Scorpion Rules

Plain Kate's odd appearance and expertise as a woodcarver cause some to think her a witch, but friendship with a talking cat and, later, with humans help her to survive and even thrive in a world of magic, charms, and fear.

Plain Kate

Greta Stuart has become an AI. New transmitters have silvered her fingerprints. New receptors have transformed her vision. And the whole of her memory has become one book in a vast library of instant knowledge. She's ready to rule the world. But the new technology is also killing her: Greta is only sixteen years old, and her new enhancements are burning through her mortal body at an alarming rate. Of course the leader of the AIs, an ancient and compelling artificial intelligence named Talis, has a plan.

The Swan Riders

Winner of the 2014 Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy, from the author of PLAIN KATE At the very edge of the world live the Shadowed People. And with them live the dead. There, in the village of Westmost, Otter is born to power. She is the proud daughter of Willow, the greatest binder of the dead in generations. It will be Otter’s job someday to tie the knots of the ward, the only thing that keeps the living safe. Kestrel is training to be a ranger, one of the brave women who venture into the forest to gather whatever the Shadowed People can’t live without and to fight off whatever dark threat might slip through the ward’s defenses. And Cricket wants to be a storyteller -- already he shows the knack, the ear -- and already he knows dangerous secrets. But something is very wrong at the edge of the world. Willow’s power seems to be turning inside out. The ward is in danger of falling. And lurking in the shadows, hungry, is a White Hand, the most dangerous of the dead, whose very touch means madness, and worse. Suspenseful, eerie, and beautifully imagined.

Sorrow's Knot

Simon Sort of Says

Twelve--year-old Aisulu defies the expectations of her Kazakh family and tradition to train an eagle in order to save her brother, Serik, and prevent her family from giving up their nomadic life forever.

Stand on the Sky

Plain Kate lives in a time of great fear of magic. She has a gift for carving 'lucky' wooden charms. She is known as Witch-Blade, and her unusual gift attracts dangerous attention in a place where witches are burned. When her village falls on bad times, suspicion falls on Kate. Fearing for her life, she seeks the help of a mysterious stranger. In exchange for her shadow, the stranger will assist her, but Kate becomes part of a terrifying plan, darker than she ever dreamed.

Wood Angel

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.

Otter is a girl of the Shadowed People, a tribe of women, and she is born to be a binder, a woman whose power it is to tie the knots that bind the dead--but she is also destined to remake her world.

Gölgesiz Kiz

La première règle, pour éviter la guerre ? En faire une affaire personnelle. Très personnelle. Duchesse de Halifax, princesse de la Confédération populaire, mais surtout... otage. Je m'appelle Greta Stuart, et ma vie ne tient qu'à un fil. Il y a quatre cent ans, une série de terribles conflits liés au changement climatique a ravagé la planète : guerres, famines, inondations, exodes... Débordées, les autorités ont fait appel à une intelligence artificielle omnisciente pour tenter de mettre un terme au massacre. Mais Talis – c'est son nom – a vite pris son indépendance et contrôle du monde. Désormais, il garde en otage les fils et les filles des grands dirigeants de la planète. A la première déclaration de guerre, les héritiers des deux camps concernés sont froidement exécutés. Il me reste seize mois à tenir, seize mois avant d'avoir dix-huits ans et de pouvoir quitter le Préceptorat où je suis prisonnière depuis l'âge de cinq ans. Mais l'arrivée d'un nouveau pensionnaire, venu du pays voisin du mien, va tout changer. Elian, qui ne cesse de défier Talis, de mépriser les règles qui régissent notre existence, met nos vies à tous en danger. Malgré tout, son esprit de révolte est contagieux. La résistance serait-elle possible ? Car nous le savons tous : le pays natal d'Elian va forcément finir par déclarer la guerre au mien...

Eppure, una dopo l'altra, Michael Talis le aveva perdute. Quelle che erano morte durante il transfer. Quelle che erano morte in pochi mesi a causa della crisi dissociativa: ventotto volte Michael Talis aveva serrato le loro mani tra le sue, ventotto volte. E poi, inesorabilmente, erano venute le Ia come Evie. All'inizio lui le aveva considerate quelle fortunate, talmente poche erano arrivate così lontano. Talmente erano morte.

Erin Bow

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