Greta is crown princess, which means she, like all other children of world leaders, is sent to the Precepture school as a hostage. Their land is ruled by a powerful AI, and the system seems to work, until Greta meets Elian. He shows her exactly what’s wrong with their world.
Publisher’s Description:
The world is at peace, said the Utterances. And really, if the odd princess has a hard day, is that too much to ask?
Greta is a duchess and crown princess—and a hostage to peace. This is how the game is played: if you want to rule, you must give one of your children as a hostage. Go to war and your hostage dies.
Greta will be free if she can survive until her eighteenth birthday. Until then she lives in the Precepture school with the daughters and sons of the world’s leaders. Like them, she is taught to obey the machines that control their lives. Like them, she is prepared to die with dignity, if she must. But everything changes when a new hostage arrives. Elián is a boy who refuses to play by the rules, a boy who defies everything Greta has ever been taught. And he opens Greta’s eyes to the brutality of the system they live under—and to her own power.
As Greta and Elián watch their nations tip closer to war, Greta becomes a target in a new kind of game. A game that will end up killing them both—unless she can find a way to break all the rules.
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia
Representation:
Gender:
Cis girls: Greta, Xie
Sexuality:
Bisexual: Greta
Lesbian/Queer: Xie
Romantic Orientation:
Not mentioned in the book. Presumed to be the same as the characters’ sexual orientation.
Race/Ethnicity:
White: Greta
Asian: Xie
Trigger Warnings:
Death
Ownvoices: Ownvoices for bisexuality.