DNF Review: The Swan Riders by Erin Bow

Release Date: September 20th, 2016
Read: September 11th- 26th, 2016
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Series: Prisoners of Peace, #2
Format: ARC, 384 pages
Source: Publisher in exchange for an honest review

Description from GoodReads:

   Greta Stuart has become 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. Greta is ready to rule the world.

   But the new technology is also killing her.

   Greta is only sixteen years old, but 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. Greta can simply do what he’s done when the time comes, and take over the body of one of the Swan Riders, the utterly loyal humans who serve the AIs as part army, part cult.

   First though, Greta will have to find a way to stay sane inside her new self. Talis’s plan for that involves a road trip. Escorted by Swan Riders, Greta and Talis set out on a horseback journey across the strange and not-quite-deserted landscape of Saskatchewan. But there are other people interested in Greta, people who want to change the world…and the Swan Riders might not be as loyal as they appear…

Review:

   Piece by piece..
   I had received The Scorpion Rules from the publisher as a surprise, last year before it's release. Before I started it, I thought the premise to be a new and exciting idea. Then there was also the promise of it taking place in Canada, stories that take place in Canada don't happen quite often, so I was really excited to read it. In the end The Scorpion Rules ended up being a little too political for my taste. There are sometimes cases where the second book outshines the first, I had hoped that that would be the case with The Swan Riders. I can't always be right.
   I DNF'd The Swan Riders when I was perhaps 100 pages in, it took me 15 days to get to that point. Nothing about the story was grabbing my attention, and after 15 days I knew it was time to finally put  it down and pick something else up.
   I had gone into The Swan Riders hoping for a bit of a change, considering our main character was now an AI. It felt like the little times I got to see her embrace her new form, Talis would interrupt.
   This series has turned out to just not be for me, I'm glad that I tried to give the series another try, but I probably won't be picking up the rest of the series in the future.(If it does continue, with a third book.)

Rating:

Favourite Quote:

"He was losing her. He was losing them all."

Recommend to People Who Enjoy:

Young Adult, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Dystopian, LGBTQ, Robots, Canada

Book Review: The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow

Release Date: September 22nd, 2014
Read: September 4th-16th, 2015
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Series: Prisoners of Peace, #1
Format: ARC, 384 pages
Source: Publisher in exchange for honest review

Description from GoodReads:

   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 Elián 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 Elián 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 Elián’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 Elián will be killed...unless Greta can think of a way to save them. 

Review:

 
   Why would I come back to you?
   The Scorpion Rules was a present from Simon & Schuster Canada, it was a surprise too! When the ARC along with the fancy honey candle came in the mail I didn't know what to expect because I hadn't heard of the novel before. So to GoodReads I went, and it looked really interesting! Especially since the story takes place in Canada, you don't see that often.
   When I first started reading The Scorpion Rules I thought that it would have a rebellion sort of twist to it. Unfortunately I was wrong and it was political twist. Where anything else would have been fine, I just can't do political, and because the book was completely surrounded in it. I just couldn't enjoy the book because of it.
   Where I didn't enjoy the novel, I did enjoy the character Greta. Strong, learning, willing to sacrifice for the better good. She I did enjoy.
   Even though Erin Bow is a Canadian Author, I probably won't be giving the sequel a chance.

Rating:

Favourite Quote:

" All we are is dust in the wind"

Recommend to People Who Enjoy:

Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopian, Fantasy, War, Politics, Canada, LGBT