Almost 18, Greta, Duchess of Halifax, will soon be released from the Precepture where she has lived since she was six. Like her companions, Greta is the child of a world leader, held hostage as a deterrent to war. If any nation or region acts with hostility toward another, the child of its leader is sacrificed. Refusing to abide by the rules means one of its cities will be obliterated by Talis, the Artificial Intelligence that conceived the peacekeeping system. Greta and her friends from other countries have been groomed to accept that their lives always hang in balance. Teenage Elian, a new hostage from a rising power in the American south, has not. He is repeatedly punished for his resistance by the Abbott. Like Talis, the Abbott is Artificial Intelligence. He’s also always been kind to Greta, and the cruelty takes her by surprise. The invasion of troops from Elian’s region led by his grandmother, a general determined to free her grandson and get water rights to Greta’s homeland, and the arrival of Talis, who has no intention of relinquishing control, sets the stage for a tense standoff in which Greta and the others, awakened to new possibilities, refuse to be pawns. A satisfying, complex story poses big questions about self-determination and sacrifice and the things that make us human. There is a love story here, too—two of them, as Greta tries to untangle feelings she has for both Elian and her roommate, Da-Xia. All of the characters, including Talis, are multifaceted, full of both strength and poignancy. (Age 13 and older)

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.