The Swan Riders book cover.

The Swan Riders

Published: September 20, 2016 by McElderry Books at Simon & Schuster

ISBN: 978-1481442749

Please consider supporting your local independent bookstore or library. My local indie, Words Worth Books, can hook you up with signed copies. Ask them!

A Sequel to The Scorpion Rules

Greta Stuart had always known her future: die young. She was her country's crown princess, and also its hostage, destined to be the first casualty in an inevitable war. But when the war came it broke all the rules, and Greta forged a different path.

She is no longer princess. No longer hostage. No longer human. Greta Stuart has become an AI.

If she can survive the transition, Greta will earn a place alongside Talis, the AI who rules the world. Talis is a big believer in peace through superior firepower. But some problems are too personal to obliterate from orbit, and for those there are the Swan Riders: a small band of humans who serve the AIs as part army, part cult.

Now two of the Swan Riders are escorting Talis and Greta across post-apocalyptic Saskatchewan. But Greta’s fate has stirred her nation into open rebellion, and the dry grassland may hide insurgents who want to rescue her – or see her killed. Including Elian, the boy she saved—the boy who wants to change the world, with a knife if necessary. Even the infinitely loyal Swan Riders may not be everything they seem.

Greta’s fate—and the fate of her world—are balanced on the edge of a knife in this smart, sly, electrifying adventure.

Reviewers Say

"This is a treatise on humanity and love and the importance of caring—and also a sharp science-fiction novel of a weirdly plausible future. Brilliant and compelling: don’t miss this"  -- Kirkus, starred review

"A fascinating follow-up and stunning story that is a must-read for fans of the first volume." -- School Library Journal, starred review

"In the follow-up to last year’s The Scorpion Rules (one of The Globe 100’s Best Books of 2015), Canadian fantasy phenom Erin Bow dives head-first into sci-fi – and it’s just as crazy smart and shocking as the first book.  (...)  Profound, unnerving and filled with tension, Bow just keeps outdoing herself." -Globe and Mail

​Awards:

  • Longlisted for the LOCUS Award for Science Fiction

  • Top Ten Book from the Ontario Library Association