Thank you to Dave and the gang at The WriteReads for organising this tour and to Sara Daniels and Penguin for having me along. I am excited to be sharing my review of The Stranded today.
Synopsis
Welcome to the Arcadia.
Once a luxurious cruise ship, it became a refugee camp after being driven from Europe by an apocalyptic war. Now it floats near the coastline of the Federated States – a leftover piece of a fractured USA.
For forty years, residents of the Arcadia have been prohibited from making landfall. It is a world of extreme haves and have nots, gangs and make-shift shelters.
Esther is a loyal citizen, working flat-out to have the rare chance to live a normal life as a medic on dry land. Nik is a rebel, planning something big to liberate the Arcadia once and for all.
When events throw them both together, their lives, and the lives of everyone on the ship, will change forever . . .
Genre: Fantasy, YA, Sci Fi
Length: 448 Pages
Publisher: Penguin
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62329216-the-stranded?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=lygZGv97J9&rank=1
My Thoughts
Wow! When I signed up for this tour I had a strong feeling this would be a good book however, this is an amazing debut and I am so excited to read Exiled following on.
The Stranded is a young adult, dystopian fantasy book but maintains a huge amount of reality. Set in the aftermath of an apocalyptic war, what were once cruise ships are now being used as homes to refugees. Monitored by a strict militant regime, life develops on The Arcadia pretty much the same way it does anywhere: law abiding citizens, the rich classes, the rebels and the criminals! It’s a world that echoes many aspects of our lives now but in a harsher and more stark contrast.
The setting of The Arcadia was perfectly described but not in chunks of description. The vivid detail was woven in and out of the character’s actions, dialogues and as a backdrop to the story. From the very beginning, the atmosphere was tense and grim and it was easy to immediately begin to sympathise with the habitants of the ship. The different sections matched the people who lived or lurked there so well.
I enjoyed reading the multiple perspectives of the narrators – it gave me an insight to the different lives on the boat and how they all worked. The main players – Esther, Nik and Hadley are all well developed throughout this first instalment of the duology and time is taken to do this.
I found this book to be an absolutely addictive page turner and I highly advise you have book two at the ready to go straight to – I didn’t and I need to get hold of it as soon as possible!
It’s a thrilling ride and would make an excellent film series!
Author Bio – Sarah Daniels
Sarah Daniels is an ex-archaeologist who escaped academia and now writes stories from her home in rural Lincolnshire. Her work has been published in various online magazines and has been nominated for best British and Irish Flash Fiction and Best Small Fictions.
If you want to contact her, you can do so at the following locations:
Website: http://www.sarahdanielsbooks.com
Herding Cats 