Title: The Stranded
Author: Sarah Daniels
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Rating: 4 out of 5
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 . . .
I enjoyed this dystopian read—not sure I’ve read anything with a setting quite like this. Esther is more than a bit naïve—sometimes willfully so—so focused on her pie-in-the-sky dreams of the future that she closes her eyes against reality. The setting and the tangle of rules and micro-cultures on the ship were the most fascinating parts of this story for me, but I liked the main characters, too. Lots of action here, and I’m looking forward to reading the next book.
Sarah Daniels is from the UK. The Stranded is her newest novel.
(Galley courtesy of Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review.)
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