The Stranded

• Written by Sarah Daniels

• Published by Penguin books

 I settled down one extremely hot Saturday afternoon and I started my journey on The Arcadia.

I was hooked by the time I’d finished the blurb, I had an idea of what I thought the story was going to be but I was wrong, way way wrong.

By the time I had finished the first chapter I knew two things, one – I needed to read this in one go, and two – I was going to be gutted to finish it. There seemed to be something special about this book and I couldn’t get enough of it. It was like nothing I’d read before.

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 Arcadia once and for all.

When events throw them both together, their lives, and the lives of everyone on the ship, will change forever . . 

The Arcadia was once a luxury cruise ship but now serves as *home*,a refugee camp for those who were driven from Europe after war. The Arcadia floats in the waters off the coast of what is known as the “Federated States”, a fractured part of the United States. For forty years people have lived on Arcadia. They cannot go on land, they are separated by the haves, the have nots, and gangs. Where you live on the ship tells your story. There are different parts of the ship for different people.

IN the book there are three main characters Esther is sixteen years old and training to be a medic. This means that she will one day be able to work and live on land.

When all you know is living on Arcadia, living on land sounds like a dream.

Nik is sixteen years old and trying to help the rebellion. His mum is someone important but that doesn’t seem to matter.

Hadley is the villain. He is also the commander on the Arcadia.

Esther, Nik and Hadley have their own POVs in this dystopian, trapped on a ship, I found this interesting as we see the story told from three different points of view. And I liked how the same scene was played by different points of view

 I found this story to be enjoyable and entertaining. There is tension, the rebellion and the characters themselves which kept me engaged and turning the pages.

What would it be like to grow up on a ship? To never have the ground beneath your feet, to feel grass, or see animals? What would it be like to be stuck and trapped?

I liked the pace of the book, it started slowly getting the background set up and giving the reader all the information you need to build a picture of life on board, all the rules and regulations. And as you go on the pace picks up. You are made to feel as if you are on board living under these rules and regulations. 

It was interesting to see the relationship between Esther and her boyfriend Alex, how as a reader/adult we can see it’s not a healthy relationship and how quietly Alex is controlling Esther and how she can’t see it. I wonder if a younger reader would pick up on this,  I took an instant dislike to this character and nothing could change my opinion of him.

I can honestly say I was pleased with how the author dealt with Alex.

As we came to the end it ended on a cliffhanger and as readers we knew that there was going to be another one. Yeah sure you can leave it there but for me that would be unthinkable and every reader would need to find out what happened next.

So now I needed to read the next one and I couldn’t wait.

The Exiled.

Written by Sarah Daniels.

I decided to leave a space of a week between finishing The Stranded and starting this one, I just wanted to miss the characters a bit before I carried on.

By the time I had finished chapter one I was again hooked.

Trust no one.

It is six months since the Arcadia set sail for the first time in forty years. But this wasn’t the freedom the inhabitants were hoping for.

Esther Crossland did what she had to do, but it has left a trail of destruction in her wake. Now the wrecked ship is abandoned. Its inhabitants are in exile, trapped in sprawling make-shift shelters made up of warehouses, tents, shipping containers.

Esther and Nik, architects of the rebellion, are on the run. Esther is in hiding, desperate to do something to help her people, and Nik seems to have abandoned all hope, on a journey taking him further and further from home. And neither of them want to face up to their true feelings about one another . . .

Not only that, there is a new villain in town. With the fall of Commander Hadley, it’s left to the ruthless Admiral Janek to deal with the traitors, and her own past is beginning to catch-up with her.

Then the shaky ceasefire negotiated by General Lall, Nik’s mum, falls apart. Nik and Esther find themselves in a world of betrayals and double crossings – a game of power, with no one to trust but themselves.

It’s time for the final showdown.

So there are a few changes in this book, firstly where’s 

THE STRANDED was set almost entirely on the one ship, THE EXILED takes place in more locations. There are more characters in this book, and in The Stranded there were 3 points of view. This time we have 4 points of view, we keep Esther and Nik but we have gained Meg- who is tricky to work out and Janek who replaces Hadley as the baddie.

 The book starts out with just Meg and Esther for a while, as they’re in the same location. It then switches to Nik and Janek, before bringing all their stories together.There was one small plot twist I predicted but everything else was so well orchestrated that I couldn’t know what was going to happen next, driving me to keep reading this book so that I could find out the fate of those who escaped the Arcadia. Not only that but the climax of the book was tension filled and well paced. Overall the book was the perfect place, slow where it needed to be and fast when the tension and action was taking place.

The characters of this book are so complex and  brilliantly written.I got very invested in Esther and Nik and the cast of characters whilst I read The Stranded and this book only built on that whilst adding new characters to the mix. There were plenty of times that it seemed that everything Esther touched went wrong. And the more she tried the more she messed up.

The world Sarah Daniels has built up over 2 books is truly breathtaking and for me I’m extremely excited about what comes next for her.