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. Ben 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 . . .
Welcome to the Arcadia. When waves of refugees arrive fleeing biological warfare in Europe, the United States is placed into a strict quarantine. The Arcadia and other vessels fleeing the virus are forced to anchor off-shore, along with all their passengers and crew.
Forty years later, the once-luxurious cruise ships have become home to the stranded: descendants of passengers and crew alike, now divided into extremes of privilege and poverty. Desperate to get a coveted ticket to the Federated States, the citizens of the Arcadia work flat-out under an increasingly militant regime, training to become citizen-soldiers and medics. But can they ever work hard enough to be valued by a country that doesn’t want them? And if playing by the rules stops being an option, how else can the stranded obtain their liberation?
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw cruise ships quarantined and turned away from ports, the premise of Sarah Daniels’s YA dystopian thriller The Stranded seems all too realistic. And whilst the focus is very much on the decedents of those original passengers and crew, there are just enough glimpses into the past to get a very real sense of the terror and confusion that the virus – a by-product of biological warfare between unnamed European nation-states – caused.
Not that things are very much better for the occupants of the Arcadia in the present day. Although ostensibly governed by The Captain, everyone on the Arcadia knows that the real rules are enforced by Hadley and his gang of brutal Coalies. Unless you head below the waterline and into Neath territory, in which case you’re going to be at the mercy of Silas or Enid and their respective gang members. It’s a fantastically realised world in which the politics of class and race are played out in microcosm against the tattered remnants of the ship’s former hierarchy.
The Stranded‘s protagonists are equally compelling. Esther is just desperate to get off the ship, studying every hour she can in the hope that she can prove her loyalty to the Federated States and get the chance to live a life on land. For Nik, the Federated States represent the people who took his father. Working for the rebellion, he knows the truth about what the Coalies are doing on other ships and he’ll do whatever it takes to liberate the Arcadia once and for all. Both make for exasperatingly realistic teen protagonists, complete with the full complement of ‘coming of age’ problems: complicated relationships, unwanted feelings for each other, families in jeopardy, festering resentments, and the small matter of a ship-wide rebellion to run.
We also get chapters from the perspective of Hadley, the sociopathic commander of the Coalies who act as both the Arcadia‘s security services and the watchful eyes of the Federated States. Hadley, however, has his own agenda – and he isn’t about to let two teenagers get in the way of that. I have to admit that I did find Hadley a one-sided villain. He’s the kind of out-and-out evil that, if I’m honest, isn’t all that interesting to me and I found his chapters considerably less engaging than those told from the perspectives of Nik and Esther. I also guessed the other major villain (no spoilers!) from almost the get-go, which somewhat undermined what I think is supposed to be a late-book reveal.
For all that The Stranded is billed as a dystopian thriller, it also has a surprisingly slow start. Short chapters and changing perspectives keep the pages turning – as does the impressive world-building – but Daniels does take her time establishing all of the major players before really kicking off the action. Personally I found the premise and the characters interesting and engaging enough that this didn’t bother me but, if you like your books to hit the ground running, be aware you have to do a little leg-work before The Stranded really picks up the pace. That said, once it does get going, the plot starts running downhill faster than a boulder with rocket boosters attached!
Because The Stranded is the first in a duology, don’t expect the ending to wrap up nice and neatly either. Indeed, if you hate cliffhangers, I’d just go out and acquire both The Stranded and its sequel, The Exiled, at the same time because boy, does this book end with a cliffhanger! Again no spoilers, but I would definitely plan to read these as back-to-back books if you want to get the full story.
Although there is some mild violence and swearing, and some peril for our protagonists, the book stays within PG territory so should be suitable for most teens (as well as adult YA fans, of course). With discussions of social issues including race, class, police brutality, forced confinement, and poverty, there are some hard-hitting topics underneath all the action but Daniels weaves these into her narrative with skill. Readers should be aware that not all the characters we meet in The Stranded make it to the end of the book, and there is also an incident of kidnapping/abduction.
With light sci-fi vibes, The Stranded is perfect for fans of The Hunger Games, Mira Grant’s Feed series, and Divergent. Although the story isn’t told at the fastest of paces, the blend of action, family and personal drama, social issues, and nefarious government shenanigans made for a compelling read the fulfilled the potential of its unique premise.
The Stranded by Sarah Daniels is published by Penguin Books and is available now from all good booksellers and online retailers including Hive, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Wordery.
If you can, please support a local indie bookshop by ordering from them either in person or online! Some of my favourites include Booka Bookshop, Sam Read Booksellers, Book-ish, Scarthin Books, Fox Lane Books, and Berts Books.
My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review and to The Write Reads for organising and inviting me onto this blog tour. The tour continues until 04 August so follow the hashtags #TheWriteReads #UltimateBlogTour for more reviews and content!
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