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The Stranded (The Stranded, 1)

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Welcome to the Arcadia. Once a luxurious cruise ship, now it is home to the stranded. For forty years, they have lived, and died, on the water. A place of extreme haves and have-nots, gangs and make-shift shelters, its people are tyrannized by a country they can see but can't get to. It took a long time to get the book actually going, and honestly I couldn't figure out why. There wasn't a lot of conflict except for Hadley vs. the rest of the people. I didn't get much of a sense of how life worked onboard, because we're thrown into the plot of the rebellion (but we don't know what it consists of or who is actually on which side until almost the end) rather than learning about their life and their connections with others.

The Stranded | Sarah Daniels | 9780241507964 | NetGalley The Stranded | Sarah Daniels | 9780241507964 | NetGalley

Recently, I felt inspired to go for it. I was itching to get into a dark and high-stakes YA-Dystopian world.

LoveReading4Kids Says

I don't want to beat a dead horse with this review, too late, some of you may be thinking, nevertheless I shall bow out gracefully here... Esther studied for years, beside her boyfriend Alex, to be become a medic; desperately hoping to gain entrance to med school in the Federated States. Following every rule only to be snatched from her home. Brought to the side of a young man shot, bleeding out and poison in his veins. I enjoyed the two good MCs and the bad guy was a true villain. It was nice to see Esther grow and develop into a more mature and stronger person and take in more responsibility. Nik was a loyal friend and all around good guy.

The Stranded by Sarah Daniels | Goodreads The Stranded by Sarah Daniels | Goodreads

Betrayal , romance, and a fight for freedom: The Hunger Games meets Station Eleven in this gripping near-future dystopian I loved the idea of a generation that has grown up on board of a giant cruise ship that has been afloat for the 40 years since an epidemic ravaged Europe. I was a little confused and wished there was more information about where everyone was from. The ship set sail from London but often on Cruise ships there are people from all over the world so I was wanting some diversity? Maybe attention to different languages, accents? The Stranded was a fun dystopian book to jump into. Now I've never been on a cruise ship before, or any boat really, so I have absolutely no idea how I would feel if I was trapped on one for years. Years people. Forty years to be exact but still, I have no idea what I would do if I was in that situation. So, it was definitely interesting to see what everyone would be like and how they would possibly escape.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. A country that says it doesn't want them. Esther is a loyal citizen, working flat-out for a rare chance to live a life on land. Nik is a rebel, intent on liberating the Arcadia once and for all. Together, they will change the future . . . About This Edition ISBN: The Stranded is told through multiple points of view. A couple of these views are told through first person and a third point of view through third person. I didn't enjoy the change in narrative, and I didn't enjoy the characters either.

The Stranded by Sarah Daniels | Waterstones

The first words of the book, The Arcadia, it instantly reminded me of the ship that was in the fourth film of Resident Evil. That drew me in instantly with the familiarity of it but the plot line itself was something I haven’t read before. I read this book in 2 intense days. Thrilling, heart pounding action that I couldn’t put it down. The first book in an unmissable and thrilling duology - The Hunger Games meets Station Eleven, for fans of pacey, disruptive TV, such as the Noughts and Crosses adaptation.* Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author. Based on the Diamond Princess at the start of the Covid pandemic, this story explores what might have happened had the passengers not been allowed to leave - for decades. I was expecting a fast paced read, racing through ship's corridors and taking on the oppressive regime the ship was under, but what I got was a very slow paced, frustrating story.This book may be directed to young adults, but it should be listed as for all adults. I loved this book. I could not put it down. 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. Unfortunately, this book was a complete miss for me. After the initial set-up, I'm talking the first 5-8%, I was feeling good about it, but then nothing happened. Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi. One of the things I tend to enjoy about Dystopians are that, sometimes, if done well, you can see glimmers of your society in them. You think to yourself, this is creepy because this could happen. I never felt that with this, because I didn't feel like I really knew anything about the world, or what led them to be in the current state.

The Stranded by Sarah Daniels | The StoryGraph The Stranded by Sarah Daniels | The StoryGraph

The Arcadia used to be a luxury cruise ship. But for 40 years it's been the home of refugees who aren't allowed to step onto the mainland. The POV alternates in this story between a girl struggling for the life she dreams of, a rebel and the villainous captain of the ship. Normally I really don't like POV changes, but for this story it works well. It adds dimension to the plot and expands the characters, rather than creating confusion. 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. There is the usual distinction between the lives of privilege and poverty on board and with crime and corruption rife, the only hope for the future of children born on ship is education and recruitment as a soldier or medic. Inevitably rebellion is brewing and allies both inside and outside the Federation are working towards freedom but will the rebels triumph before the Federation policy of ship clearance and slavery reaches the Arcadia? The story is told through three points of view including the third person insight into the villainous, sadistic military commander. Esther is a would-be medic on the brink of achieving a brighter future. Nik is a rebel from the ship’s underbelly. They are thrown together at the centre of the rebellion and refreshingly there is absolutely no romance muddying the waters or at least not between them! For what it’s worth, I didn’t personally feel that way. I think that, while the setting is clearly influenced by the pandemic and its broader political context, the book was also at pains to establish differences between the real past and the fictional present: the virus, for example, originates in Europe (not Asia) and then there’s the war that has turned the continent into a wasteland, and while there’s a wall down the middle of the US now, the details of how and why it came about are left vague. Anyway, YMMV is what I’m saying. A single ill-advised decision by one of the characters in these volatile conditions will cause a ripple effect that would decide the fates of everyone: ‘And, like a lightning strike, my world is on fire.’ (241) Each of the chapters are devoted to the point of view of one of the 4 main characters, with Esther and Nik alternating as first-person narrators. The closed setting contributes to reader involvement; effectively excluding irrelevant scenes. The various points of view forewarn the reader of impending doom, but helpless to intervene. The pace is fast, many characters dubious, with deception a permanent reality. The characters’ emotions are described in evocative and intimate language, endearing them to the reader: ‘The ring (she) gave me weighs down my hand. I feel fleshless without her. The grief strips me down to a skeleton, and I imagine myself melting into the ground.’ (206); ‘I know her the second I see her. The way she moves. The shape of her. My heart beats a thousand times faster. She’s alive.’ (250) and ‘It took seconds for the world to be snuffed out. She was there. She is gone.’ (315)A gripping, near-future thriller - The Hunger Games meets Station Eleven, for fans of pacey, disruptive TV, such as the Noughts and Crosses adaptation We alternate between the three points of view, but I considered Nik to be the most interesting and best developed character. I thought Esther seemed more like a whiny, naïve twelve-year-old than a sixteen-year-old, even confronted with difficult situations she continued to cower rather than rise up to the challenges presented to her. This is a YA dystopian novel you DO NOT want to miss! Jump on board for the cruise ship ride of your life where you will cruise in... ummm... yeah, you will cruise to destination nowhere for the mere price of your whole entire life.

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