Forty years after an apocalyptic war, the decedents of the passengers of Arcadia are still on the ship. Some have a plan to get off the ship and onto the mainland, but many know that they are stuck until their last breath because the residents of Arcadia are not allowed to leave. Esther is working hard to better herself, but life is not fair and many obstacles are in her way. Nik wants to liberate the Arcadia and is willing to do anything to break free. When these two lives cross, the lives of everyone around them are also changed.

The Stranded is the first book in the Stranded series and it isn’t really in one genre. I would almost say it is a sci-fi adventure, but that doesn’t do it justice either. The entire time I was reading this book I was thinking about how I would react … how would I behave … what would I do to survive? This is a series, so there isn’t a clean ending, but readers are not left with a cliffhanger. I will definitely be looking for book number two next summer.

The Stranded - Sarah Daniels
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. I love a good dystopian novel! And on a defunct cruise ship no less. I was easily drawn in and captivated by this YA novel.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for this ARC.

I tried this book out twice. Twice, I wanted to scream bc I found it too boring. The bits I did make it through had me thinking about “The Last Ship” and “Resident Evil”. I loved both. I wanted to love this. Maybe I will try again when it is released in January. Maybe a physical copy will make all the difference.

Please read and form your own opinions!

Synopsis: a catastrophic war occurs, leaving a cruise ship full of stranded civilians. For forty years, they try to survive on this floating metal island. Drugs, gangs, social inequalities, corrupt government; everything found in the trenches on land can be found deep in the ship. We follow three different characters as they journey through their lives on the ship and how they intertwine.

All in all, a decent read. Dystopian YA without any love triangles, as said in previous reviews, gives off Hunger Games and Divergent vibes. Personally I didn’t enjoy the multiple POV, it would get jumbled here and there. Also, while the beginning had lots of action (I loved the disintegrating paper - great idea), I had to read about 20% in to get the backstory. While for most, that might not seem like a big deal, it made it a confusing read in the beginning. Great concept, good story.

I was very intrigued by the story line a ship stranded and those aboard unable to leave. The writing is all in first person and this is a hard format for me to follow so I almost stopped reading right away but I didn't. The story follows multiple characters and so the viewpoints often change which can get a little confusing at times. I think a map of the ship would have helped because sometimes I got lost following where different events took place. The characters were well written but I felt like the middle of the book kept going around in circles and was not moving forward. The last third of the book seems really different to the first third in pacing, plot points (a lot of different directions, etc.) and so I wasn't sure where things were going. Then come to find out this is only the first book of two. I wonder if that is the reason for the change? Some of the book is pretty intense and graphic in parts with descriptions of torture. Overall, not quite what I was expecting. Good idea just didn't quite fully reach it's potential- too scattered.

The Stranded by Sarah Daniels gets 4.5 ⭐️ from me. I believe it’s her debut novel and a book two is definitely coming.
I love a dystopia and I enjoyed this one. The story development was clever and I can’t imagine living in these conditions. I wouldn’t compare this to anything else and just enjoy the ride!
I recommend this if you like dystopias.
Thanks NetGalley.

I saw this book on Netgalley quite a while ago, but I had so many other books to read first. But I finally started it two days ago and I so did not regret it! It's being published by Sourcebooks Fire on the 3rd of January 2023.

A virus spreads across Europe. People who can get a ticket, leave on cruise ships to get to safety in the States. Only, the States won't allow them in so they are stuck in the ships at the shore. They are not allowed to leave the shore nor the ship. After so many years, some people have had enough. They need to act, they need to fight, the need to escape.

I do like dystopian thrillers such as The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner. The book by Sarah Daniels fits perfectly in this list of dystopian novels. It's an absolute exciting story, executed perfectly with an excellent variety of characters. The claustrophobic feel of being stuck on a cruise ship for four decades is described with such a detail and the difference in how the characters respond to being stuck on the ship under a, let's say totalitarian, regime, is exactly the way is would be as I imagine it to be. The fight for survival in the lower parts and the 'easy' way in which the commander can set out new rules makes it all the more interesting and frustrating at the same time.

As you can read, I absolutely loved it. I can't wait to read the second part!

5/5⭐

Due to unforeseen circumstances in my life, just catching up with reviews. Very exciting YA read. In fact, I forgot it was YA. I found it pretty engrossing, much like the Hunger Games & Harry Potter was for me. Well developed characters, fast paced, gripping

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review. I had high hopes for this book, as the premise sounded wonderfully dystopian and in a refreshing setting. A stagnating cruise ship holding now a fractured piece of humanity--sign me up!

The writing was engaging enough, however the jumps in the character point of views was confusing, with the characters written too similar sometimes for me to discern where I was in the story, and who was narrating. I also wished to know more about the world at large and its context, as I feel it would have given a lot more grounding to the story. By the end of the story, however, I felt the end was a bit rushed, out of sync with the rest of the story. I wanted to like this more, but between the jumping POV and oddly paced plot, I couldn't keep up and wished for something different. Additionally, I felt this was a difficult book if thinking about it as a YA novel. There are other dystopian books that do it better for me, whose plot structure are clearer and characters are better developed.

Overall, an interesting change of pace but ultimately not for me.

This book is very slow and not at all as good as the synopsis made it seem. I didn't like the characters, they were all very annoying. This could have been a slam dunk but it was a miss for me.

What a fascinating dystopian story! I found myself really loving this book the more I read. The story peaked my interest for sure from start to finish. This book gave me chills reading about what these characters had to go through. The characters were not bad at all. I liked them as well!

The idea of having to live on a boat because higher ups were in fear of a virus breaking out was wild. For years people just went along with it because it’s all they knew or were born into it. The Rebellion finally fighting back was so intense. I kept hoping they wouldn’t get caught or the higher ups getting wind of their plans. The pacing of the story didn’t seem too fast or slow. Once May had Esther bring that info to the Rebellion the story definitely picked up.

I like how this book ended a lot. Some of them got out, Arcadia has fallen, but people lost their lives. And that was something they’d have to live with. They were successful for ending the boat, but at what cost? People still did not make it off alive. Literally had me reflecting and re-reading that last page. So heartbreaking, chilling, but also hopeful for the future.

I'm so glad I was offered an advanced copy of this because I love Dystopian YA and probably wouldn't have found it otherwise. I LOVED it. I tore through the pages and couldn't wait to find out what happened to Esther, May, Nick, and horrible Hadley. My only complaint is that the conclusion felt kind of rushed and I wanted more BUT I think it's a series so hopefully there will be another release soon. I will definitely watch it.

4.5 stars

This felt like an early 2010s classic dystopian book in the best way possible. It took a while for me to get hooked, but once I did I could not put this down. I loved the different point of views, and the world was interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book!

This is a story about a ship.

I really enjoyed this super unique dystopian! The ship setting created a really interesting sense of isolation & I enjoyed the character interactions. The author did a good job of creating nuanced antagonists, which I always really appreciate!

Thank you so much @netgalley & @sourcebooksfire for the eArc.

The premise of people being forced to live aboard a cruise ship for more than 40 years due to a lethal virus spreading around the world is what pulled me to this book. It's dystopian in a recent and relevant way, and I was curious to see how Daniels handled it.

For the most part, I think the book worked. Esther is the goody tw0-shoes who only thinks about getting off the ship to attend med school. Her older sister, May, is a cadet who is also a rare person who is on her way off the ship to join the military. Alex is Esther's ambitious boyfriend who will be joining her in med school. Nik is supposed to stay on the ship as a worker, but is secretly a part of a large and growing rebellion.

The 'world' of the Arcadia is well done. Daniels answers questions about how they get food, medical supplies, clothing, and get rid of waste. She has gangs, black markets, an oppressive and violent military, and a murderous malcontent running that military who is doing his best to make the Arcadia the next one the government will blow up.

The book opens with Esther taking a chance by reading a piece of propaganda and then being chased by the Coalies (the military) and narrowly escaping. She doesn't take risks so she's scared out of her wits and hides what she did from everyone. May and friend Nick turn out to be the keystone to the rebellion's plan to save the people of Arcadia. Alex is not the golden boy that he appears to be, and shows his true face soon enough. Adults who seem to be part of the system are not, and a much larger group outside the Arcadia is leading the rebels.

The book is definitely an adventure, and the story moves quickly. I came to dislike Esther. She's selfish, whiney, and ridiculously obtuse. She refuses to see what is right in front of her. When she finds out about May, all she thinks about is how it will impact her life. She barely spares a thought for her parents or the reasons behind the rebellion. She makes the wrong and selfish decision over and over again, and as a result, people die.

My dislike of Esther aside, I enjoyed the book. The ending sets you up for a sequel, and I would like to read it. If that sequel delved into the origin of the pandemic and United States' initial actions, that would be even better. I spent this book wishing I knew more about how everything got to the miserable place it was in The Stranded.

Overall, a good dystopian entry that I will be buying for my library.

I haven't read and liked a dystopian story in about ten years. In my old age, I don't like characters with crazy names or extreme world building that really requires a lot of brain work just to picture it. At first it was a bit hard to get into because of how many POV's we start out with. However, once you get used to the change of views it really starts to get interesting.

What I really liked about The Stranded is how realistic this future could be for us. After COVID, it isn't hard to imagine people being stranded on cruise ships so they can't come into the country and infect others. It's also not that hard to imagine the complete abuse of power by officials.

Esther's growth really stood out to me. She went from just living her life in a bubble to having everything turned upside down within a few days. Everything she thought she knew wasn't real. Once the curtain fell she had to choose to break down and cry over it or put on her big girls pants and take charge.

My favorite side character was, hands down, Enid. I can't wait for the second book to see how her character develops and hopefully becomes more of a main character.

Man, I haven't read a thriller this gripping in a while. I loved this, especially given the past few years, the premise was believable, the characters well rounded, and the plot tight as a bow string. Definitely recommend.

I thought this spin on the dystopia was great. Between the internal conflict of Arcadia and the external conflict between Arcadia and other settlements, there is a lot of antagonization to explore. I thought that the world building was well done without having too much filler. You are able to quickly get a sense of what the world looks like in this state. The main characters were pretty well done and I enjoyed them.

A solid YA/New Adult dystopian Sci-Fi novel that definitely reminds readers of Snowpiercer and a few YA series from a decade ago. It includes a unique setting and atmosphere that's just realistic enough to be plausible. I love the background story and hope the readers learn more in the next book. It's action-packed, fast-paced, and is told from the viewpoints of multiple characters. The nove incorporates several interesting characters, MCs and supporting ones alike. For YA dystopia fans looking for something new.

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Absolutely engrossing dystopian story. Reminds me of a mix between Snowpiercer and the Thousandth Floor series. I was just so fascinated by the ship and the lives/details of those who live there. I NEED there to be another book!