The Stranded was a very interesting read! I enjoyed reading it, but do think it will be a while before I take a cruise.

This book is gripping and easy to follow. The world-building is good and expands as the novel progresses. I found some parts a little slow and lagging behind the plot, but there's room for growth as the series continues. I love a good villain who is not redeemable, and our heroine is one you can really get behind. Four stars.

Title: The Stranded
Author: Sarah Daniels
Release Date: January 3rd, 2023
Page Count: 450
Format: Netgalley
Start Date: December 26th, 2022
Finish Date: December 31st, 2022

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

Imagine being on a ship all your life because of a major pandemic that hit and the people in the reformed world think that if you join them that they will be at risk for the pandemic happening again. People are promised that they may be selected to join the island if they sign up for certain jobs and pass certain tests. This book is told in four points of view. Each point of view is just as important as the other. I feel like if it was only told in any of their perspectives that this story just wouldn't make as much sense. The book was intense. I'd love to read it again after a while if I'm being honest. I am curious to read other books by this author. She definitely has a wonderful writing style. Also, this cover is so wonderful! I bought a copy for myself and my mother and then wound up getting a copy from a book subscription box I was trying out. I'm hoping to find someone to give my extra copy a good home to.

The Stranded is the first in a YA Dystopian/Sci-fi/Thriller series that is marketed as The Hunger Games meets Station Eleven.

The book takes place on the Arcadia, a luxurious cruise ship that is now a safe haven/refugee camp for those who have been driven out of Europe due to an apocalyptic war. The Arcadia just happens to float right near the coastline of the Federated States, which is just a fractured and leftover piece of the US. The Arcadia has housed residents for over 40 years and these residents are never allowed to step foot on land. We meet one of our main characters name Esther and Esther is one to never step out of line and is always a law-abiding citizen. However, we have a contrast against Esther's character with another character named Nik who is just planning a rebellion and loves to go against authority. Then, there is Hadley, and he is our villain.

So, let's talk about teenage Kayla. My high school years were from 2009-2013 (it is a seriously ouch year of it being 2023 since that means I graduated 10 years ago) and do you all want to know what the hot genre was during those year? You guessed it, it was dystopian books. They were all the rage with The Hunger Games, The Selection, Delirium (still my fav one to date), Uglies (came out a few years before the boom of dystopian books), Matched, Divergent, Withered and so many other books. I was beyond obsessed with the genre and constantly devouring them when I was on the bus and whenever I finished my classwork. Because of my great love of dystopian novels back when I was a teenager, I was excited to see The Stranded with some hopes of the dystopian trend coming back and maybe with a different take on it compared to a decade or more ago.

The thing that The Stranded has going for it is that it has a good concept and plays apart with a virus and an apocalyptic war that has driven people out to seek refuge onto a ship, which makes the people feel secure and safe when in reality it probably is not no better than anything else/a good thing ends up becoming corrupt in the end with a different gain than what it was supposed to be.

That is all I can possibly say that The Stranded has going for it.

As I was reading this book, I felt like the pacing was all over the place and that it could not choose where it wanted to be and because of that it took me out of the story a lot, which when my mind wanders off a bit when reading a book, then that is not a good sign because that means I am really becoming disengaged a lot. For the characters, they felt pretty one dimensional and not flushed out well. They did feel pretty cookie cutter and did not find their voice to be unique and make the story what it could have been.

Overall, I struggled with this book and wish I could have liked it and it makes teenage Kayla a bit sad, but it is okay. I think Sarah Daniels has potential and could grow as a writer and I would give this author another shot with a future book to see if there was any growth.

3.5 stars

I was so excited for The Stranded because it kind of reminded me of Dead Silence meets The Hunger Games but in reality I was just a little bored. The characters lacked any true depth and instead just felt like archetypes against each other. I also did not realize this was going to be the start of a series and I'm really not interested in more from this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

''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 ''


The author focused this work on three main characters – a rebel, a medical trainee, and the leader of the military police aboard the ship. This was a fun way to get a glimpse into the main three factions aboard the Arcadia. The characters were interesting, and their varied personalities and goals made for an enjoyable cast, but I felt that they were lacking in true development.

Some YA books can be enjoyed by all ages, but I’d only recommend this to those that really adore YA. It reads on the younger side, even though it has some darker content.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this book and it kept my attention from start to finish. I'd definitely read more by this author in the future!

I could not finish enough of this book to be able to leave a comprehensive review, but I hope it finds its audience and I am grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

I was hooked as soon as I heard the intriguing concept of this book—a cruise ship turned refugee camp that has become its own micro-society. The dystopian setting shows a post-Civil-war US that is now split into two countries, which of course provokes thoughts about the state of our own divided nation. And the story also reflects themes of the handling of immigrants and refugees, all while catching the reader up in the action of a rebellion that does not go according to plan. The book is told from three points of view, a boy who is directly involved in the rebellion, a girl who is unknowingly swept up in the conflict, and a ship security officer who is bound and determined to crush anyone who even thinks of sowing discord and ruining his plans to finally make his way back to dry land. When I was finished reading, I was ready to pick up book two and find out what happens next! Looks like I’ll only have to wait until July?

***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley so I could provide an honest review. No compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced review copy of “The Stranded” by Sarah Daniels. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

The setting for this book is a really cool idea and seemed well researched. Cruise ships freak me out (especially from the pandemic horrors) and I would never willingly get on one. But this story really intrigued me to have this dystopian setting on cruise ships stuck at sea.

That being said, it did seem like the characters shouldn’t have had as much knowledge of things since they’ve been on the boat for generations and not everyone gets an education. It pulled me out of the story a little every time I had to wonder if the characters would actually know about certain things.

There are a few different POVs. I kind of wish we didn’t have the antagonists POV. It reveals there’s a traitor and I would have liked to not have seen that coming and been as taken off guard as Ester. I liked Ester and Nick’s POVs but I really hope they aren’t going to end up in a romance in the next book. From reading the blurb it seems like that is the direction the book is going and I wish it wouldn’t. Can’t they just be friends? Plus Nick was in love with Ester’s sister.

The ending was a bit frustrating as Ester’s constant indecision causes a lot of problems. I think this was realistic as she’s just a kid but it was still frustrating to read. Her indecision is a big reason why she and Nick shouldn’t end up together since it has tragic consequences. I didn’t understand why Nick kept feeling obligated to protect Ester. One minor thing was how the characters have parents but don’t seem to care how their actions could endanger their parents. Ester has this very late afterthought about what’s happened to her parents when it was way too late to try and get to them. I know there’s kind of a stereotype of YA books killing off parents but this book treated the living parents kind of strange and like an afterthought.

I might pick up the second book. The first one set up some interesting things in the sequel. I’m just really really really not rooting for Ester and Nick to be a couple.

Also not every dystopian book needs to be compared to The Hunger Games. This had an interesting setting but did not give me Hunger Games vibes. Every dystopian book is not the Hunger Games.

3/5 stars

The premise of this story really intrigued me. I love dystopian fiction and the idea of a group of people forced into quarantine on a ship for literal generations was ingenious! I wish I loved this book the way I expected to, but even though the worldbuilding was fantastic, the characters were so wooden and the plot was so predictable that I just didn't care what happened. The villain was a revolting person, but he was still the best character in the book, in my opinion, because he had a compelling backstory and showed his teeth; everyone else simply felt like a pawn to further the story with no emotion to back up their motives and actions, and I felt I could see the events unfolding well in advance. I'm sad to say I don't have any interest in continuing the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy of this book.

I'm conflicted. I am an adult reading a dystopian young adult book, so I'm not the intended audience. I liked parts and will probably read the second in the duology to finish it I just didn't connect with the story as much as I was hoping I guess.

I am sad to say that young adult dystopia is not for me anymore. The characters were flat to me and not connectable at all.

I always enjoy a dystopian book with new concepts so being stuck on a ship after a virus outbreak caught my attention. The multi-perspective style had me skimming a bit towards the end of the book but it was overall a quick read.

**3.5 Stars**
I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty disappointed by what this book was. I feel bad saying that, and overall it was an ok book- But I thought I was getting a possible zombie/outbreak story and that was not this even a little- even the cover has super ominous vibes. Instead, The Stranded was about a naive clueless girl and a lovesick skilled boy helping to bring a revolution to the ship they live on. Keep in mind there was action, death, destruction, betrayal, bombs, conspiracy, trauma, ... lots of great and very fast paced storytelling so it was easy to read through the book, the pacing was great.

But no mysterious virus, no scary zombies. Yes, I am super sad about that. I love a good outbreak scary read. This was not that. I am pretty sure this is a case of it's me, not you which I get and is totally my fault. But even the announcements the captain makes on the boat mention the virus and waiting for an outbreak...maybe the sequel has an outbreak, hmmm.

Keep in mind that this is the first book in a series and the end was a huge hot mess where nothing is resolved so be aware that you will need at least another book to get some answers.

This book was a little long but very interesting. The setting was really cool. It was interesting to figure out what was truly happening and how this world worked. The characters were good and I liked most of them.

I really enjoyed the idea of this book, being stranded out at sea, a rebellion, a little bit of romance. The only thing I had an issue with was, It didn’t grip me as best as I was hoping. I really wanted this book to have more of a hold on my attention, and it didn’t. The main problem for me, was that I became very confused on who was who. Some of the characters just mash together, and had me so confused. What I did enjoy about the book was the relationship of the sisters, they would burn the world down to protect each other. And it hit the feels.

It might have been just me, I’m a very big mood reader. But I felt like it just wasn’t as entertaining as I would’ve loved to be. But it was not bad at all. There were several points in the story that did grab my attention, and I was hoping it would hold onto it. So I did enjoy that, some thing else that really caught my attention was the ending I feel like, there could be more added to the story may be a sequel? They left it on a good cliffhanger, and it makes you want to know what is going to happen next.

The Stranded is a YA-Dystopian novel, the cover and synopsis of which grabbed my attention right away. The cover emits quite the vibe. I love it. It's so Ghost Ship. I was lucky enough to receive an early copy, but then put off reading it for a bit after seeing some not so encouraging reviews. I wasn't sure I was in the right mood to get into it at that time.

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

It never took off for me; fell flat with a vengeance. I dreaded picking it back up after I put it down and never felt compelled or intrigued in any way.

Honestly, I should have pulled the plug, but for some reason, I just felt like if I kept going, maybe I would have a light-bulb moment with it. All would make sense and I would suddenly feel connected with the characters and the story. The narrative follows three different characters, none of which I felt were particularly well-developed. Additionally, I didn't feel the world was developed at all. I wanted so much more from it.

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 stakes were ambiguous, the tension was nonexistent and I couldn't have cared less what happened to any of the characters we were following.

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...As always, please take my opinion with a grain of salt. I am by no means an expert on all things YA Dystopian novels.

If this synopsis sounds intriguing to you, give it a go. You may love it and then you can circle back and tell me how very wrong I am. I look forward to it!

Thank you to the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Although The Stranded wasn't for me, I know there are a lot of Readers out there who will really enjoy it. I look forward to seeing their thoughts on this one.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a new and different take on a post apocalyptic society. Set on an old cruise ship just off the coast of the former USA, life on the boat is tough. Ester is a hard working "citizen" of the ship but something big is about to happen and she finds herself in the middle of it all.

I am really looking forward to the second book!

THE STRANDED • Sarah Daniels

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads Synopsis: Welcome to Arcadia! Once a luxurious cruise ship, this ship 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 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...

Oof. Reading the synopsis again gets me so hyped. This book was marketed as a thrilling, Hunger Games-esque, YA dystopian. But sadly, I found myself quickly underwhelmed.

This story was told via three alternating POVs: our naive heroine, our "good guy" rebel, and our "bad guy" leader. This could have led to heightened excitment and suspense throughout the story, but instead it fell flat due to the almost nonexistent character development. Each POV is boiled down to exactly how I wrote it here, giving readers shallow caricatures of good versus evil instead of actual personality. The motivations of the characters were also rarely fleshed out (e.g. Alex, May). As for the few instances this was not the case (e.g. Hadley)? Motivations were dryly written out without any feeling behind them. This made it hard to connect with the characters or really care about the stakes.

When a story fails to be character-driven, books can normally be redeemed through a plot-driven narrative. Again, I was let down. It took a long time for this book to actually get going. And even as tensions rose and fights broke out, I was left a little bored. Not even a character death or cliffhanger could shake things up for me!

My biggest gripe though was the writing style. Specifically how EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER decided to just leave off the first word of a sentence. For instance, instead of saying "I walked home" Daniels would write, "Walked home." This seems small but it drove me insane throughout my entire read through.

TL;DR: This book was not for me and I do not intend on picking up its sequel.