The premise instantly appealed to me: a devastating virus has forced passengers of a cruise ship to remain onboard for decades -- several generations have gone by -- and no one is allowed to go back to the mainland for fear of spreading (or catching) the disease. As a medic-in-training, Esther is one of the few who can possibly leave the ship one day. Nik, part of a covert rebellion group, hopes to achieve liberation for everyone.

Though I read just just a few weeks ago, I'm struggling to remember much of anything...and that's not good. At the beginning of each chapter, the heading lists the number of days that have gone by without contamination, the number of healthy passengers. Because this opened each chapter, I thought the virus would play a much bigger role in this story than it does. Maybe in a sequel?

Sadly, everything about this one seemed more like a checklist of How to Write A Dystopian YA. An almost cartoon-level villain. A hurried backstory about How We Got Here. The Good Girl who's a loyal citizen and the Bad Boy who's secretly part of the resistance. It all fell flat for me.

This book just wasn’t for me. I felt like the pacing was a little too slow and I never found myself eager to pick the book back up. It wasn’t the writing that I didn’t care for but the development of the story.

The premise of The Stranded sounded so good; unfortunately, for me, the actual novel fell flat. I have been trying for a good month to continue reading with no luck. As a result, The Stranded will be a DNF for me. Does that mean I won't talk this book up to other readers? Absolutely not! The Stranded will definitely be coming up during my reader's advisory sessions when my readers are seeking out similar titles.

I really enjoyed this YA dystopian novel! I have always been a fan of post-apocalyptic/dystopian books where people have to do everything they can to survive devastating circumstances. This book was right up my alley and was full of action packed, nerve wracking and shocking plot points! The author did a great job with the Arcadia’s descriptions, I felt like I could clearly picture this floating city. The first half was a little slower building up to the plot, and the second half was fast paced and full of action. Esther was a great character who definitely grew strong willed and fierce by the end of the book. Nik was a good character as well, I enjoyed his POV. Hadley was evil and sadistic, but I guess that’s what makes a good villain! After that ending, I can’t wait for the next book!

The plot is great, but I struggled with the execution. The beginning of the book felt like I was starting on book two of the series. I was lost and confused on what was happening and who was who. I mean I understood the premise that they were on a cruise ship waiting out the virus, but there was no character explanation or development. I didn’t understand how and why they were actual put on the ship. Then I had no idea why Hadley was so angry and why there were rebels. Later this was kind of explained. The book felt like an incomplete sentence or thought.

This book is way longer than it should be given the lack of information provided. I love the dystopian world, but something was missing.

Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

There's an entire city of people living just off the east coast of the US, stranded on a derelict cruise ship. The US won't let the passengers in (fear of a deadly virus that definitely isn't an issue after 40+ years) so they just live there, waiting for some kind of international government to ... save them?

Story is fast-paced but trying to do too much (deadly virus, resource scarcity, illegal immigration, military industrial complex, despotic government) and as a result the whole book feels rushed and shallow.

The Stranded was a nice surprise for me. This IS my type of book for sure. Dystopian YA is always fun!

The Arcadia is an old cruise ship that is now home to many that are basically stranded at sea due to a virus that swept the world years ago.

The pacing here is slow and it took me a few times of going back to read it to finish it. I did enjoy it and it’s reminiscent of Hunger Games as sisters Mae and Esther (each with their own agenda really) fight the good fight. It’s not a happy go lucky read.

I did enjoy it and it’s well written!

This was a futuristic dystopian story set on a boat after an apocalyptic war set off by a virus. The people have lived on the abandoned cruise ship for over forty years and they've settled into a lifestyle divided by classes. And the majority of the people have had enough.
This was a bit too slow of a start for me to get excited about this one and it took me a bit to get into. Once I was following the storyline and had my characters clear, I was sucked in. It was a unique storyline for a dystopian set on a cruise ship, but scarily not far off from possibly becoming a reality one of these days. After Covid, nothing seems impossible.
This book has been compared to Hunger Games- I guess because it's dystopian and YA. But otherwise I was expecting some fight to the death type of plot. Don't hold you're breath, it is a story of survival and of fighting for freedom but not individuality.
Check this one out if you enjoy YA (without gooey romance) and Sci Fi thrillers. I am curious about #2 and to see where this story will go next.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A gruesome, enraging, but also engaging YA dystopia set on a cruise ship. I found many of the characters irritating and brutal, although this was fitting with the setting. I will be on the lookout for the next installment, as I do want to find out what happens next!

This was an interesting premise and great adventure of a story! Stuck at sea for years, the Arcadia is filled with multiple generations that haven't lived on the land, only at sea. A war and unsafe land has kept them at sea, floating along trying to keep the boat going. Few still remain that once lived on land and remember what it was like.

But you don't get much history or story on the boat to start. You are quickly thrown right in to a rebelion and left, a little, scrambling to understand what's going on. I think, because that confusion, the beginnig is a little slow going. I struggled, at times, to picture the layers of the boat and how each section lived. There were the richer up top but I didn't get a good feel for how their life worked. Those struggling lived lower down, making do with very little and living in danger with gangs and violence. It was all interesting and I liked the adventure of it. The main characters were interesting and I liked learning their motivations and their secrets. There were so slow parts as I struggled to fully flesh out the boat, the lives and the residents, but it was worth it in the end. I enjoyed this one!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Book Review
The Stranded by Sarah Daniels
3.5 stars rounded up. 

This book in 3 words: Gripping. Innovative. Complex. 

The Arcadia is a luxury cruise ship turned refugee camp due to a deadly virus and apocalyptic war. It's composed of the haves and the have-nots, people who want more, rule followers and breakers, and REBELS (of course). 

This book is solid. The pacing is a bit slow at times but it's perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent.
Here's what worked well:

1. Multiple POVs create a complex web of perspective and action. 
2. One of our main characters, Esther, is easy to root for. 
3. Loved the old and new tech on the boat. Makes the story feel tangible and like it could happen. 
4. Lots of action and twists in the later half of the book. 

My biggest critique is the pacing and lack of character development. I wanted a little more richness with characters but I'll still pick up the sequel. This is an impressive debut by Sarah Daniels.

The Hunger Games meets Station Eleven? Umm not really. There might have been a bit of Snowpiercer vibes but just very mildly. Appealing premise, but the execution just seemed lacking and the story wasn't propulsive at all. It's a supposedly dystopian universe but didn't feel cut-throat. There was action but I didn't feel tense. There was a body count but I didn't feel sad.

I didn't care for any of the characters and found Esther particularly annoying. There was one part where another character thinks, "She's pathetic — a jelly mess wallowing in self-pity. I resist the urge to kick her." LMAO I felt that. The only interesting person to me was Hadley.

There was also a lot of wasted opportunity: Unsatisfactory world-building as I wanted so much more details and background. No twists, turns and morally grey characters despite an intricate plot. Highlighting of social issues as such racism and displacement that didn't really go anywhere.

Overall, this was a dull read that I slogged through. Ugh, the cliffhanger!

Sarah Daniels’ The Stranded has a nostalgic feel, a harkening back to the dystopian era YA books I couldn’t seem to get enough of ten years ago when The Hunger Games and Divergent were all the rage. And I didn’t mind the revisit one bit.

While it’s not perfect and it took me the first twenty percent of the book to learn all the characters, once I committed to the story, I was engaged and entertained. This one does have a slow build, but the pay off is worth the trek.

The reader gets the story of the stranded Arcadia from three different points of view: Esther, a sixteen year old medic student with the sole focus of getting herself and her boyfriend Alex off the ship; Nik, a young rebel working behind the scenes with his mother to overthrow the corrupt leadership; and Hadley, the corrupt leader. I enjoyed Esther and Nik’s points of view, but I found myself wanting to skim Hadley’s. Thankfully his chapters are mostly short and quick, but I personally would have preferred the book without his sections.

Esther and Nik are flawed and well-rounded, making human choices with consequences, and I appreciated their story arcs. Esther’s transformation from a naive student to someone more integral to the rebellion is believable and compelling. Nik’s determination to protect May, Esther’s older sister, and then Esther because of his love for May, is the heartbeat of the story.

While there’s plenty of action throughout the story, it was in the last twenty percent of the book that I suddenly didn’t want to set it down, taking the book with me to read everywhere I went. Daniels doesn’t leave us on too big of a cliffhanger, wrapping up the main climax of the book, but we are left with plenty to ponder until the sequel is released, once again reminding me of my days spent reading and anticipating my favorite dystopian series. A solid story, well-written and layered, I could see this one on the big screen, as well.

Why is this book so long??

Seriously, this book just never ends. And there was no real reason for it. Maybe it wouldn’t have felt so long if the characters had been better developed- they were all just kind of there. I didn’t care what happened with anyone … in fact I found myself rooting for the virus, even though the virus was rarely mentioned.

Then I hear it’s part of a series? Why? With how many pages were in this book I don’t see why we couldn’t just get the whole story. And it’s SLOW. So slow. So so slow. I see others saying it’s fast paced but I do not know where this fast pace is. I see where it should be, but it was still so slow - even when it was action packed.

This is generally my wheelhouse and maybe that’s why I’m disappointed. This just didn’t deliver. Between the multiple POVs there was so much going on but at the same time nothing really happened. It was just weird. Not a fan.

I can imagine this might make a solid audiobook though. If there are multiple narrators adding their emotions to the characters, maybe I could get into this. But in my own head, it just wasn’t there.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ebook copy.

A dystopian novel set at sea? We all knew this was going to be my jam, right? Well, it was. I found it very exciting and wildly entertaining, and when I found out there was to be a sequel, I was extra sold, because I cannot wait to find out more about the world at large (my one minor qualm with this book, actually- I just wanted to know all the things!)

When we meet Esther, she is living her regular life, aboard the Arcadia ship, just as she always has. And apparently, as folks before her have... for over forty-three years. This floored me, because can you even imagine, having to spend your entire life on a cruise ship? Those cabins are tiny, friends! And they're certainly not going anywhere fun- they just hang out off the coast of the former Eastern United States, and I am pretty sure if they try to go anywhere better, they'd be met with certain annihilation.

Anyway, as you can imagine, not everyone on board this ship wants to be there. In fact, pretty much no one does. There are a few options to get off though: in Esther's case, she is trying to earn her way ashore by being a top medic. The thing is, as is the case with so many political entities, this one isn't on the up and up, and Esther's dreams may be over before they begin. Nik, on the other hand, is a member of the rebellion, and he knows exactly how sketchy the Powers That Be™ are. He's under no illusion that he or anyone will be allowed to casually go work on the mainland. And via her sister, Esther gets caught up in the rebellion, even when she isn't quite sure she agrees with it.

I shan't tell you more, but know that this book is absolutely action packed! Esther is never sure who she can trust (and neither is the reader!), and the stakes could not be higher for every last person on the ship. Esther goes through a lot during the course of the story, and faces a lot of morally ambiguous decisions. I could not put this book down, and I am so very excited to get to the sequel, and learn all the things about the world!

Bottom Line: Right up my alley, with an intense, high stakes dystopian adventure with great characters and a very intriguing world.

A good read that takes you to a different type of world where you need to be careful about everything that you do. It's a story about playing the game to survive and go on to a better place.

A cruise ship is turned into a long term community after a virus swept Europe, and the Federated States (formerly the USA) refuses to let the inhabitants disembark for fear of infection. It floats off the coast, hopeful that things will get better for them. The new society on the boat is based around the deck levels and the wealth accumulated on board, and there is an uprising brewing.

This is a great debut, action packed Young Adult thriller. I loved the short chapters with multiple POVs. The relationships between the protagonists were complicated and intertwined, making it a page turner. The world building was really cool, and it sucked me in right away. The Neath sounded like a place I would definitely want to avoid. It did irk me a bit that the ship was called Arcadia, which is the same name for the spaceship in The 100 series which is also dystopian young adult fiction. I also found the dynamic between Nik and Esther pretty odd, but obviously it was foreshadowing. I will be picking up the next in this series when it is released!

This had hunger games vibes but make it a little creepier. The writing wasn't my style, but I can see others finding a lot to love!

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley. Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for the opportunity to review this book. As always all opinions expressed are my own.

This was a solid debut in a new dystopian YA series. I don't think I've ever read a book that takes place on a cruise ship that wasn't a luxurious vacation setting. The description of Snowpiercer meets Hunger Games caught my attention immediately, as I loved The Hunger Games, and while I've only watched a few episodes of Snowpiercer I find it compelling. The author does a good job laying out the dystopian world and the dire circumstances that the inhabitants of the Arcadia find themselves in. Similar to the previously mentioned titles, something bad happened and refugees have found themselves surviving on the Arcadia, some having more privilege and opportunity than others, and everyone is doing their best to make it to the next day.

This is told from 3 POVs, Ester who is training to be a medic and hoping to attend medical school on dry land. The top trainees in her class will be sent to school onshore to continue their training as part of the agreement they've made with the Federated States. Ester is loyal to a fault and trusts everyone to do what they are supposed to and not break the rules. Nik, is part of the rebellion, he's tied to Ester but she doesn't know it yet. Then we have Hyland, the ship's head of security and a ranking officer of the Federated States. He has a personal vendetta against the residents of Arcadia and will do anything to achieve his goals.

This has a solid plot. I did find the pacing a bit too slow for my tastes, but it does pick up towards the end as things start to happen. I feel like this would have been better with 2 POVs vs 3, I don't feel like Hadley's POV offered us anything that we didn't learn in conversation with the other characters. I do feel as if there was a bit of repetition of information that caused the pace to drag here and there, but by the end I was completely invested in the rebellion and what comes next. I do think the character development lacked a bit. I'm hoping we get to see more development of the characters and players in the next installment.

This is a bit on the dark side, but it is dystopian so it is to be expected. There is violence and mention of blood thought it isn't overly graphic. I think it would be great for an older teenage audience, I'd let my 14 year old read it.

I'm looking forward to seeing where Ester and Nik and story takes us in the next installment. I think this story and the author have a ton of potential and I'm looking forward to what they have instore for us next.

I've lost interest in this. didn't understand how the politics were supposed to work. Or how there were so many groups of people and classes on a cruise ship.