Blog Tour | The Stranded

Hello and welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Stranded. Huge thank you The Write Reads and Penguin for having me on the tour and for sending me copies of The Stranded and the sequel The Exiled.

Huge thank you to The Write Reads and Penguin for having me on the blog tour for The Stranded by Sarah Daniels.

I have picked this book up in bookshops a few times, I love a YA novel set in a different location, and The Stranded definitely ticks that box. Set in a post-apocalyptic America where passenger ships which transported survivors weren’t allowed to dock, leaving generations of survivors living on these ships. The action is mostly based on one of these ships, The Arcadia, which is ruled by the Federation, the powerful force that runs the US, is where these people live, with little to no chance of ever touching dry land.

This is a really interesting and unique plot and setting for a YA novel, and i was interested to see how the author would handle it. There are obvious parallels to migrants and the treatment they currently receive, both in the media and by Governments which I thought were well described by Daniels, although they could’ve been more explicit for me, to really hammer home the message. However, the hints are there, and Daniels does a good job of allowing the reader to see the different viewpoints, and the power the media/the messages spread can affect the opinions of regular people.

The element of this novel which I wasn’t so enamoured with was the characters. They all felt a little predictable and flat for me. We follow 4 teens who are two males and two females, and honestly they all felt fairly similar to each other. I would’ve loved a little more distinction between characters and their voices. Also they were in two heterosexual couples which just felt a bit meh to me, but I’m sure that’s just my personal taste!

The plot of this novel is non-stop. From the first page we are thrown into a world of gangs, deception and secrecy. I did find it was almost breathless at times, the quick switches from POVs and scenes made it all so fast, but I enjoyed the experience and the novel read quickly as a result.

I love a dystopian novel and this is a good addition to the YA genre. Hopefully in book 2 we get to discover more of the world the novel is set in, and our characters get developed further! Overall I enjoyed this YA novel, it reads super quickly and there is lots of intriguing elements that I can’t wait to explore further!

Thank you so much to The Write Reads and Penguin for having me on the blog tour for The Stranded, and for sending me copies of the books to read!

Buy The Stranded from Waterstones or Bookshop.org

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