Once a luxurious cruise ship, the Arcadia has now been a floating refugee camp for the last forty years. Driven out into sea from Europe after an apocalyptic war, it now floats off the east coast of the Federated States - a leftover section of what was once the USA.

Ester is a loyal citizen aboard the Arcadia and has been working towards becoming a medic to get the rare chance of getting to the dry land. Nik is a rebel, who has been helping form a plan that will liberate the Arcadia once and for all.

When events on the ship throw their lives together, it changes everything. This novel is told between 3 alternating POVs: Ester, Nik, and Hadley. In true YA style, this novel has action, drama, evil and corrupt governments, social issues, and high stakes.

I was excited about this book - stuck on a cruise ship for decades, what does that even look like? I feel like Sarah Daniels did a wonderful job at teleporting me onto that ship and really experiencing the lives these characters went through. The claustrophobic feeling of never really being able to have your own space and constantly under a watching eye made my head spin.

I’m curious to see where this will end up going, as this is the first book in the series. I will definitely be picking up the next book for sure to see the continued storyline and what happens next. This is a perfect book for those dystopian YA novel readers for sure!

<spoiler> I haven’t been on something as big as a cruise ship, just a few fishing boats here and there. But one of the things that kind of shocked me, that I kind of wished was mentioned, was Ester and her “sea legs” verses on land. For someone who was born and raised on a cruise ship and has never felt solid land under her feet, I was waiting for her to mention it.</spoiler>

*Thank You Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for a digital advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

This book sounded amazing however I found it to be a bit boring and hard to follow. The constant character jumps were super confusing. As some of the characters were so similar they almost melded together.

This was a really creative take on the post-pandemic/dystopia trope — esp as we’re catching up on the SNOWPIERCER tv show at home. Daniels did an excellent job of drawing the Arcadia with its various decks and related caste systems. The characters were all familiar and also very much their own people. In particularly, Hadley is the type of baddie you love to hate, generally, but we’re given a lot of great insight into his particular why’s.

While THE STRANDED is the start of a series, it’s also a great standalone story. I want to know what happens next, obviously, but it ends with one part of the tale fully wrapped up so I don’t feel cheated. All in all, an excellent debut.

This is a must-read for any fans of YA dystopian fiction. A massive cruise ship full of isolated passengers has been held hostage just off the coast of the former United States for over 40 years, now housing three generations. They have far outgrown their space, They have developed their own underground societies. And they have a group of young people dedicated to saving the ship and her inhabitants by any means necessary.

This was a difficult book to read, as the distress jumped off the page. The first third or so felt heavy with detail and background explanation. From that point forward, however, I was emotionally invested, and still find myself thinking about the characters weeks later.

Will easily recommend this four-star read.

First, I would like to thank NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire publishers for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There are so many things I loved in this dystopian world. The characters, the harried plot, and definitely the non-stop action towards the end of this novel. As things were ratcheting up, I literally could not put this down!

The beginning was rocky, I must admit. I felt tossed out at sea, (sorry, I know, ship puns XD ). There's a cast of characters that we get to see from multiple point of views, and at the same time we are learning about this new world about 60 years in the future. It's a lot of information to take in, and I am, unfortunately sometimes, a speedy reader. This may have impacted my reading as it seemed that the world-building wasn't as fleshed out as I'd hoped.

The characters are worth wading into these treacherous waters for. (Okay I'll stop... no promises) Without going into too much detail, there's two sisters, a love interest, an antagonist who's POV we get to read from and it made this book so interesting! There's a slew of a crew (Look I can't help it), that I found I enjoyed learning more about. While there is a class system in place, the wealthy are those who had tickets for the cruise ship when it originally embarked, then the refugees, and below them the actual crew members who were taking care of the ship, we mainly see the bottom fringes of this floating society. I would've liked to see more facets and maybe a little more diversity in regards to the surroundings and characters. Mainly because there is so much that I think could've been accomplished. Right now, today, the largest capacity for passengers on luxury cruise ships is about 7,000 people. That's not including crew members! Take those numbers, add another thousand or so for refugees, and you literally have a melting pot of cultures, languages, you name it! Keep all these people on a that same cruise ship for forty years like in this novel, it's like having your own mini-civilization.

All in all, this was a good read. I enjoyed the fast pace and definitely loved the characters. The ending is left open, so there is more to be explored in Daniels debut.

The Stranded Review!

Thank you so much Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for this gifted copy, in exchange for an honest review! The Stranded comes out January 3rd, 2023!

As soon as I read that this one was similar to The Hunger Games, I had to request it. I definitely disagree with that statement though. This one kind of reads a little like a Mad Maxish apocalyptic titanic? 😄 The Stranded was a 3.25/5 ⭐️ for me! It was fun and I was completely submerged for about 1/2 of it! I loved the futuristic aspect to this one and the whole ship setting. I did have a hard time with the characters though, I felt like I didn’t get to know them as well as I wanted to. Also the ending felt really rushed and I wasn’t the biggest fan of how it turned out, I was shocked to say the least!! I don’t think I’ll be reading the next book, but I think that this one would be such a fun movie!

Synopsis: The ship Arcadia was once a beautiful cruise ship. Fast forward 40 years later and it is now refugee camp forbidden to get to land due to the deadly virus. During those 40 years gangs have been formed, make shift shelters have been built everywhere, and classism is at an all time high. No one is allowed to leave, but that’s about to change.

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.