Welcome to my second stop on the blog tour for The Stranded and The Exiled by Sarah Daniels and to my review of the incredible conclusion to this fantastic duology.
Having only recently read The Stranded, which was an incredibly popular read on its release last year, it was enormously tempting to plunge straight into this follow-up but I forced myself to take a short break in order to read a few other titles to cleanse my palate and build up my appetite for this. Whether or not you do the same, this is a sequel that lives up to the promise of the first book – equally grim in places, and tense and gripping with a cast of brilliantly imagined characters.
If you have not as yet read The Stranded, you can pick this up as a standalone but I really would recommend you read both titles in order so that you do not miss any of the plot details that seemed so unimportant in Book 1 but come to fruition here. Where that first title dealt with the lives of the people stuck on board cruise ship Arcadia and the eventual battle between those forming the resistance on the ship and the Federated States – those calling the shots on dry land – this second read focuses on what comes next.
It is several months after the fateful events that saw the Arcadia grounded and those whose were able to flee the ship have settled into a camp comprising various old buildings originally used as warehouses within quayside shipyards. Rebel Esther has become used to the wanted posters bearing her image and that of associate Nik who both played a significant part in the events that led to the ship travelling to its final resting place but her thoughts are elsewhere when we meet her and boyfriend Pat as they try their latest plan to find a way to breach the fence that holds everyone prisoner. Unsuccessful again, Esther tries her best to speak to the rebel leaders but unable to turns her attention to trying to care for those in need of medical attention within the camp.
At the same time, fugitive Nik is miles away – working to clean up the sea under a false identity while his mother – the head of the rebels – and Admiral Janek from the Federated States both search for him for very different reasons. When Nik is left with no alternative to return to the camp and is given an ultimatum about his loyalty to the rebels, he is forced to make some difficult decisions but his reappearance reignites the feelings Esther once held for him.
As the two of them try their best to ignore their emotions, the sadistic and amoral Janek is plotting not just the downfall of the rebels but her own political advancement. When the fragile ceasefire between the two sides reaches the point of breaking down, Nik and Esther must fight not just for their own freedom but the freedom of the whole camp but they have not reckoned on the steps that Janek is willing to take to stop them. Can the two of them finally succeed in their plans or will they be crushed once and for all?
Dystopian fiction seems to have become more popular than ever over the past few years, possibly as some of us increasingly wonder if we seem to be heading closer and closer to living in the sort of society portrayed in such reads. While the virus that was the original reason for those onboard Arcadia, and the other ships travelling at the same time, being quarantined appears to have long disappeared, its possible re-emergence is again given as a good reason by the Federated States for not allowing its occupants to settle. It does not take a genius to draw parallels with the way that those fleeing persecution are driven to desperate measures to reach the safety of the United Kingdom and other countries and are often portrayed as enemies of the state when they really are not.
While Janek played a much smaller part of the action in The Stranded, here she has risen to a position where she is far more powerful and as a consequence far more dangerous to those who would oppose her – no matter which side they are on. Happy to threaten those who would defy her and to use violence if she deems it necessary to her progress, she is a thoroughly evil baddie who readers will love to hate. Throughout the duology, Sarah Daniels has created some very strong, credible female characters who are unafraid to take their places in whichever roles they find themselves. As someone who was brought up with girls and women playing only secondary roles in the stories they read and viewed, I took an enormous amount of pleasure from seeing Esther, Janek and several other characters in action on the pages here.
For anyone who enjoys dystopian fiction, this is an absolutely cracking read. Fast-paced and action-packed, I read it in two sittings and thoroughly enjoyed it. My enormous thanks go to Penguin Books and TheWriteReads for my gifted review copies of the books and for inviting me to share my thoughts on the blog tour. Please don’t forget to check out the stops from the other brilliant bloggers taking part. The Exiled is on sale now.
Mrs Sydney's Famous World's Smallest Library 