Book Review: The Exiled by Sarah Daniels #TheExiled #TheWriteReads #UltimateBlogTour @SarahDanBooks @PenguinUKBooks @The_WriteReads @WriteReadsTours

Synopsis

Trust no one.

It is six months since the Arcadia set sail for the first time in forty years. But this wasn’t the freedom the inhabitants were hoping for. Esther Crossland did what she had to do, but it has left a trail of destruction in her wake. Now the wrecked ship is abandoned. Its inhabitants are in exile, trapped in sprawling make-shift shelters made up of warehouse, tents, shipping containers.

Esther and Nik, architects of the rebellion, are on the run. Esther is in hiding, desperate to do something to help her people, and Nik seems to have abandoned all hope, on a journey taking him further and further from home. And neither of them want to face up to their true feelings about one another . . .

Not only that, there is a new villain in town. With the fall of Commander Hadley, it’s left to the ruthless Admiral Janek to deal with the traitors, and her own past is beginning to catch-up with her.

Then the shaky ceasefire negotiated by General Lall, Nik’s mum, falls apart. Nik and Esther find themselves in a world of betrayals and double crossings – a game of power, with no one to trust but themselves.

It’s time for the final showdown.

My Review

The Arcadia is no more. Esther and Nik are outlaws and have been separated. Can they find their way back to each other? What awaits their fate and that of the former occupant of the Arcadia?

When I finished reading The Stranded I had so many questions because of the ending. The Exiled picks up shortly after the events of the first book with the Arcadia grounded and Nik’s plans being a success to a certain extent. Although the inhabitants of the Arcadia are no longer on the Arcadia they are now in another version of the same in nearby camps still being controlled. There was a little uncertainty at the end of the first book about the fate of Esther and Nik but we quickly find out that Esther is hiding out in the camps whilst Nik is hiding with the rebels. They are both outlaws being hunted by The Federated States and are trying to lie low. Although their biggest threat was Hadley, a new and greater threat appears in the introduction of Admiral Janek who will do whatever it takes to find them. I would describe Janek as more ruthless than Hadley and power hungry. Another character Meg who made a short appearance in the first book plays a key role in this book and one whose intentions are not what they seem. When the real reason behind why she was attempting to get close to Esther was revealed I was taken aback and was shocked to see the reappearance of another character connected to Meg that I wasn’t expecting.

The pace of this book was definitely quicker than the first and it was full of action from the beginning. Whereas the first book was about striving for freedom, this book was about striving for survival. Although this is a duology each book stood out on its own and the story flowed seamlessly. There was definitely more politics in this book and it was hard at times to know who to trust as each character appeared to have an ulterior motive.  Although only a few months have passed since the events of the first book Esther and Nik have gone through immense growth as characters. Something happened between them that neither of them addressed. As the book begins Esther and Nik are not together. Esther wants nothing more than to be reunited with Nik but Nik wants to create distance between him and Esther. Neither of them can stop thinking about each other because they actually both need each other. When they are reunited Esther is involved with someone else and I think it’s that that makes Nik realise how he feels about her. Esther is a much stronger character having gone through such a lot in the first book, losing someone close to her and not knowing what happened to her parents. At the same time Esther carries a lot of guilt because her actions led to the current fate of the inhabitants of the Arcadia. She is aware that she wasn’t able to save everyone and in some ways may have made things worse for them. The Esther we meet in this book is completely different to the Esther first introduced. Nik is also mourning someone he lost but he knows he has to move forward. At the same time his role in the rebel group is rapidly growing and at one point he has to step in as their leader.

A must read if you are a fan of the YA dystopian genre.

Author Bio

Sarah Daniels is an ex-archaeologist who escaped academia and now writes stories from her home in rural Lincolnshire. Her work has been published in various online magazines and has been nominated for best British and Irish Flash Fiction and Best Small Fictions.

If you want to contact her, you can do so at the following locations:

Website:  http://www.sarahdanielsbooks.com

Instagram: @sarahdanielsbooks
TikTok: @sarahdanielsbooks
Twitter: @sarahdanbooks