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.
The second book in this duology, I’ll try not to give away too much from the first, but if you really want to be sure you might want to come back after reading The Stranded.
Events are moving on here and we get settings that are not ship bound, indeed a lot of the story now takes place in a makeshift refugee camp on land, although our protagonists Nik and Esther are now separated from each other so we see the different locations they find themselves in.
The split narration continues in this book with the addition of a couple of new voices as well – which I found quite nice to have. It kept the pace feeling fairly snappy as each POV chapter is not overly long.
For me, The Exiled felt like we were seeing more of the political side of things than we got in The Stranded which did help to provide a greater depth to the world.
I won’t go into the actual plot too much as I really don’t want to spoil anything but I will say that this felt like a satisfying follow on to The Stranded.
With thanks to The Write Reads for inviting me on the tour and Penguin for a copy of the book in exchange for honest review.
The Exiled is out now.
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