Literally Leander discussion

Our book for May is The Stranded by Sarah Daniels. There are spoilers for the novel within the discussion prompts, so proceed with caution.

Originally published in July 2022 in England, The Stranded made its American debut in January this year. The novel imagines a world in which Europe was destroyed by war.

Our discussion prompts this month were written by a staff member. Please feel free to use them.

1. The Stranded is told through three viewpoints: Esther, Nik, and Hadley. Which point of view did you find most interesting? Why do you think the author chose to feature these three characters? Are there any other characters that you wish had a point of view?

2. Why do you think a cruise ship was chosen as the setting for this novel? If you were the author, would you have chosen to set this book differently? If so, what would you use as the setting?

3. Describe Hadley as the novel’s antagonist. In what ways was he a villain? Did you ever feel any sympathy for him?

4. Nik and May’s leaflet drop caused ripples that affected the rebellion in large ways. Do you think that Nik and May were unprepared for the consequences of their actions? Which consequence do you think affected them the most?

5. Discuss May’s importance to both Esther and Nik. What did you think of May’s character, and how she interacted with others in the story? How does her death change Esther and Nik?

6. Hadley compares himself to Alex. Do you see the connection? In what ways are they similar? In what ways are they different?

7. Will you be reading the sequel, The Exiled? What do you think the future holds for Esther, Nik, and the rebellion?

To be perfectly honest, I feel like dystopian novels have lost their attractiveness to me. I got burned out in the early 2010s with The Hunger Games and Divergent and all of their less-mainstream cousins. So I went into this book with a bit of apprehension. I was glad that I liked it well enough (I gave it 3 stars).

Though I do have to ask: was anyone else a little unsure of how the relationship between Nik and Esther will play out? I mean, it seems as though we're to expected a romantic relationship between them, despite the fact that Nik was romantically with May.

2. Why do you think a cruise ship was chosen as the setting for this novel? If you were the author, would you have chosen to set this book differently? If so, what would you use as the setting?
I actually really liked the setting for the book. I feel like a cruise ship is self-contained enough yet fundamentally different from walled-off town or underground bunker or other similar settings in other similar novels.