Name: Raiders' Ransom
ISBN: 9780545142977

Emily Diamand

In 22nd-century Great Britain, where climate change has caused vast flooding, the piratical Reavers kidnap the prime minister's daughter; in a daring rescue attempt, 13-year-old Lilly Melkun, an English fisher girl, takes her seacat with a mysterious talking jewel from a past computer age tucked in her belt as ransom. Readers Guide available.

Raiders' Ransom

Sarah Sammis

The first shelf I always check at the library is the recommended reads shelf in the children's wing. I have yet to be disappointed by what the staff have put there. My latest find this way is Raiders' Ransom by Emily Diamand, a near future young adult dystopian set in what remains of the flooded British isles.

The book begins with the raid on an outlying village and news that the Prime Minister's daughter has been kidnapped. Lilly's village is blamed and she feels like she has to do something to set things right. She sails off with her fishing cat to take a ransom to the raiders and rescue the Prime Minister's daughter.

Raiders' Ransom is set in the 22nd century in a world where the oceans have risen and technology has failed. The ecological disaster and failed technology is fairly typical in dystopian fiction. So often though the characters have no working memory or understanding of how this dystopia came about. Raiders' Ransom is different: Lilly and the others know what happened. They might not know everything but they have a much better sense of what has happened than the average dystopian character.

The only thing that confused me at first about the book was the alternating points of view. Most of the book is told from Lilly's point of view but some of the chapters are told from Zeph's. He a child growing up with the raiders. His chapters help explain what has become of the flooded areas and gives an interesting look at the history of the raiders and the fate of London.

There's a second book out, Flood and Fire. I am hoping to see it on the recommended shelf soon at my library. I'm itching to see what happens next.

Raiders' Ransom

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