| Title | : | Stranded |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0765382431 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780765382436 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 304 |
| Publication | : | First published October 4, 2016 |
| Awards | : | Bram Stoker Award Best Novel (2016) |
Badly battered by an apocalyptic storm, the crew of the Arctic Promise find themselves in increasingly dire circumstances as they sail blindly into unfamiliar waters and an ominously thickening fog. Without functioning navigation or communication equipment, they are lost and completely alone. One by one, the men fall prey to a mysterious illness. Deckhand Noah Cabot is the only person unaffected by the strange force plaguing the ship and her crew, which does little to ease their growing distrust of him.
Dismissing Noah's warnings of worsening conditions, the captain of the ship presses on until the sea freezes into ice and they can go no farther. When the men are ordered overboard in an attempt to break the ship free by hand, the fog clears, revealing a faint shape in the distance that may or may not be their destination. Noah leads the last of the able-bodied crew on a journey across the ice and into an uncertain future where they must fight for their lives against the elements, the ghosts of the past and, ultimately, themselves.
Stranded Reviews
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I bought this book because it was nominated for a Bram Stoker award in 2016 and the plot interested me. Bracken is one of the best when it comes to character development. I read his collection of short stories called, 13 Views of the Suicide Woods and I was most impressed with how much I could invest in his characters in such a short amount of time with them.
I was eager to read a novel and see what the author could accomplish with more pages. The answer is: everything. Bracken MacLeod's novel, Stranded is equal parts Environment Horror and 'Men are Monsters' Horror. Our protagonist, Noah Cabot, is an interesting guy. I felt like the crew he works with, including his father-in-law, on the Arctic Promise, don't know him the way the reader gets to know him. It was so engaging to read as Bracken built up some complicated relationships between the crew members-the tension was already tight as the crew heads into disaster.
As the men of the Arctic Promise are tested under stress, Bracken expertly begins to weave in the supernatural horror and starts dropping these 'cliffhanger' moments at the end of every chapter. I'm such a cliffhanger addict and I knew around 150 pages, I was going to be finishing this book over one weekend.
The pacing in this book is perfect. I can tell that outlining and plot planning is MacLeod's wheelhouse because I felt that every piece of this story was placed with a very precise intentionality.
I'm not an adventurous person in real life, so I love reading stories about high-risk excursions. Through amazing descriptive language, I felt like I was right there, navigating through a dangerous, icy Arctic Sea. This horror story even hit on my need to feel. My "heart box" was satisfied and relished in Noah's flashbacks, creating a complicated unlikely hero I could fall in love with. I even shed a few tears, which feels really good because I'll be honest and state for the record that horror with heart is truly what I'm looking for. I'm not really after the slasher-gore fest stuff if I can't invest emotionally. blame an early reading diet of Stephen King)
There are some really horrific, suspenseful moments that hit at all the right spots. A few times, I just sat back and thought, "Wow. This is so original!!" This is a must have for any fan of quality, character-driven, suspenseful horror. It checks all the horror boxes. -
Not impressed. Pacing issues, disjointed in many areas, and absolutely no reasonable explanation for anything that happens. A real letdown for me as I had been looking forward to this one.
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4.0 Stars
Despite taking place in the summer, the Arctic setting still gives the book the chilling atmosphere of a winter horror book. I always appreciate when a story actually acknowledges the seriousness of the cold, describing the dangers of frostbite and exposure.
This book is partially a survival story, since the characters deal with human needs like illness and possible starvation, but there is more to this story. Readers should be aware that there are other horror elements that are more supernatural or potentially even science fiction in nature.
Personally, I loved the twists in this second half of this book that elevated it from a good thriller to a great one. I'm sure other readers might feel differently, but I personally love these kinds of stories.
I would recommend this one to both horror and thriller readers that enjoy an element of the surreal in their survival stories. -
4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum
https://bibliosanctum.com/2016/12/15/...
If Dan Simmons’ The Terror and The Fold by Peter Clines had a lovechild, I’d like to think the results would look a lot like Stranded. At first this book reads like a suspense-thriller with heavy shades of paranormal horror, but then we get a twist around the halfway point that arguably plunges it into sci-fi territory. And that’s when things starts to get really wild and interesting.
The story follows the crew of the Arctic Promise, a platform supply vessel for an oil rig in the Chukchi Sea. The main character Noah Cabot, ostensibly just a simple deckhand, also appears to be the resident whipping boy for everything that goes wrong aboard the ship, and we soon discover why: the ship’s master is William Brewster, Noah’s father-in-law from hell. The older man has never forgiven Noah for marrying his beloved daughter Abby, and has set out to make our protagonist’s life as miserable as possible by turning most of the crew against him. With few allies, Noah knows he has no other choice but to keep his head down and do the work.
But then one night, everything changes. After weathering through a particularly nasty storm, the Arctic Promise finds itself lost in a sea of fog with its navigation and communication systems down. What’s worse, once the visibility clears, the crew discovers that somehow their ship has gotten itself beset in second-year ice that stretches as far as the eye can see—an impossibility, given how they were just sailing in open water hours before. Things keep going downhill as one by one, the men on the ship are incapacitated by an unknown wasting sickness. Even Noah, who has remained relatively healthy, is not immune to some of its side effects which include the ghostly shadows that men are reporting to see in the corner of their visions. With none of the equipment on the ship working, the crew’s only hope is a mysterious structure they can barely spy in the distance, separated from them by an ocean of thick ice.
Stranded may have started with a heart-thumping opening sequence in which readers are thrown into the midst of a storm, but then the story pulls back a little as MacLeod gradually doles out the details of our maritime setting and establishes the protagonist’s situation aboard the ship. This book is like a ride that starts off slow, focusing first on the element of human drama and making us wonder why everyone on the Arctic Promise seems to have it out for Noah. As it turns out, Brewster’s grudge against him over Abby is only one half of the puzzle; the other has to do with a shocking incident that took place around a year ago while our main character was on the job. Hence the author spends a lot of time weaving the past into the present narrative, but seeing as how both points will come back to haunt Noah in a big way later on in the novel, all that measured build-up turned out to be worth it.
All the payoff is in the second half, there’s no doubt about that. The turning point drops not long after the crew discovers their ship trapped and they strike off onto the ice to investigate, and I think for many readers this will be the moment that determines whether they like this book or not. Personally speaking, I took this “make or break” plot twist in stride and ended up really enjoying myself, and even though this story is far from perfect, I thought the way the author pulled it off was pretty clever and slick. Overall this is a very entertaining tale, especially once things take off at a breakneck speed, culminating into a suspenseful climax and conclusion. I also liked the calculated progression in genres as we moved towards the grand finale; so much could have gone wrong along the way, but somehow this bizarre mash-up of thriller, mystery, horror and science fiction elements ended up working in the story’s favor.
That’s all I can say, really, without giving too much away. I’ll just close this off with a final piece of advice: try to read this in a warm place. Stranded is a good reminder humans are not meant for -40 degree temperatures; I swear I get chills just thinking about certain parts of the book (and it’s not all just because of the cold setting). The cruel atmosphere, engaging characters, and an entertaining plotline all helped make this one a fast, fun read. I’d check it out if it piques your interest. -
Review copy
We often hear the words "eagerly awaited," but generally it just doesn't apply to me. However, I can honestly use these words to describe Bracken Macleod's new novel, Stranded. I first heard about this book at NECON (a retreat for writers and fans, held in Rhode Island, each July). When I saw the cover and heard the synopsis, I knew I'd have to add this to my TBR list.
"The Arctic Promise was headed in a bearing for the northeast Chukchi Sea, carrying supplies for the OrbitOil drilling platform Niflheim. The voyage would have been hard under normal circumstances without a hurricane force storm threatening to capsize their ship."
The storm leaves the sixteen man crew off course, isolated, and in an impenetrable mist, which seems to have effected both the navigation and communications system. Before long the Arctic Promise becomes ice bound and now they are well and truly Stranded.
Some of my favorite stories are about groups of diverse people and what happens when they are cut off from the rest of the world in the most dire of circumstances. What follows takes that familiar trope and turns it upside down. To go much further would be giving too much away. Best to discover the twists and turns in story for yourself.
Stranded is not quite perfect, I was left with some unanswered questions, leaving me to speculate on one aspect of the story in particular, but overall, I'd have to say this book was worth the wait and is one I would definitely recommend.
Stranded is published by Tor Books and is available in paperback and e-book formats.
From the author's bio - Bracken MacLeod has worked as a martial arts teacher, a university philosophy instructor, for a children's non-profit, and as a trial attorney. His short fiction has appeared in various magazines and anthologies. In addition to Stranded, he is the author of Mountain Home, and the novella White Knight. Bracken lives in New England and is currently at work on his next novel. -
3.5 stars
I liked a lot of this. The writing was atmospheric and tense and did a great job of portraying the cold and isolated setting. The first 2/3 are really enjoyable, especially if you are a fan of the Arctic horror setting.
Where the story kind of lost me was right near the end. The action started to surpass the tension and atmosphere, and the story felt a bit muddled and overdone in the last few chapters. It was a little like John Carpenter's movie The Thing, where it is all tense and mysterious up until the end, when it becomes an action movie gorefest. There's nothing wrong with a subtle ending that maintains the tension rather than going for a big blowup at the finish. -
This is just my type of novel. I love survival stories. Characters who are lost in the woods, washed up on a deserted island, or beset on a ship in the Arctic, equally draw me in immediately. I have always loved stories about people struggling to survive in the elements.
It's so fascinating to me that we can live so comfortably in our modern houses with all the convinces and necessities we can buy, but if we make one wrong move on this planet and end up too far from civilization and all of the things we need to keep us alive, Mother Nature will cut a bitch.
The idea that life is that fragile is so terrifying and fascinating to me. Everyone I know is able to meet their basic human needs without really giving it any thought. We make money, and with that money we provide ourselves with food, shelter, warmth, and protection. Most people take that for granted every day. What utterly fascinates me is the idea that any one of us could potentially end up completely away from civilization and be left at the mercy of the elements.
Stranded is a solid sci-fi/speculative fiction/horror novel. The crew of the Arctic Promise are delivering supplies to an oil drilling platform when a bad storm hits and leaves them locked in icy waters with no communications or navigation systems. A few are injured in the storm, but worse than that, most of the crew of the Promise begin to suffer from an unexplainable illness, and start to see hallucinations of shadowy figures onboard the ship. Noah Cabot is the only man who doesn't seem to fall ill, and so when the possibility of escaping the ice on their own is no longer an option, Noah convinces the captain, who also happens to be his father-in-law, to allow a team of the most able-bodied men to investigate a shape on the horizon. The captain despises his son-in-law, (for reasons that are revealed as the story progresses), but he knows that the only way to find help is to hike to whatever that shape is, hoping that it is the drilling platform that they were nearing before the storm hit.
I enjoyed this one, even though I did have a few problems with the overall story. The writing is pretty good, but it lacked something. I noticed at one point that MacLeod used the word "ethereal" to describe three completely different things. I know this sounds nit picky, but when I notice things like that in the writing, it pulls me out of the story enough to bother me.
There is a twist toward the end that I really liked, but again there is just something missing here that keeps me from giving this one more than 3 stars. I often find that my initial reaction to a book can be a bit harsh, and once I have thought about it more and time has passed, I end up changing my mind about how I originally felt. If a story is good enough to stick with you, often times I end up forgetting the flaws in the writing and just remember enjoying the story. If you enjoy survival stories with a speculative/sci-fi twist, I definitely recommend this one. -
“Stranded” by Bracken MacLeod started out great. MacLeod has a very good writing style that adds an incredible dimension to what it’s like to be stuck in the Arctic doing a job that is undoubtedly dangerous where everything literally shuts down all around you. I enjoyed the main protagonist, Noah, right off the bat and thought his backstory and overall character development were good.
The atmosphere and depth built around Noah are also fantastic as it truly makes you feel that you’re stranded and dealing with everything that comes with being stuck out in the Arctic in extremely cold conditions trying to survive. The only thing that took away from Stranded was once you get to the halfway point, it can be very confusing.
There are way too many characters involved to where it’s easy to lose track of who is who, especially as you continue reading and find out what transpires with the crewmen. The pacing of the book is a bit off and the ending left much to be desired. I was expecting a lot more, especially with the “ghosts” that were encountered that ended up being very flat and well, boring. As a horror novel, that could have totally been fleshed out more to make it scarier or creepier than what actually went down.
I give “Stranded” by Bracken MacLeod a 3/5 for having an abundance of characters with several that were completely forgettable, pacing issues, and just a confusing plot that wasn’t explained in more detail towards the end of the novel. Perhaps it was meant to be left with unanswered questions for readers to speculate on but when you read a horror novel about being stranded in the Arctic with “ghosts” heavily mentioned going into it, expectations are high but this ends up being a huge letdown. It starts off as a slow burn, gets good, then completely fizzles out. -
If you haven’t read this DO IT. 5,000 stars. Review to come soon-ish
Review for Sci Fi and Scary:
“The void churned and welled, reaching up to pull them down into the frigid darkness, clamoring to embrace them, every one. A cold womb inviting them to return to the lightless source of all life, and die, each man alone in its black silence.”
Ah, winter reads. This was the first year I challenged myself to pick some December reads that reflected the season. I wanted horror, ice, monsters, and gore. So I picked about 13 to read, some more “winter-y” than others, and I got started.
As the weeks flew by this month, I had only three books left on my original TBR (to be read) pile. Stranded was one of them. I put aside Dan Simmons’ The Terror earlier this year (I’ll get back to it eventually) and I was a little apprehensive about another ship stuck in ice. I needn’t have worried. I began this on Christmas Eve and it killed me to put it down so I could wrap presents. MacLeod’s writing snapped me up – just look at the first two sentences of the novel written above – and did NOT let me go.
MacLeod’s world building is spot on. The tension is palpable as things go from bad to worse to WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING. There are twists and developments that I had no way of anticipating. That is important to me. Part of this comes from the massive amounts of scholarship he must’ve employed to make sure the ship and its inner workings were believable and as accurate as possible. This was such a real world to me; I was very glad for my warm and cozy reading spot to offset what was happening on the pages.
The rest, I think, comes from the characters themselves. MacLeod can write beautiful, poetic prose like the lines above. But men on fishing trawlers don’t tend to speak in lines of iambic pentameter. MacLeod, instead, is versatile enough to make the dialogue and the characters believable and authentic. This is a dark, gritty novel and the men in this novel reflect it well.
I will be actively seeking out the rest of Bracken MacLeod’s work. A wonderful blend of story, characters, heart, and terror, Stranded is one of my top reads this month. -
I blurbed this! Here is my blurb in full:
"STRANDED is the work of a master storyteller at the top of his game. You'll smell the ocean air, hear the waves as they slap against the hull, and experience the white-knuckle terror of trying to survive in the face of the unknown. If Bracken MacLeod can't scare you, you're already dead!" -
Stranded is the type of book that made me glad to be reading it indoors, in the known security and confines of my home, where I was nice and warm and comfortable, and had a nip of whiskey or Irish Mist to help keep the chills Bracken MacLeod was generating at bay.
Caught in an arctic storm, the ship Arctic Promise is thrown off-course from its destination and lost in the fog. Soon enough, the ship finds itself embedded in ice. In the distance, the flat horizon is broken only by the hump of an odd, indiscernible shape. The crew are sick with a mysterious illness, except for Noah, who finds himself constantly at odds with most of the crew. And the sick are seeing…something.
Right from the outset, MacLeod throws readers into the thick of things. His writing of the violent storm Noah and his shipmates find themselves in is phenomenally hair-raising and chaotic, and the unique threats of the arctic landscape itself are well posed and chillingly executed.
Much of the horror in Stranded is derived from the environment itself, as much as the crazed crewmen Noah is forced to contend with, and there’s a heavy, freezing atmosphere that permeates MacLeod’s writing. It’s strong stuff, and reminded me a bit of another arctic powerhouse horror-thriller in Dan Simmon’s The Terror. (If you want to know why I love arctic horror, this and The Terror are two books to check out for prime examples of environmental scares done right.)
MacLeod also does some great work with the characters here, although it is a bit of slow-boil to learn why Noah is so despised by so many of his shipmates. Noah catches a lot of flack, for various reasons, and I personally would not have minded getting a bit more information up front rather than having details parceled out piecemeal over the course of the book’s first half. This is a minor complaint in an otherwise strong work, though, but the motivations behind the firmly anti-Noah characters make for rich conflict, particularly in the book’s later segments.
Stranded is an impressive and visceral work of achingly cold environmental horror with a nifty sci-fi twist, and a work that has ensured Bracken MacLeod is an author whose releases I will be watching out for.
[Note: I received an advanced copy of this title for review from the publisher via NetGalley.] -
STRANDED is the story of Noah Cabot, a seemingly hapless deckhand aboard the Arctic Promise who must contend with an unprecedented amount of bullying and distrust from his peers, and from Brewster, the ship’s captain. Brewster has ties to Noah, and a grudge so deep it could transcend realms.
A series of misfortunes unfold, starting with a devastating storm that claims one of the crew and leaves the Arctic Promise icebound, lost, and with no means of communication. Soon follows a mysterious ailment that plagues all on-board…except for Noah.
After failed attempts to free the ship and faced with a weakening crew and a dwindling food supply, those aboard are forced to do the unthinkable…rely on Noah, who must lead those still healthy enough to walk on a trek across the fields of ice. Ahead of the crew lies - unbeknownst to them – a reality that is terrifying beyond comprehension, yet all too familiar, and a conclusion so tense it will give you cramps.
Bracken MacLeod’s STRANDED is a diamond with many facets and in many ways reminds me of early Jonathan Carroll novels where the ordinary is oh-so-sneakily turned on its ear, and transforms into a mounting dread that ultimately culminates in a crescendo worthy of a Mussorgsky symphony. Bracken can make boundless fields of ice seem claustrophobic. His craft is deft, his characters are true, and his imagery is stark and breathtaking.
Most highly recommended! Climb aboard! -
Stranded was a slog through the Arctic that even a witty twist couldn’t save. Although setup and premise are appealing, ultimately, the book is neither captivating nor interesting. I quickly lost interest in the plot and except for MC, his best friend and his father in law, all the characters felt interchangeable. Not mine unfortunately.
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REAL QUICK: MaCleod wrote a brilliant story set in the Arctic that had me on pins and needles. I am a big fan of eco-horror. I love the outdoor setting in extreme weather with darkness lurking at every corner. The character development is stellar and the writing is top-notch. It’s fantastic! Go read it!
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I was intrigued by the premise of the book and I liked the cover photo - hey, and look at all this advanced praise!
But Stranded is a lame, superficial, boring book.
The author doesn't bother to explore his own premise. The sick crew, the strange phantoms, the crossing of parallel worlds, the hatred toward Noah, just accept that it's all happening and don't ask questions.
None of the characters are given distinction. They all talk and act the same. Some hate Noah, some don't. It's hard to keep track of all 16 of them (and later each character will double).
Why do so many characters hate Noah? They hate him so much that they won't even cooperate with him in life or death situations. This might have been an opportunity to show something about Noah's character that divides people, but he seems like an alright guy. Brewster, the captain, hates him because...Noah married his daughter and his daughter died of cancer and Brewster didn't see her in the hospital...OK, whatever you say.
Don't look for complex social dynamics in this book. For instance, what would you do if you met your twin from another reality? Would you start brawling them? That's what these characters do. They are treated like steroid-abusing hot heads. And eventually Brewster, the father, husband, ship captain, just starts killing everybody. But there is no set up for his behaviour, nothing that hints that he is capable of mass murder or is insane, so it comes out of nowhere.
This book held my interest for about 3o pages or so, when everything was still an exciting mystery. But I quickly realized that this book was not going to deliver. I stuck it out and gave the book a chance to end with a bang. But the book sucked and I would not read anything by this writer again.
Most people I noticed gave this book a positive review and I would love someone reading this to argue with me on any of the points I tried to make. That's an open invitation. -
Artic Promise - 2.5 stars...
I have a huge thing for books with cold weather settings like the Artic or Antarctica so I've been really excited about reading this book. Unfortunately though it wasn't as enjoyable as I was hoping for. The first half was very slow and lacking in suspense, and it took me all week to trudge through it. The second half had a lot more action but I didn't care for the plot turn the story took. The ending also wasn't very satisfying. It felt rushed and it didn't tie up a lot of the loose ends and questions I had.
As for all of the characters that we were introduced to, including the main character Noah, I really only liked Connor. Sometimes I could relate to Noah's character but then other times he came across as meek and spineless and I just wanted to yell - 'Stand up for yourself please!'
What I did enjoy about the story though was the shipboard atmosphere and the cold climate setting. No, I never felt the foreboding feeling and I never felt the terror I was hoping for but I was able to feel the crew's plight of being stranded in the middle of ice as far as you can see. The story has all of the ingredients for a good horror novel but in my opinion, it just doesn't quite pull it off.
*I received this ARC from NetGalley & Tor Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
**I read this for my 2016 Halloween Bingo: ~It was a Dark & Stormy Night~ square
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** Edited as review is now live on Kendall Reviews!**
If you know my reading preferences or my writing themes, a book like ‘Stranded‘ by Bracken MacLeod seems like a book I’d be all over.
Yet, for reasons unknown, it took me some time to get to this from my TBR. Heck, I’d even read ‘Stranded‘ by Renee Miller (frozen setting, survival theme) before this one!
A significant amount of people told me to read this and time and time again, I’d say “it’s coming soon.”
I’m certainly glad I finally got to it.
What I liked: ‘Stranded‘ is a book that tackles a number of themes and MacLeod holds back no punches when letting them settle into the bones of the characters and the marrow of the readers.
On the surface, this is purely a winter survival story. We get a group of men working aboard the good ship Arctic Promise, attempting to deliver goods to a vessel. A sudden, violent storm arrives, knocking out the communication systems and trapping the ship in ice. From there, MacLeod keeps the pedal to the metal and the tension sticks to your fingers as you frantically flip the page, wanting to know what happens next.
But, this isn’t purely a story of survival. No, we get a look at the depth of despair and grief people go through, how isolation guides decision making and how keeping a singular glimmer of hope can keep someone alive. The idea of second chances and what-ifs really comes into play frequently and I loved how it was used to keep tugging us along.
The biggest theme that really permeates the frosty narrative is the toxic masculinity that wraps its hands around this story and won’t let go. I used to be a big-time fan of the TV show ‘Deadliest Catch,’ but the constant bullying, belittling and beatings people would take on the show, from Captains and Crewmen who acted like fools became too much and I found I couldn’t watch it anymore. This was a constant within the story, rearing up time and time again and it worked really well to create distance from the ‘good’ and the ‘bad.’
MacLeod crafted a really well done story here, one that kept me wanting to know more and more.
What I didn’t like: I put this section here to act as a place where I can mention something I wasn’t a fan of or what other readers might not enjoy. In this case, within the book, there is a very interesting plot point that comes about involving someone from Noah’s past. Reader’s may not enjoy when the book ends that we never truly get answers. The ending left a similar mark on me as ‘The Cabin At the End of the World‘ did, where it’s essentially a fade to black, but it worked so well for me as the reader. I hope it does for you.
Why you should buy this: If you haven’t read this already, I highly recommend you give it a shot. MacLeod is a brilliant writer who gives us character depth and story points that unravel and weave much like a ship in wavy water. It was really masterfully put together and was one of those books that, once done, you’ll set it down and smile, knowing you just finished having a blast.
Really loved this one. -
I was digging the novel for the first half. It had a deliberately paced build up of strange things happening and dire circumstances for the stranded crew of the ship. Although the entire time I found the vitriol Brewster had for Noah to be almost cartoonishly overdone. But in the second half of the book as some of the bizarre happenings were explained, the story just turned into an out of control roller-coaster. Yes, the action picked up, but the circumstances just got more ridiculous for the sake of ridiculousness and felt like a different novel than the one it started as. And in the end there were way too many questions left unanswered.
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I enjoyed this audio book which is read by the fabulous PJ Ochlan. I really liked that your thrown right into the chaos with this one. There is chaos, tons of dread and gloom and a constant fight for survival. Some of the characters are really awful, some are just there. If you like your endings in neat boxes with bows, this is not the book for you.
End credits song: Taking Back Sunday - What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost
https://youtu.be/Ohp_c3K9DKM -
I read "Stranded" as part of the BOTM for the GR group Horror Aficionados. Based on the cover and the description, I thought I was getting some icy Arctic terror à la
The Terror or
Dark Matter. That sounded sweet, as the weather finally has turned cooler here in the Swamps.
And the first half of the book delivered frozen goodness. A resupply vessel, the Arctic Promise is on the way to an isolated offshore drilling rig with food and materials. Soon, a mysterious illness sweeps through the crew, leaving everyone incapacitated except a single crewman. Noah is a single father, noble and dedicated to his daughter and his few friends on board the vessel, and hated by his father-in-law, the Captain, and his cronies. The vitriol between the two men, and the captain's seemingly willingness to abuse, strand, and potentially kill Noah, is almost comical in its description. Eventually the characters seemed to become caricatures of themselves, with no other flaws or redeeming qualities.
The icy coldness of the seas, the descriptions of the men's trek across the ice to find the mysterious object in the distance - all of this is delivered in a way that had me glued to the book.
About halfway through the book the story takes a turn into a different realm, and I was not that thrilled with the new direction. There were too many loose ends, too many unknowns, too many taking-things-for-granted. And it bothered me that Noah and Conner could continue on for another day and half having been covered in crude oil sludge up to their knees. Wouldn't there be some sort of deleterious effect to their legs and feet? On top of frostburn, etc.?
Overall, a good read, but I felt the unexpected turn of events in the middle of the book was a bummer. -
3.5 stars.
To start off, I'm a huge fan of Bracken MacLeod. I've loved everything I've read by him so far, except this one. This one was good, but not quite up to par imo.
First of all, it took about 20 chapter for me to REALLY get invested. The first part of the book was pretty tedious to me, in that Noah is basically abused from all angles by his crewmates and his superiors...for seemingly no reason. Reasons come out as the book progresses, but the pettiness of the men and Noah's overall character kind of bugged me. Noah came off as a bit of a Gary Stu who just had really shit luck and everyone hated and distrusted for things beyond his control.
Once the big twist happened, I got SO much more into it. I was not expecting a sci-fi turn, so I was definitely here for it!! The rest of the book was much more enjoyable, minus the prolonged fight scenes which I've always found pretty boring.
The ending was mostly satisfying, though I do wish there were a bit more explained.
The thing that kept me from writing this review for a bit was the paradox that's presented in the events of the book. I was unsure if I was right or not, but it dawned on me in the middle of the night that I think I AM right and that there is definitely a paradox present, in my opinion. It could be explained away I suppose, but I still want to point it out because it honestly confused me re: the order of events prior to the book. I have my buddy readers on the lookout as they read the book, so hopefully they can provide some insight. I might just be crazy haha.
Overall, it's a good book, a bit tedious to start and the paradox thing kind of messes with me, but it was overall an enjoyable read. -
Darn it, this one had so much promise! Without a doubt, I'd give 5 stars just for the atmosphere and tension that builds non-stop. For that reason, I wanted to keep reading. But man, the twist to the plot? You pretty much have to suspend disbelief because there's no explanation at all for it, not even in the end. That was frustrating. So I agree with all the reviewers who complained about that, as well as the character development not being great. Couldn't care much about most of the characters which, in the end, I guess that was a good thing as there's a high body count. The ending wasn't the greatest either and didn't clear things up much. Sigh... such a bummer! MacLeod missed his chance on making this great, unfortunately.
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Review from Tenacious Reader:
http://www.tenaciousreader.com/2017/0...
3.5/5 Stars
No book has ever made me more afraid of the cold and ice and than Stranded. Seriously, the setting for this book brings a new and frightening definition to the word freezing. It also presents an interesting reading experience via a twist that comes about halfway through the book. The first half is a gripping thriller. One that will make you feel the frigid harsh world of the arctic.
Weather and circumstances batter the crew of the Arctic Promise from the beginning. Their situation quickly escalates from concerning to holy hell, things can’t possibly get worse. But, well, things can often get worse, and they can definitely get more strange. That’s what this unfortunate crew discovers out in the frozen arctic.
I found it incredibly hard to put this book down during the first half of the book, the story and atmosphere seized my attention from the very first page and held it unrelentingly. Until the twist. I feel like the sudden and unexpected reveal we get around the halfway point really shifts the tone of the book from gripping thriller to total WTF is going on mode. The speculative aspects of the book come out in full force and you can no longer call this just a simple thriller. Once I got over the shock, I worked my way to trying to puzzle out how everything could resolve (because it wasn’t really a straight forward survival game any more).
I almost feel like it was the suddenness of the shift/reveal that pulled me out of the story a bit more than anything else. It took a little while for me to “adjust” and really start thinking about the path the story had taken. I found once I did this, it became more intriguing. Did I love it as much as I loved that first half? Maybe not, but I also feel like its nice to be completely blindsided by a book now and then, and that’s what this one did for me.
One constant through out the book was that I enjoyed getting Noah’s perspective. A deck hand that appears to be incredibly level headed and likable, but is challenged by working with a crew that seems to neither trust or like him, not to mention the incredibly tense/hostile dynamic caused by working under his evil father-in-law. As a reader, I was quite curious why this character I seemed to like could be so unpopular with his crew mates. And seeing as how this crew has more than there share of issues to work through, crew dynamics are incredibly important.
Overall, Stranded has amazing atmosphere and tension. It is also a book that gives the reader the unexpected, throwing a twist half way through that shifts the type of story it is. I may have been really unsure about the twist at first, but I did like how it challenged me to think of possible resolutions/endings. Overall, a good read. -
Likes: Let’s take a moment to appreciate the cover. It’s very ominous. Standing ovation for the cover designer. *Clap, clap.*
Okay, this story is not what I expected. At first, I thought it was a typical Arctic survival story. I’ve read a lot of those because I love them. The book focuses on Noah, a single parent who gets a job on his ex-father-in-law’s merchant ship. You already know that things are going to be tense, but life becomes unbearable for Noah when the ship gets stuck in ice. After that, the plot takes a sci-fi twist that I didn’t see coming. I’m not going to spoil it for you because I loved the surprise. Just know that you need a tolerance for weirdness. The story gets very strange, very suddenly. I actually put the book down for a while to puzzle out what was happening. (That’s not a bad thing. I just didn’t expect this oddness in a survival story.)
You also need a tolerance for gore if you want to read Stranded. Above all, this is a horror story. The pacing is relentless, the action is intense, and there’s a high body count. Don’t get too attached to people because most of the characters won't make it out of the Arctic alive. Stranded will keep you up past bedtime. You’ll want to know how Noah gets himself out of this mess. Every time the characters seem safe, things get worse for them.
The tension builds quickly. Noah’s shipmates grow increasingly uneasy as the problems pile up. What’s happening to the ship’s electronics? Why is the crew getting sick? Where did all the ice come from? What’s that strange shape in the distance? I badly wanted Noah to solve the mysteries and get himself home to his daughter.
Dislikes: The writing isn’t great. Actually, it’s downright lazy on occasion. (Don’t read this novel if you’re one of those reviewers who has a stroke every time the characters “let out a breath they didn’t know they were holding.”) The author could have done more to make the action clearer and the setting atmospheric. The writing gets the job done, but this isn’t a book that I feel compelled to reread.
I wish there was more character development. The majority of the characters exist so that they can be killed. They’re just names to me. I didn’t feel anything when they were brutally murdered. More development would have also made the characters’ actions believable. Many of Noah's colleagues are inexplicably petty. I didn’t understand the point of their childishness. Then there’s the ending: Like a lot of horror stories, this one ends with a bloodbath. I had a hard time believing the events that happen in the end. A group of 30+ people can't all be that evil. (Can they?)
The Bottom Line: I like the twists and the mysteries. I felt let down by the end. There isn’t enough character development to make that ending believable for me.
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First it was the blurb that got me interested:
"In the spirit of John Carpenter's The Thing and Jacob's Ladder comes a terrifying, icebound thriller where nothing is quite what it seems."
Well... that's promising.
Then I read about the setting of the book which is a stranded ship in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere in the most literal sense of the word surrounded by ice and endless horizons that all look the same. That's my bag already and the perfect setting for what is to come.
Author, Bracken MacLeod, does a fantastic job of describing the desolation that puts you there. Such an expanse so vast yet claustrophobia still sets in, both in the boat and on the ice and ocean.
Nothing is what it seems on their ship, Arctic Promise, or in the world that surrounds them. The crew is stranded. Our main character, Noah, an outcast amongst the group just wants to get home to his daughter and every possible outcome is preventing this from happening. The majority of the crew falls sick almost immediately and everyone is looking to the shadows.... that are moving.
I don't want to give anything else a way. The twist was not as I expected and was very interesting to watch it unfold in the most cinematic of ways. The first half is a fairly slow burner but MacLeod's crew, the setting they are in and the way his descriptors pull you into the scenario keep it moving at a fine pace until the last half when their world turns on it's axis. It's full speed ahead after that.
The only issue I had with the book is we never know the how or why any of what occurs actually happens but at the same time i'm ok with that as it's not what the story is intended to do. It's about the characters, about Noah, about survival, about madness, about acceptance and about keeping promises. -
I'm a huge fan of horror stories set against the backdrop of a frozen winter land. Add to the setting a story that delves into the psychological, with a simmering suspense that slowly dials up, and you'd think I would have loved this one.
Not sure if it was the characters feeling a little wooden, only playing a single note, or if the style of writing was what kept me from really sinking in, but I constantly felt on the outskirts of the story rather than being drawn into the middle of it.
Lately, it seems there's a trend to move toward subtle storytelling, a less-is-more approach, where huge concepts instead of being fully explored are dampened. I look at Joe Hill's "The Fireman" as an example, or even Paul Tremblay's "Disappearance at Devil Rock." For me, "Stranded" falls into a similar category. (Meaning for all of you readers out there who LOVED these books, you'll probably condemn me for not 5-starring this wintery winterland). Some great ideas that never fully took off the ground, at least for me.
I'd definitely be up for checking out more of MacLeod's work, this one just left me -- dare I say it? -- chilled. 3 out of 5 stars. -
I really liked this but it's very light on 'Horror' and way heavy on thriller and science-fiction. Yes, there's the horror of what real people do to other real people, that never fails to horrify me, but this was marketed as 'The Thing' meets 'Jacob's Ladder'. It's neither of these, (there was a MASSIVE lack of chest-caving-in scenes and decapitated heads sprouting legs, not to mentions those dogs....), and while I enjoyed it, I'm now going to be a little hesitant about other 'horror' novels by this otherwise excellent author.
My one big bug-bear.....call the characters by either their first or their second name, don't befuddle me by switching between the 2 names, particularly when there's 15 characters whom I'm trying to follow!
Recommended for my sci-fi friends who like a little alternate reality with their Arctic exploration. -
I wanted to love this one a lot more than I did, but it just never really went as far as I was hoping. That, and the first like 150 pages were infuriating. I get that no one is supposed to like the main character, but I’m starting to think that relentless bullying is one of my book-icks 😂
Otherwise, I thought this was pretty good and weird, kinda like a dark Twilight Zone episode. Just slow and a bit frustrating at times. -
Stranded is the second book I've read by Bracken MacLeod, although the first one hasn't been published yet, it was enough to make me realize that I didn't just want to read Stranded, I needed to. I will also need to read anything that he writes/publishes in the future. Stranded was definitely worth all of the hype and I happily have a signed copy on my bookshelf from when I met Bracken for the second time in person.
I'm sure by now everyone has told you the plot. I wouldn't be rehashing it, even if I wasn't a bit late in posting my review. What I will tell you is that as a woman who is not real current on my sailor jargon, the book started a bit slow for me. This is entirely why it has taken me so long to write this, because I don't know how else to say it. I wasn't sure how to tell you that I thought it started a bit slow and that I don't think it detracted from the book, whatsoever. That said, by 40% I could not put this book down and the rest went fast, too fast. At first I was a little bummed at the end; I wanted more. But the more I have talked about it and the more I have thought about it (which has been a lot), it's either entirely fitting or a great opening for a sequel. (hint, hint)
So how do you write a review that sounds like you don't really like the beginning or the end? Like this. You say that Stranded is one of the best books you have read this year. That Bracken MacLeod is a literary force to be reckoned with. And you say that you maybe could have loved this book a bit more but it was pretty damn good anyways.
I received an e-arc of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. -
"In the spirit of John Carpenter's The Thing and Jacob's Ladder comes Stranded -- a terrifying, icebound thriller where nothing is quite what it seems by Bracken MacLeod"
That is the byline heading the synopsis for Stranded and I feel it does the book a huge disservice. Note, I understand the need to find a way to connect to your audience, but I haven't ever been a fan of a publisher (or movie studio for that matter) plastering "comparison" titles as a way to catch someone's interest. It tends to give a reader (or watcher) the wrong idea and expectation, it also tends to immediately make me weary and doubtful, which could be the reason it took me nearly a year after publication to read Stranded. How about...
"In the spirit of an awesome read and a book you'll think about long after you've set it down comes Stranded -- a terrifying, icebound thriller where nothing is quite what it seems by Bracken MacLeod"
That's better.
Because Stranded is an awesome read, it is also a book that you will think about after you've set it down. My first Bracken MacLeod read that in turn cemented me as a fan of Bracken MacLeod. A quality cast of entertaining characters drive this surreal narrative where the location holds it's own as a personality to deal with. Those ingredients added to the layers of tension, enough ambiance to drown out the sun, and just enough room for interpretation make for a hell of a reading experience.
Stranded, one of my favorite books in recent memory.
Zakk is a big Dumb animal!
