Floodland
Style: Average
Attitude: Take Care
This review was contributed by Ben G
Publisher: Dolphin
Published in: 2000
Age Range: Pre Teens
Period: Future
Setting: Norwich
Characters:
- Zoe is the main character, who embarks on a desperate journey to find and join her family on mainland England after being stranded on the island of Norwich. Zoe is a loner and does not believe in true friendship.
- Dooby is the leader of the inhabitants of Eels islands, the cool and calculating Dooby lives only to satisfy his own pleasures and gain by others' loss.
Synopsis:
Zoe lives in an England that has been covered by water as a result of global warming, the city of Norwich is a small island, cut off from the part of the mainland which still remains above the water level. Zoe's parents flee the fast eroding shores of Norwich but in the confusion she is left behind on Norwich. Zoe decides to go on her own mission to find her parents. During her desperate struggle she comes across the strange Eels islands and only narrowly escapes.
Notes:
While Floodland is simply written it is still interesting. For the early part of the book the author uses internal monologues and flashbacks from Zoe's memory. This technique helps to lay out the situation before the reader and we discover why Zoe lives on Norwich as well as why she is without parents on the island. No other major characters are introduced, so the author concentrates on developing Zoe's character that is done very effectively in the early part of the book. The reader gets to see Zoe as a bit of a loner and we also discover other secrets about her.
The other main character in the book is Dooby, a boy of 14 who is very selfish and cares only for his own gain. It is also implicit that he lives with his girlfriend. Dooby has a love of violence and occasionally describes fights with other gangs vividly.
In the book Zoe has little idea of friendship, she deserts her “best friend” in Norwich and also seems to feel that people get on better without friends. Despite this, it is clear that Zoe deeply loves her parents and she shows determination and strength of character in finding them.
But just when Zoe's parents had decided to get off Norwich, the boat stopped coming. Instead of the usual four or six weeks it did not reappear for three whole months. Finally it slipped into view late one night late one night as if the captain knew there would be trouble. By now a lot more people than usual wanted to get off the island. there was confusion, it was dark and a terrible fight broke out to get aboard two tiny boats.
Thursday 17th July 2003