A fast paced read with lots of action, mystery and unknown.
The setting was difficult to picture, until it finally dawned on my boys that we were in the future and world technology had been destroyed. (I had to explain this to them. They didn't catch this.)
Because our family doesn't "game" much of the setting was probably lost to us.

In spite of all that, the action kept them interested and reading ahead before I could read to them.

Issues of friendship, loyalty, bravery all came to play as the two main characters had to make hard choices for their next steps.

We have the sequel already checked from the library ready to read! ( )

(I listened to the audio book of this, which employed 2 exceptional voice actors to play the girl and boy lead)

This story is set in a post-apocalyptic Britain where floods have devastated the country, infrastructure, and seemingly all technology made after the Victorian days. All in all it was a fun adventure story with humor and sweet characters. The development and differences in cultures of the tribe-like raiders and the poor fishers kept my attention, while the political scheming kept me on my feet. I enjoyed the interactions and point of view narration of the two main kids, and found myself liking both of them.

This is not a perfect book, but for later elementary and early middle school students who want to get into science fiction, or at least a different type of future than what the Hunger Games offers, this is a great recommendation. ( )

Originally published in the UK as Reavers' Ransom, and then reprinted (also in the UK) as Flood Child, before being released here in the states as Raiders' Ransom, this debut novel from Emily Diamand was the winner of the initial Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition, set up to recognize emerging talent in the field. A dystopian tale set in a future Britain, one bitterly divided between three powers - a greatly weakened, technology-rejecting England, reduced to ten counties after the southern portion of the country was submerged in the waters that rose after the great "Collapse," and much of the north was incorporated into Greater Scotland; the chaotic western tidal marshes (once the coastal counties stretching from Kent to Norfolk) ruled by the fierce pirate Raider clans, descended from the families that fled London, when it was flooded out; and Greater Scotland, the technology-embracing nation to the north, now encompassing current-day Scotland, Wales, and much of northern England - it follows the story of an English fisher-girl named Lilly Melkun, who sets out to save her village from threatened destruction, when raiders kidnap the daughter of the Prime Minister, and treason is suspected; and Zephaniah bar Angel Isling, son of Medwin, the Boss of the Angel Isling Raider clan, who finds himself struggling throughout with the conflicting demands of his conscience, and his sense of loyalty to his family and people. As Lilly and Zeph cross paths, their fates, and the fate of young Alexandra (Lexy) Randall, the English Prime Minister's daughter held captive at Angel Isling, become hopelessly entangled...

Raiders' Ransom is a book I've been meaning to read since it first came out (here in the states, at any rate), so I was happy when it was chosen as our May selection over in The Children's Fiction Club to which I belong. It comes as no surprise to discover that its author studied environmental science, and is a committed environmental activist, as the world of the story is one in which the evils of global warming - particularly, the rising sea levels - play an extremely important role. I found the main premise here fascinating, and all too believable - it is not difficult at all to imagine some people rejecting all technology, after a disaster involving a worldwide computer collapse - and I appreciated many of the details of Lilly and Zeph's world, from the familiar but slightly transformed place-names, to the artifacts of the past dug up from old trash dumps and reused. The rare "Harry Potter" volumes, much desired by historians, brought a chuckle! The two main characters were both quite engaging - I did find it a little odd that the dust-jacket flap, and the book descriptions available online, made this sound like Lilly's story, rather than a dual-narrative tale involving two children's perspectives - and I loved Cat, Lilly's lovable Seacat, whose odd prescience, as it concerned the weather, was never fully explained in the story.

In sum: I enjoyed the story, was engaged by the characters, and found the world being depicted fascinating. I can't say that Raiders' Ransom grabbed hold of me as strongly as I'd hoped - it took far longer to get through it than I'd expected - but I was involved enough that I wanted to know what happened next, and will undoubtedly track down a copy of the sequel, Flood And Fire. ( )

Mostly sticking with this because I don't have any other books on my ipod right now. There's a lot of technology-magic that kicks in at convenient times to remind you this isn't set in the 1800s, but it all seems just so made-up, existing to have a convenient escape hatch from trouble.

[edit] Not enjoying it; giving up.

Spännande bok om ett framtida Storbritannien där civilisationen som vi känner den kraschat och människorna nu lever i armod i spillrorna som finns kvar. Lilly är en fattig fiskare från Englands sydkust som efter en piraträd i hennes by måste ut på äventyr för att rädda sin by och sin egen framtid.

Spännande och fantasifull. Med klassiska drag hos en äventyrsbok som flickor utklädda till pojkar och vänskap över sidorna i en konflikt. Klassiskt äventyr i nytt format.