Floodland

Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick is the third book I read for the Books on the Nightstand DystopYA Reading Challenge.  Actually, I listened to this audiobook - on actual cassette tapes!  I hadn't done that in forever but it was the only audio format that my library had it in.  It was a decent audiobook although the narrator's voice bothered me a little bit but I think it was just her attempt to speak like a young girl.  Please forgive me for any misspellings in this post but I'm guessing as to how the names of people and places are spelled.  Since I listened to the book, I didn't actually see the spellings. 

In Floodland, the seas have risen to cover most of the land in the world due to global warming.  The story follows Zoe, a young girl who has lost her family and is by herself in Norridge - a small island off what I think might have been England.  Zoe finds a boat and escapes from Norridge but ends up on an even smaller island that was very Lord of the Flies-like.  She meets characters with names like Doobie, Spat and Munchkin (I kept think of The Wizard of Oz every time that name was said). On this island, Zoe struggles with other inhabitants over her possessions and her mere autonomy as she tries to escape and find her parents on the mainland.

I enjoyed the story but at times I found myself drifting from the audio.  It didn't keep my attention as well as most books do.  I had a hard time empathizing with Zoe because she would jump back and forth from being an ingenious girl to acting like the child was.  Her character wasn't consistent.  I had guessed the ending partially through the book. Yet, at the same time, I wanted just a little bit more at the end.