Drowned by Nichola Reilly (review)

In a climate-ravaged future, the residents of Tides pack tightly onto a raised platform each day as the ocean temporarily swallows their ramshackle homes with the high tide. When the water recedes, they return to their normal routine, which means fifteen-year-old Coe continues mucking the outhouses and suffering the ridicule and bullying that come with her having only one arm. When the rarely seen Princess Star mysteriously requests Coe’s presence as her royal aide, Coe is hesitant to believe her luck has changed—and she’s right to be wary, because when the king dies, throwing the island into anarchy, Coe’s new status as an enabler to the ineffective and spoiled royals puts her life in danger. There’s a starkness to Coe’s direct narration that painfully reflects the bleakness of the world around her, and her melancholy comes not from self-pity but from the true despair of living in a place that is slowly being eroded away by an unstoppable force. There is no hope here, and even as she pursues a romantic relationship with a boy she has loved from afar for years, Coe is constantly aware of the expiration date that looms for them both. The environmental catastrophe and the ensuing decline of humanity among its survivors are typical YA fare at this point, but Coe’s captivating voice, along with a surprising twist that brings Coe into the secret interior of the island, ensures that readers will anxiously return to see what lies beneath the surface of these Tides.