Reavers' Ransom

By Emily Diamand

Book Overview

Winner of the inaugural Chicken House/London Times Children's Fiction Competition, which called it "a funny, clever, towering adventure." It's the 22nd century and, because of climate change, much of England is underwater. Poor Lilly is out fishing with her trusty sea-cat when greedy raiders pillage the town--and kidnap the prime minister's daughter. Her village blamed, Lilly decides to find the girl. Off she sails, in secret. And with a ransom: a mysterious talking jewel. "If I save his daughter," Lilly reasons, "the prime minister's sure to reward me." Little does Lilly know that it will take more than grit to outwit the tricky, treacherous piratical tribes

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0545142970
• ISBN13: 9780545142977
• Release Date: December 2009
• Publisher: Chicken House
• Length: 334 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

Set in a post-apocalyptic England, Lilly Melkun has a fairly ordinary life. Each day, she and her seacat go out fishing and come back to a home-cooked supper that Granny has made. One day, however, when she returns home, she discovers the village has been ransacked by raiders, the visiting Prime Minister's daughter has been kidnapped, and Granny has been killed. Angry at the villagers for not retaliating against the raiders, the Prime Minister shows up in the village, presses all able-bodied young men into fighting the war he wants to start, arrests all leaders in authority, and threatens to hang the lot of them if they turn out to be traitors. When the Prime Minister's sister asks Lilly to come to her house in the village, she discovers that the raiders were after a jewel that the woman has from her husband. Determined to save the day, Lilly cuts off her hair in order to look like a boy, and steals the jewel and the letter explaining to whoever cares what the object is and why she has it. Trouble finds her quickly, though, when Lilly arrives in London and gets pushed into the mud by the son of the raider who ransacked her village. Followed everywhere by the raider boy, she comes up with a plan involving befriending the boy in order to rescue the Prime Minister's daughter. What will happen when the boy discovers what she's really up to? Will Lilly save the day and stop a war from killing off everyone she cares about? RAIDERS' RANSOM is an action-packed adventure filled with humor, suspense, and even a talking head. The characters are endearing and entertaining. The plot is fast-paced and well-developed, with lots of twists and turns. Readers will enjoy the surprises that lie in store for them when they read this story. Those who like fantasy, adventure, and science fiction will all have a hard time putting this book down - and will hope the author writes a sequel. Reviewed by: Kira M

Fantastic Adventure

It's the 23rd Century and there's much that has changed from our own days. For one thing, a good portion of England is underwater. And what is left of the government rules only 10 sea-oriented counties. In addition to a loss of technology more advanced than our own, the world has turned into a more dog-eat-dog environment, with crooked politicians --okay that's the same-- real ocean-going pirates, and in some places a church which opposes learning about the old knowledge and science. This then, is the setting for Lilly's and cat's adventures. Lilly being a girl from a fishing village and cat being her companion, a special sea-going cat who can tell when storms are brewing or when things aren't what they seem. Talking Points::: I REALLY enjoyed this book for the Middle-Grades. It's well written, with characters that are intriguing and interesting. At the center of the excitement are 3 children I'd love to know more about: Lilly, Lexi, and Zeph. One is a politician's ignored daughter, the other simple girl from a fishing village, and the last a pirate king's son. If you are looking for a good adventure book for Tweeners to Middle-Schoolers, "Raider's Ransom" would be an excellent choice. HIGHLY recommend this one. a mini-review (pam t at BooksforKids-reviews)

A sure winner

At first glance, Lilly Melkun appears an ordinary girl from an ordinary fishing village in the Last Ten Counties of England. But her spunk and trusty seacat set her apart as someone special. When Lilly's village is attacked by raiders and the prime minister's daughter is kidnapped, Lilly takes it upon herself to save the poor girl. She feels it's the least she can do to help since the prime minister blames her village for the disappearance of his daughter and has forced all able bodied men and boys into his militia as punishment, including Lilly's friend Andy. With little left for her at home, Lilly disguises herself as a boy and sets off sailing--but not before "borrowing" a beautiful jewel that happens to talk as a ransom for the prime minister's daughter. But Lilly's heroic act turns out to be more difficult and dangerous than she anticipated. War between the English and the raiders is brewing among other plots, and Lilly finds that she may have to rely on a sticky and surprising friendship with a young raider boy if she's to survive. Raiders' Ransom is a story that spirits readers away to the hypothetical future of the 23rd century where much of England has been reclaimed by rising water levels. Three imaginative nations that exist on the remaining solid ground with very different lifestyles make for a fantastic backdrop for this unique story. I'm not usually one to go gaga over the classics, but I felt this novel was a synergy of cherished old childhood adventure stories, present day cultural differences, and future possibilities for the state of the world. There's something so endearing about this story with its tricky marauders, cats who seem to like water, and the strangeness of a society largely without technology. The characters as well are wonderfully developed and realistic within their situations. Everything about Raiders' Ransom sets it up to be a tale all readers will love, and Diamand does not disappoint. This futuristic fantasy tale is a creative and thrilling adventure after every reader's heart. This jewel of a story will appeal to those nostalgic for Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens as well as fans of Sovay by Celia Rees and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I eagerly look forward to a sequel for Raiders' Ransom from this skilled new writer.

Drowned London and Psychic Seacats

Emily Diamand won the first London Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition with this book, beating out more than 2,000 other writers. It's easy to see why. I can't decide which is better, her world building or her characterization, in this story set 200 years in the future, after rising sea levels have changed countries like England forever. Raiders' Ransom is probably best defined as science fiction, but it reads like a fantasy. In Diamand's future, the British Isles are made up of the Last Ten Counties, a region of southwest England ruled by an oppressive Prime Minister; Greater Scotland to the north; and the warrior tribes (Raiders) who inhabit the marshes along the now-abbreviated southeast coast. In a luddite backlash, technology has been destroyed by the fearful denizens of the southern regions, though Scotland has retained some and is trying to get their hands on more. Our story has two narrators--fishing girl Lilly, accompanied by the psychic seacat she simply calls Cat, and a raider boy known as Zeph, the son of a ruthless tribal leader. Zeph's father leads his men to Lilly's fishing village to find a lost tech treasure for the secretive Scottish Ambassador and instead kidnaps Prime Minister Randall's seven-year-old daughter, Lexy. Lilly's beloved grandmother is killed in the raid, and when the Prime Minister takes out his wrath on her village, Lilly sets off on a fairly hopeless quest. Disguising herself as a boy (natch), she steals the tech jewel from Lexy's aunt with the goal of ransoming the missing child and saving her friends. Nothing goes as planned, of course. Zeph and Lilly's paths cross in a dangerous half-drowned London, where trust is offered and then betrayed as the two try to achieve their disparate heart's desires. Both have troubles that can't easily be wrapped up in the course of a single book, but the plot comes to a satisfying stopping point, which pleased me--series or no series, a book's plot should be as round and whole as an orange instead of trailing off like an unfinished sentence. Diamand's characterization is a real strength in Raiders' Ransom. Lilly and Zeph are imperfect, yet likable. Lilly is initially more empathetic than Zeph, who is being taught by his father to be brutal. But Zeph ultimately makes his own decisions, as does Lilly, both of them not so much rebelling against the adults around them as finding their own ways to be. I was happy to find that many of the author's secondary characters are rounded, as well, some surprisingly so (e.g., Lexy's aunt and Zeph's "stepmother"). One of the oddest characters in the book is the handheld computer or jewel, which seems like a ghost to superstitious southerners, including Lilly. Here is Lilly's voice: "Maybe Cat can smell fish? Fish guts curling off the harborside into the water; fish scales decorating the stones like pearls. Scrape, slice, pack: the daily chore of fisherfolk. And Cat's a favorite, with his pretty gray markings and his s

A valuable gem of a story

People have survived into the 23rd century, but just barely. Much of what used to be the United Kingdom is now under water, and most technology, including computers and cell phones, has disappeared. Except for Scotland, where they continue to explore technology, people have returned to fishing and farming to feed their families. Lilly lives with her grandmother and supports the family by venturing out in her fishing boat every day. But she's not alone out on the sea; she has her best friend, Cat, by her side. Cat is a "seacat," a rare treasure: a cat gray in color with instincts to help with sailing and fishing. Every sailor longs to own a seacat, but Cat chose Lilly, and now they are never apart. Right now, Lilly and Cat have a small fishing boat, tiny compared to the other fishing captains in the village. Lilly and her friend, Andy, hope to own one of the big ships some day. However, a tragedy occurs that puts that dream on hold. One evening, as Lilly and Cat are returning to port, Cat alerts Lilly that something is terribly wrong. As they approach the harbor, they find that the raiders have invaded the village and its entire fleet of ships has been destroyed. And that's not the worst of it --- they have killed Lilly's grandmother! Devastated by this loss, the village gathers around Lilly to prepare for the funeral. But they can't afford to mourn for long because the Prime Minister and his army arrive in town. His young daughter, Lexy, had been in the village visiting her aunt, and when the raiders arrived, they kidnap her. The Prime Minister accuses the town of being cowards and forces all boys and men, including Andy, into his army, and they set off to attack the raiders. Lilly can't just sit by and watch her friends get killed. Desperate, she latches on to a plan. If she can get Lexy back and prove to the Prime Minister that the village wasn't responsible for her kidnapping, maybe he will free the people. Lexy's aunt owns an ancient artifact, a very valuable jewel. Lilly sneaks into her home and takes the jewel to use as a ransom for Lexy's life. And then Lilly and Cat set off to confront the raiders. On the way, Lilly discovers that the jewel is more than what it seems --- it is actually an ancient, very valuable computer. To add to the mystery, the computer projects a face and talks --- and it happens to be a bit on the sarcastic side. While Lilly and Cat make a brief stop in London to find a contact with the raiders, they run into a tough young fellow named Zeph. At first sight, Lilly and Zeph are at each other's throats, but soon they agree to be friends. At the very least, Zeph can protect Lilly and Cat while they search the streets of London. However, Lilly discovers a vital point --- Zeph is the son of the raider who kidnapped Lexy. Lilly can use Zeph to find Lexy. But then what about their newfound friendship, and what happens when Zeph finds out the truth? RAIDERS' RANSOM is Emily Diamand's first novel, and what a valuable gem