Drowned World, drowned words: Marcus Sedgwick, Floodland (London: Dolphin Books, Orion, 2005).

I liked The Dark Horse very much. I thought The Book of Dead Days and its sequel a little pointless.

Floodland is a waste of good trees which is funny when you think about it.

Zoe is left behind on the island of Norwich when her parents escape the rising flood. She finds a boat, maintains it and uses it to escape when others attack her because she has a boat and they don't (it's unclear why she didn't leave before). She finds a much smaller island--Ely--where the inhabitants are all wild children with the exception of a not too sane old man called William Blake who reads the poetry of...you've guessed it. There is lots of stuff here about the value of stories but no one remembers them any more.

Zoe and a nice boy called Munchkin (we know he is nice because he keeps a pet rat) escape to the mainland, and they find Zoe's parents. Zoe is furious that they never came back for her, but forgives them when she discovers it's because her mother was pregnant and she now has a baby brother (most kids I know would be more, not less resentful).

That's it. This story has been done better by Peter Dickinson, Jan Mark, Julie Bertagna, John Christopher and probably a lot of other people.

Stick the originals.