Ship Bound

Poe has vengeance in her heart and at times it seems her very blood. The person she loved most in the world was killed, murdered, by the raiders. Ever since that moment two years ago, Poe has worked hard to make it impossible for the raiders to ever board another Outpost dredge. She has designed armor for the outside of the last dredge that moves and makes it impossible for any of the raiders to make it onboard the ship, alive. She is responsible for a lot of deaths.

But now the leader of the Outpost, the Admiral, has just told Poe she will be going on the next voyage. He doesn’t say why she will be going this time, only that she must go. Poe knows something must be up, but she has no idea what. The dredge’s sole purpose is to get gold out of the river bed and then return to the Outpost. Why would she be needed to do that? She decides to take a gamble and says she will go, but she is going to be the captain. And that is how she ends up captaining the last Outpost dredge, at the age of 17, with a crew who also aren’t sure why this trip seems different than all the others. It turns out there has been a plan, a secret plan, all along that Poe might find out about too late.

The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe by Ally Condie is a futuristic book about how things change, and how they stay the same. Humans are humans, and how does a person overcome a horrible tragedy? Poe has to discover if her life will only ever be about the death of someone, or if there might be more for her.

Recommended for grades 7 and up.