Poison by
Lan Chan
(Wind Dancer #1)
Publication date: September 1st 2015
Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult
Publication date: September 1st 2015
Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult
Synopsis:
Since the night her mother was murdered, sixteen-year-old
Rory Gray has known one truth: There are no good Seeders.
In post-apocalyptic Australia, the scientists known as
Seeders have built a Citadel surrounded by food-producing regions and populated
with refugees from the wars and famine. To maintain their control, the Seeders
poisoned the land and outlawed the saving of seeds.
It’s been six years since Rory graced the Seeders’ circus
stage as the Wind Dancer and still the scars on her body haven’t healed. Even
worse are the scars on her heart, left by a Seeder boy who promised to protect
her.
Now the Seeders are withholding supplies from Rory’s
region for perceived disobedience. Utilising the Wanderer knowledge she
received from her mother, Rory must journey to the Citadel through
uninhabitable terrain to plead for mercy.
However, the Citadel isn’t as Rory remembered. The chief
plant geneticist is dying and rumours fly that the store of viable seed is
dwindling. The Seeders are desperate to find a seed bank they believe Rory can
locate, and they will stop at nothing to get it.
To defy the Seeders means death. But Rory has been close
to death before–this time she’s learned the value of poison.
Recommended for fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent,
strong protagonists, minority characters, circuses and nature!
Purchase:
Amazon ~ B&N ~ Smashwords
My Review:
I received a free copy of the book from the author
for my honest opinion.
If you like reading books in this genre or if you just
love a good story then this is the book for you. It will take you on a very
long journey that you can never get enough of. It will swallow you up from beginning
to ending. You will be so immersed that you will not know what has taken a hold
of you. It will hold you prisoner the beginning to the end and then keep you
wanting more.
Rory a sixteen year old girl lives in one of the villages
outside the walls of the Citadel. Her and her family once lived inside the
walls until her mother was murder by the Seeders. The Seeders control the
country and everyone in it. Rory is half Seeder and half Wonderer. She was once
a part of the circus at the Citadel and one of the best. She was known as the
Wind Dance and she was very good at what she did.
But after her mother’s death Rory and her family was sent
to live in a faraway land. Rory and the people in her village were running out
of food. They are not allowed to have seeds to grow their own food. It is
against the law to for Rory and her family and friends to have seeds if they
are caught then they are punished.
The Seeders provide the people in the villages outside of
the walls of the Citadel. But for some reason unknown to Rory and all of the
other people the Seeders have stopped providing them with the supplies they
need to survive. Of course they don’t provide them with everything they need.
Rory knows how to hunt food for her own people. Rory has been going into the
forest for a long time now hunting for food for her and her family. Rory has her own set of knives that she wears
at her waist most of the time. She feels naked without them.
When her father becomes ill with the sickness that is
going around; he sends her to the Citadel to see an old friend of his. He hopes
that his friend can help him survive well that is if Rory can get there and
back in time. It is a long way and she has to go through the forest where there
are mutated animals and plant life not to mention the reapers. The reapers are
like these real bad people that will take and use you maybe for their slave or
even for food. But Rory knows what is in the forest and is not afraid to go on
a walkabout in a post-apocalyptic Australia. She knows how to hide from the mutated
animals and the reapers besides all that she has her knives with her.
Rory sets out all on her own but soon finds out that her
little brother is hot on her trail. When she catches him at first she doesn’t
know what to do with him. Send him back or take him back home herself. She is
afraid to let him wonder around in the forest alone besides he can talk real
fast and soon has her convinced that she would be better off to let him tag
long against her better judgement.
Rory has a very hard and exciting journey on her way to
the Citadel. She runs into to more people which she is not too keen on at
first. She is more of a loner. But she soon finds out that she needs people
more that she thought. She comes to care about these people very much and does
what she can to keep them safe.
She finally reaches the Citadel and to her surprise she
is not sent away like she thought she might be. She is allowed to stay but she
soon learns why they don’t send her way. They want her join their circus again
after all these years but that is not all. The Seeders are running out of seeds
and need Rory to help them find more. They think that Rory knows where a bank
of seeds are. They think that her mother told her where they were. But Rory has
no idea about any seeds. But she doesn’t tell them this because as long as they
think she knows and that she is withholding this info from them then it could
be the only thing that is keeping her alive at the moment.
They think her mother told her about the bank of seeds
long ago before she was murdered. But this is not the case she never told her
anything about any seeds. She use to tell her stories at night before bedtime
but they were just fairy tells right? Well now we come down to the bad part
where she finds out what her choices are. In Rory’s world there are always
choices but of course they are not freedom of choices. When Rory doesn’t tell
them what they want to know they finally give her ultimatums. Can Rory save her
family and friends or can she save everyone? What will she do? Will she tell
them what they want to know?
In my standard author interview questions one of the
questions is if you could go back in time to any place of your choice where
would you go and why. Well that question actually originated from me wanting to
visit Australia. I use to ask people and still do sometimes if you could visit
any place on earth where would go and why? I have wanted to visit Australia for
a very long time now. But alas that is one dream that I know will never come
true. So when I read that Poison was set in Australia and I also love dystopian
and post-apocalyptic books I just had to read it and I was not disappointed in
no way. I loved every minute of it and can’t wait for the book in the series. I
can’t wait to find out what happens to Rory and all of her new friends and her
world.
AUTHOR BIO:
Lan Chan is a writer, gardener and professional
procrastinator based in Melbourne, Australia. She is still waiting for her
super powers to manifest but until then she writes young adult novels
featuring strong female protagonists, minority characters and has a
particular interest in dystopias and urban fantasy. Lan’s debut
novel POISON, the first in her WIND DANCER series is due for release
in September 2015.
Author
links:
A Beauty Dark and Deadly 
Clara’s Return 
Author Bio:
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