Join Raman and Abby on a quest into the underbelly of their brave new world ....
As a descendant of one of the Founding Families of the colony of New Eden, Abby has lived a privileged existence—up until the moment she wakes up in a rent-by-the-hour hotel room in the worst sector of New Seattle with no memory of how she got there. Friends and family are suddenly strangers, and the only memories in her head can't be hers. When the authorities accuse her of working for the Resistance movement and have evidence to prove it, Abby enlists her only friend, Raman, for help. Their quest takes them into the dark underbelly of the brave new world her family founded and reveals a far-reaching conspiracy which threatens not only Abby's life, but the very foundations of New Eden.
With over a million books sold to date, Sarah Woodbury is the author of more than forty novels, all set in medieval Wales. Although an anthropologist by training, and then a full-time homeschooling mom for twenty years, she began writing fiction when the stories in her head overflowed and demanded that she let them out. While her ancestry is Welsh, she only visited Wales for the first time at university. She has been in love with the country, language, and people ever since. She even convinced her husband to give all four of their children Welsh names.
Sarah is a member of the Historical Authors Fiction Cooperative (HFAC), the Historical Novel Society, and Novelists, Inc. (NINC).
This was a good story that involved a lot of intrigue and a bit of action. It alternates between Abby and Raman. Abby is the main character who awakes with no memory of who she is. A lot of the story revolves around her memory loss, but there are twists and turns. I got so involved in the story that I had a hard time putting it down.
For some reason, I had a hard time getting into this book, so, after twenty pages, I set it aside for a couple of months, and then, when I returned to it, I couldn't put it down! Sarah Woodbury's imagination and writing skills keep getting better; this may be her best book so far.
I looked forward to reading this after reading Louisa Locke's entry to the Paradisi Chronicles. Unfortunately, this book did not live up to my expectations. Woodbury has a good idea about lost memory and the roles pawns play in political situations. It seems, however, that she did not spend enough time fleshing out the characters and working on plot details. The story is told through 2 (or 3) voices - which all sound exactly the same. This is problematic when one is a 20 year old party girl who has been unable to read for 7 years and another is a young attorney educated at the best institutions. For the plot, she sets up an interesting story and then everything falls into place without any conflict, or even choice or action by the characters. Even the love story is bland, with the two characters falling truly and deeply in love the moment they see each other and progressing to marriage without any conflict - a boyfriend just disappears, years of bad deeds amount to nothing, no trust needs to be built.
I highly recommend all the books in the Paradisi Chronicles. Written by multiple authors, each one also makes a great stand alone book. So far there is only one book in each series of the Chronicles, however there will be more, so read them now so you don't fall behind!