Paradisi Chronicles (Sarah Woodbury) Books in Order

The Paradisi Chronicles are the outlier in Sarah Woodbury's catalog, because this world is science fiction rather than medieval Wales. Even so, some of her favorite concerns are still here: power, family, loyalty, class, and the way large political systems press down on ordinary lives.

The setting begins in the late twenty-first century, when ten wealthy families decide that a damaged Earth is no longer worth saving. They pour money and influence into building ships, leave for the Paradisi System, and found a colony called New Eden. Their hope is simple enough, start over somewhere cleaner and safer. The complication is that New Eden is not empty. The Ddaerans are already there, human in appearance but gifted with abilities the newcomers do not understand and do not entirely trust.

That is where the trouble starts.

Woodbury's entry into this shared world is Erase Me Not, which follows Abby, a descendant of one of the Founding Families. She begins in a position of privilege, then wakes in a seedy hotel room in New Seattle with her memory scrambled and her place in the world gone strange. Friends and relatives no longer feel safe. The authorities think she is tied to the Resistance. Even Abby cannot be certain which thoughts in her head are really hers.

From there the story works as both a mystery and a political thriller. Abby and Raman move through the polished surface and darker underbelly of New Eden, uncovering class divisions, state pressure, and a conspiracy that reaches back to the colony's foundations. Because the world itself is part of the appeal, the series background matters almost as much as the plot. It is a colony story, a memory story, and a story about what happens when powerful people build a new society without leaving their old habits behind.

If you are coming to Woodbury for the first time, this series may surprise you. If you already know her work, you will probably recognize the appeal right away. She is still interested in what people do when history, or in this case a new world, refuses to behave as planned.