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A review by dylan_tomorrow
Between Mountain and Sea: Paradisi Chronicles by Louisa Locke
5.0
This is so much the kind of scifi I love! A character-driven, a bit mystical, coming-of-age story. Very much about sustainability, in a proclaimed new utopia (they call it the Paradisi project, ffs!) and the inevitable disillusionment of the resulting de-facto oligarchy, founded by rich powerful dynasties who never cared about anything but their own prospering. But, to deal with all this shit, our protagonist Mei gets put in a loving, supportive, strong community, which makes her thrive and grow beyond her own concept of herself.
Mei, a seventeen-year old girl, member of the Yu ruling family, starts the story bullied, alone and unhappy. Her aloof, unloving parents dictate her future education, her brother outright bullies her constantly, she can't stand being around people, has no friends, feels like a freak and does not dare to stand up to her tormentors. Her life sucks!
In this story Mei, luckily, gets to spend a few months with a much more loving branch of her family, at Mynyddamore. This is a shared settlement of humans and the native Ddaerans, which are pretty much humans + psychic powers (how those two species from different galaxies are related and can interbreed is never explained, hinting at a bigger myth arc about precursors or an earlier human civilisation falling).
Here Mei meets her great-grandmother, her grandfather, local Ddaeran girl Tesni and her brother Hefni. She gets to spend more time outdoors, in nature, with the plants and animals, which her body sorely missed. She finds she is good with animals and befriends Eurig, a gwynddoeth, sapient animals which can telepathically talk to Ddaerans. She experiences a strange, instant connection with several of the animals.
Mei's parents have her study under the tutelage of her strict grandmother, but what really gives her a purpose is finding a diary which her ancestor, who founded Mynyddamore, started over a hundred years ago and which contains many truths buried and withheld from her by her family and even the world government. The more she reads the diary, the more she comes to love this settlement and the people around her, who, unlike her parents, are really there for her.
The more Mei finds out about her ancestors the more she grasps her true roots, her own hidden strength and power and a better future for herself. Not dictated by her nuclear family, but enabled by her true family at Mynyddamore.
Just as she came to love and trust this place and those people, I came to love and trust this story more and more. It's so good to see the once alone Mei aqcuire a network of friends and family and how that support helps her grow up so much better than the coldness of her parents.
I want to read the next book right now. I also still have work to do today. Dammit!
Mei, a seventeen-year old girl, member of the Yu ruling family, starts the story bullied, alone and unhappy. Her aloof, unloving parents dictate her future education, her brother outright bullies her constantly, she can't stand being around people, has no friends, feels like a freak and does not dare to stand up to her tormentors. Her life sucks!
In this story Mei, luckily, gets to spend a few months with a much more loving branch of her family, at Mynyddamore. This is a shared settlement of humans and the native Ddaerans, which are pretty much humans + psychic powers (how those two species from different galaxies are related and can interbreed is never explained, hinting at a bigger myth arc about precursors or an earlier human civilisation falling).
Here Mei meets her great-grandmother, her grandfather, local Ddaeran girl Tesni and her brother Hefni. She gets to spend more time outdoors, in nature, with the plants and animals, which her body sorely missed. She finds she is good with animals and befriends Eurig, a gwynddoeth, sapient animals which can telepathically talk to Ddaerans. She experiences a strange, instant connection with several of the animals.
Mei's parents have her study under the tutelage of her strict grandmother, but what really gives her a purpose is finding a diary which her ancestor, who founded Mynyddamore, started over a hundred years ago and which contains many truths buried and withheld from her by her family and even the world government. The more she reads the diary, the more she comes to love this settlement and the people around her, who, unlike her parents, are really there for her.
The more Mei finds out about her ancestors the more she grasps her true roots, her own hidden strength and power and a better future for herself. Not dictated by her nuclear family, but enabled by her true family at Mynyddamore.
Just as she came to love and trust this place and those people, I came to love and trust this story more and more. It's so good to see the once alone Mei aqcuire a network of friends and family and how that support helps her grow up so much better than the coldness of her parents.
I want to read the next book right now. I also still have work to do today. Dammit!