Where the Glassflowers Grow: Paradisi Chronicles

Caelestis #5

by Louisa Locke

Mabel Yu, one of the Founders of New Eden, had a dream. She wanted to turn the promises of the Paradisi Project into a reality in the western province of Caelestis. To that end, she built Mynyddamore as a place of refuge for the native Ddaerans who lived between the Mynyddeira Mountains and the Sapphire Sea. Generations later, her descendent Mei Lin Yu is working to bring the promises of that dream to even more people, despite the forces within her own family who are doing everything in their power to oppose her.

Where the Glassflowers Grow, is part of the Paradisi Chronicles, an open-source, multi-author science fiction series, and in this fifth and final book of the Caelestis series, Mei Lin Yu and Jaxon McCaffrey race against time to save the prisoners in the maximum-security prison of Atra. In the process they discover that whether a Founder, an average New Eden citizen, a Reacher, or a native Ddaeran, they all share a common humanity, and all have been transformed by the planet Ddaera herself.

334 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 30, 2024

About the author

M. Louisa Locke is recently retired from over 20 years as a professor of U.S. Women's history, and she is now embarked on s second career writing historical fiction. The first book in her Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, Maids of Misfortune, is a best-seller in the historical mystery category.

Reviews

[Eric Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I read this book, it seemed like it wouldn't end, and that there would be a follow-up series. I need to check, though. Overall, the loose ends were tied up, and the series is over. Though it was clean in some ways, the language wasn't full of cursing, so it was a great scifi read, though as a military veteran, I'd have an F-bomb to keep me regular. Anyway, the book doesn't end on a noticeable cliffhanger, but I'll probably look up the author's bibliography to see if it continues, as it's rich in world building and such and stands more in the universe Louisa created. It's simply too well informed to be the end of a universe. Anyway, I do recommend this series if you like clean reads. It's okay, it's not going to affect you too much, but for a clean read, it was worth the ride.

[Mark P. Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story

…but it wraps it up a little too neatly. I was hoping for more drama. But one can’t help but root for the good guys.

[Alayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 and a half stars. A terrific end to the Caelistis series. It had some continuity errors, and I felt that the end was rushed, but still, very good.

[Chava Nechama · Rating 5 out of 5]

got to read this series

great plot great characters and lots of action.
A couple of really evil bad guys and you’ll see what happens in the end…