'Ten Low' by Stark Holborn is a taut and gritty sci-fi adventure set on Factus, a backwater moon on the edge of Accord military controlled space, colonised by convicts and miners, but where the lawless and body snatching scavengers now rule!
The book opens with Ten Low, a former army medic, witnessing a ship crash. Exploring the crash site she discovers the sole survivor of the crash, The General; Gabriella Ortiz, a child super soldier from the opposing military side. Ten nurses Gabi back to health, and despite their general dislike and mistrust for each other, the need to survive supercedes and they both strike a deal to get Gabi off world, no matter the cost. But, as is the case, otherwise it'd be a really short read, things go awry, and with new details that emerge about the crash, it becomes a race across the bleak desert moon fleeing the Accord military, who are now in pursuit of both Ten and the General, as well as trying to avoid the desert gangs looking to cash in on the bounty put on their heads.
'Ten Low' features a relatively small cast of characters, each with their own distinct morally grey personalities and personal struggles. The complexities of the characters are slowly teased out over the course of the book as we learn more about the characters, especially Ten and Gabi, and the book is so much richer for it! This character development is one of the highlights of the book for me. Holborn's writing of the characters breathes life into them, giving them depth and a sense of fullness. I immediately wanted to know them and was totally invested in their adventure right until the last page.
The world building of Factus is also superb, painting a vivid picture of a desolate, frontier outpost that has been largely forgotten in the aftermath of a bloody war, and has been left to all but fend for itself on the edge of the Void - a great darkness that exploratory ships have never returned from. It's a diverse and queernorm world, full of shady types, brutal gangs, mysterious forces and places you do not want to find yourself lost in. But by the end of the book, it's one that you don't want to leave.
'Ten Low' is a full throttle, action packed read with high stakes, memorable and interesting characters, in a bleak, cruel and dystopian science fiction world with very heavy Wild West vibes - think Mad Max: Fury Road meets Firefly! I absolutely loved it!
And after finishing the book, you want more from this world, then you're in luck! Stark Holborn has written a short story prequel, 'Snake Eyes', that you can get when you sign up to her mailing list here, as well as a short interactive fiction vignette here too.
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