Ten Low

April 5, 2021
Holborn (Triggernometry) delivers a crisply written space western brimming with hard living, villainy, and the search for redemption. In the aftermath of interstellar war, veteran medic and ex-con Ten Low works as a rough-and-ready doctor on Factus, a remote planet of desert and scrub. Haunted by a dark secret from her past, the last thing Low wants is to draw the attention of the authorities. After witnessing a spaceship crash, she rescues teenaged general Gabriella Ortiz from the wreckage. The product of a notorious medical program to turn children into deadly warriors, Gabriella has nothing but scorn for Low, whom she sees as a traitor—but she won’t be able to get off Factus without Low’s help. They strike a deal and set off to find a ship, evading bandits, military assassins, and other dangers along the way. Holborn handles Low’s narration with skill, creating an immersive world. With plenty of action and vivid worldbuilding, this tense adventure will have readers hooked.

May 1, 2021
Ten Low is an escaped convict, like many of the people on Factus, out on the fringes where the Accord government does the bare minimum to maintain the appearance of control and not much else. She's working as a medic, atoning for the lives she took in the war, when she saves a child from a wreck. The child is the Accord general Gabriella Ortiz, part of an experimental genetic engineering program. They make a bargain--Ten will get the general off-world, and the general will pay her in medical supplies. The first part of their journey through the wilds of Factus is tense enough, complicated by the fact that the crash that nearly killed the general was an assassination attempt. There are other forces at work, a mysterious them that seems to feed on doubt, and ultimately they'll force Ten to face the real extent of what she's trying to atone for--the war was, as wars are, brutal on both sides. It's a good story, with lots of action and plenty of satisfying hints about the wider world of Factus and beyond.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.