TEN LOW by Stark Holborn – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Ten Low by Stark Holborn
Published by Titan Books on June 1 2021
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Pages: 320
Format: Finished paperback
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A gritty, desert-like setting, high stakes action and vividly drawn characters make this a standout science fiction adventure.

One of the best things about being a book blogger is discovering books and authors that you normally wouldn’t find on your own, and thanks to Titan Books, I now have a new favorite author! Ten Low was so much fun, a dark, gritty, action-packed science fiction adventure with interesting characters and even some humor thrown into the mix. Think Mad Max meets Dune with a bit of Firefly, and you’ll get an idea of what you’re in for. Although comparisons aside, Ten Low has its own unique feel, and it was exactly the mix of elements I love.

The story takes place on a distant moon called Factus and revolves around an escaped prisoner named Ten Low. Ten—named for the number of years of her sentence—was convicted of a war crime when she was asked to steal something that resulted in thousands of deaths. Rather than rot in prison, she decides to escape and tries to make up for her crime by saving as many people as she can—literally, since she was a medic in the military. When the story opens, Ten is struggling to survive in a wind blown, dusty land called the Barrens, when she witnesses a ship crash. She’s surprised to find a young girl still alive, although critically injured, and she manages to get her to safety. But the girl, a teenager named Gabriella Ortiz, turns out to be a military General, one of the Minority Force, children who were recruited into service and modified to be super soldiers.

The General makes a deal with Ten: help her get off world and she’ll pay Ten in precious medical supplies. But as it turns out, the General is being targeted for assassination, and now Ten is stuck in the middle. And then there are the Ifs, strange, dream-like creatures who can predict the future and are somehow communicating with Ten. There are many possible outcomes for every situation, but will Ten make the right choices?

Holborn’s post-apocalyptic world is a harsh one, full of criminals, scavengers and other lowlifes, all trying to survive on a dying moon. Food and water are scarce, and people survive mostly on snake meat and grubs and the occasional (and very rare) tin of fruit. Ten and her friends are constantly trying to avoid the Seekers, gangs who deal in organ harvesting. There’s also the Accord, the military presence who is after both Ten and the General, and of course the last thing they want is to be captured. I loved the Wild West feel to the story, with its lawless characters, guns and miles and miles of desolate landscape. Holborn’s writing is top notch, and I could almost feel the sand in my eyes and the sun beating down on my head.

And let’s talk characters. First, I loved that most of the main characters are women, all of them tough and capable and ready and willing to kick some ass if need be. Ten has plenty of personal demons she’s dealing with. She feels terrible remorse for the crime she committed—the details of which are revealed later in the book. She tries to save people, not kill them, but unfortunately in this world it’s often a “kill or be killed” situation. The terrible scar around her neck from the convict collar she had to wear is a constant reminder of where she came from and what she did, and it doesn’t help that others judge her by that scar. Poor Ten, I really felt for her! She’s also trying to figure out how she fits in with the Ifs, the otherworldly beings who feed on chaos and games of chance. 

The General was also an interesting character, but she took some time to warm up to. She knows what Ten has done and hates her for it, and she spends the entire book calling her “traitor,” even though Ten keeps saving her life. I loved their antagonistic relationship, which was unexpected and didn’t go where I thought it would go. I was expecting them to bond more because they are both fugitives, but their relationship was like trying to mix oil and water and they just never seemed to mesh. 

One of my favorite side characters was Falco, a woman who runs a bar at a way station and ends up helping Ten at one point. Falco’s “G’hals,” two friends named Pegeen and Boots, were awesome characters too, and I only wish they’d had more page time. Finally, Silas is one of the few males in the story, a pilot who comes in very handy when they need a ship to get the hell out of whatever bad place they end up in (actually, all the places in this story are bad places!) There’s a bit of romance between Silas and Ten, and it was sweet and just enough to add a little brightness to an otherwise very grim story. When Silas and Falco enter the picture, Ten and the General join them on their ship, and I just loved these characters together, a scrappy, found family who have to work together to survive.

And speaking of surviving, everyone in Ten Low is in constant danger and it was so stressful! The action pauses now and then, but a lot of the story is full speed ahead, as Ten and her friends are always having to outrun trouble of one sort or another. There are plenty of suspenseful fight scenes, and some of the action is a bit over the top, but honestly I loved every minute of it.

Holborn adds in a supernatural/metaphysical element that sets the story apart from other sci-fi tales, the “Ifs,” creatures who seem to be from another dimension and can communicate with Ten, for some reason. Whenever Ten faces dire circumstances, the Ifs allow her to “see” multiple outcomes of her situation, thus showing her the best choice to make. These visions, for lack of a better word, take only a split second, and in the face of danger or even death, Ten must make her choices quickly. The Ifs feed on the chaos created by games of chance, and even if I didn’t quite understand what they were, I loved the fact that they saved Ten’s life many times during the story, yet they remain a mystery. Why do they speak to her, and what do they want?

Holborn really nails the ending, too. Again, it wasn’t the ending I was expecting, but it was just right for the story. And although Ten Low doesn’t seem to be the start of a series, I sincerely hope that Stark Holborn has more to say about this world and these characters, because I will be the first in line for that book! Highly recommended.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.