Stark Holborn

A startling and surprising book (and written in first person present tense! Which I love! But thought I'd throw that out there so all the FPPT snobs can recoil appropriately lol.) I'm not sure what I was expecting exactly, but TEN LOW defied those expectations in the best way nonetheless.

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If you've read the blurb or the other reviews, you'll already know that Ten Low is an ex-con with an incredibly traumatic and complex past. Her name, Ten, refers to the sentence in years she is supposed show more to have served, and for reasons not readily apparent at the start, she is living on a tiny wasteland of a moon in the farthest reaches of the galaxy. This moon is, in fact, right on the edge of the Void - a great darkness from which exploratory ships have never returned (this chilling bit of information is casually dropped in at just the right moment.)

Acutely conscious of her crimes and sins, Ten Low spends her time travelling painfully across the moon, trying to heal and help anyone she finds. Ten is a brilliant character. She is by turns stoic and paranoid, philosophical and superstitious, haunted and hunted; her self-imposed mission of mercy frequently spins out more disaster, and the people she kills or is forced to kill far outweighs the people she manages to help, despite her best efforts.

In this context, Ten Low rescues a young girl from a crashed spaceship, who turns out to be an Enders Game-esque child-general--one who fought on the other side of the war from Ten Low. the General's motivations for working with an enemy are initially clear cut (survival), becoming more convoluted as the story unfolds. Ten's are complex right off the bat, and the explanations for them span the entire novel (a good thing.)

There's so much I could unpack in this review: for example, my admiration of the craft skill needed to sustain a propulsive and action-filled novel with a *very* small cast of characters. Large swathes of the book are filled with just Ten Low and Gabi.

The twisting of expectations and cliched relationships is another. World-weary old mentor figure and bratty naive warrior is an age-old combination, but everything about Ten Low and Gabi feels fresh, because the author doesn't allow the characters to ever slide into complacent, easy roles. Although initially sympathetic and admirable, Ten Low's past makes her a difficult character in some ways as the book progresses; meanwhile, although initially "spoilt" and violent in her presentation, Gabi actually has a clearer and more consistent sense of ethics than Ten, albeit a shade too much conviction for her own good.

Mostly, though, when I think back on the book, it's the atmosphere and the setting which stand out to me--above and beyond the written descriptions, although those are good, too. The wonderful thing about frontier-settings is that they explore, in very literal terms, what the breakdown of society looks like, in a context where we can still see the original society (usually positioned "back east" in a historical western, or simply on developed planets in an SF one).

And it's at this peripheral edge of civilisation where society frays that individuals can be put to the ultimate test, their natures laid bare and exposed. What does it mean to be good or evil, when ethics is a distant idea? What does it mean to be human when there is no room for anything other than survival? If there is no law to judge you, no system to weigh and process you, no eyes to see your actions, does it matter what you do, and who you are?

Ten Low lives not only at the edge of human civilisation, but of literal reality: her moon, inhabited by whispering metaphyiscal creatures, stares straight into the universal abyss. And Holborn, with quiet grace and adroit craft, takes us right to that edge with her.

Would definitely recommend this book, although the cover mention of teens made me think it was YA at first. I only mention that in case it puts off anyone looking for adult fiction (or conversely, might disappoint someone hoping for a YA voice.) show less

Oeste y Matemáticas. ¿Quién lo iba a decir? Estamos ante una de las novelas cortas más originales que he leído últimamente. Se trata de un weird western francamente bien escrito. Nos encontramos en unos Estados Unidos alternativos, donde los números, las matemáticas, pero sobre todo los matemáticos y personas dedicadas a trabajos afines, es decir, banqueros, contables, etc., están perseguidos a muerte. Y la más buscada es la profesora Browne, considerada una matemágica muy show more peligrosa. Esta suele viajar junto a Ferm, los dos a caballo y huyendo o pasando desapercibidos constantemente. El porqué de esta persecución a los matemáticos no llega a explicarse excesivamente, pero peligrosos sí que lo son, ya que son capaces de realizar cálculos de trayectorias de balas en décimas de segundo, buscando el tiro perfecto, el rebote imposible. Y claro, esto supone una amenaza.

A este par de desesperados se les encomienda una misión, referente a un tren y un dinero, que tendrá que descubrir el lector. Una lectura muy recomendable, que te deja con un continuará para morderse las uñas. show less

So what do you get when an ex-con and genetically enhanced thirteen year old military general cross paths on a desert planet? Crazy wild west interplanetary fun is what you get! Ten Low is an ex-con who travels as a medic on a sand covered planet. Gabi is the 13 year old general she finds after a ship crashes and is the lone survivor. Each has something the other one needs but they also have secrets that will dramatically change the course of their futures.
The story takes place on a moon show more called Factus which has been colonized and is basically neglected by the Accord (the entity that colonizes planets). Factus is a desert ruled by lawlessness and shaped by the inhabitants belief in "the ifs". Something invisible that thrives off of chaos and chance.
Seriously, this is one of the best sci-fi books I've read in a really long time. It definitely feels like Dune, Firefly, and Ender's Game hung out and created this fantastic tale of survival on a forgotten moon. I really hope there's more coming. Loved it! show less

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Are westerns crime fiction? They certainly tend to cover a lot of the same ground – violence, betrayal, retribution, redemption. Stark Holborn’s new novella has all of those, as well as a heist and a brace of famous mathematicians.
I can’t remember exactly how I first heard about Holborn, but I really enjoyed their first book ‘Nunslinger’, show more a series of 12 novellas that together tell the thrilling tale of a wayward Sister in the wild west. I say “their” quite deliberately. Stark Fairweather Holborn is the pen name of an enigmatic author who is giving nothing away about their identity (although there is at least one clue in the pages of ‘Triggernometry’).
This new book has a similar western setting, but whereas ‘Nunslinger’ was played quite straight (albeit with a knowing eye and a tonne of flair), ‘Triggernometry’ is deliberately offbeat. Its heroine is Professor Malago Browne, a mathematician and outlaws she teams up with are similarly numerate. In fact the supporting cast features famous scholars from a range of time periods. The western world it is set in sees mathematicians as outlaws with arcane skills that aren’t to be trusted. Indeed, Browne users trigonometry to calculate the probable past of bullets to win the gun fights she finds herself in.
It’s a playful twist that doesn’t add a huge amount to the story, but it does give the book a charm that sets it apart from the competition. The real star of the show though, is Holborn’s grasp of dialogue and action. The characters chew their words in classic western style, and the bullets fly from six shooters and Winchester rifles with an energetic joy that fits the subject matter perfectly.
The result is a books that is gripping, funny and extremely entertaining. Even if you don’t think you like westerns, I suspect you’ll have a lot of fun with it. show less