Stark Holborn

When I say this is gritty I mean be prepared for nauseating descriptions of bad food, the smells (and tastes) that go along with sneaking out of the enemy camp through the sewers, and everyone having hella PTSD. So, successful at what it set out to do!

I found the alien stuff interesting and fitting for the space!Western theme, although it wasn't at all what I expected. On the fence as to whether to tag this as "surreal"---lots of it certainly is, but also the surreality has an in-universe sci-fi type explanation.

I am glad this wrapped up in a satisfying place; if I had to read the next one to find out what happened, I might have tapped out. As it is, that restored some of my trust in the author, so I might actually read it.… (más)

Well this was quite a ride. Set in the the future where humans have colonized the space we follow our hero, named Ten Low, as she struggles to save lives on the prison planet.... strike that, remote frontier moon, with very bad climate (deserts all over), some colonials but mostly people trying to hide from their past (large number are former convicts, Ten Low included), government that is not interested in this moon except for having it marked as territory and whole bunch of roaming bands, some more crazy than others (imagine more technically savvy but equal brutal gangs from Mad Max) that follow their own rules, live in their own worlds and see everyone else as prey.

Ten Low is trying to redeem herself from the latest intergalactic war where she played important but ... lets say, bad (?!) role and caused lots of casualties. Now she tries to save lives so she can live with herself. She witnesses a starship falling down and manages to save the sole surviving passenger. This act of kindness will bring her into problems she could not even fathom and throw her into the events related to the mystery of the remote wasteland parts of the moon. I wont go more into the details because of the spoilers but story is very fast, with lots of action and characters that get good exposition. I have a feeling that sequel might be in the making but even if not book ends up in the only way possible.

This is not a feel-good book, people die (some in a very gruesome way), and to the very end you are not sure who is going to end up dead. It is a very humorless and deadly universe here, where victor of the war shows absolutely no mercy to the defeated party - it makes you think how they plan to normalize the life after what seems to be the conflict that ran for decades. Nobody trusts anybody and at the first opportunity everyone gets betrayed by somebody around them.

Few things did not sit well with me. First, I guess to be inline with modern times there is a part of the book that treats the [now absolutely omnipresent] racial issues. You will see the passage, cannot miss it, and for me it was so cringy ..... unbelievable ..... but I guess it goes with ever present goal to be contemporary. Second thing is, I dont know if this was because of editing [or errors during the edit process] but some of the characters would go [for no reason whatsoever] from singular to plural. at first I though it was related to the moon's mystery, like warped view of people and their actions but I do not think so, because in some singular is used, while in others plural is used. Weird. again not a showstopper but can break the concentration.

All in all, excellent SF action adventure. If you are looking for pages and pages of characters, their relations, histories, explanations etc you wont find it here. This is not a thousand plus pages space opera but an old fashioned action adventure, think of it as space western, that will grip you from the start to the end and leave you wanting more.

Recommended.… (más)

Ten Low and now Hel's Eight are some of the best science fiction books I've read in ages! Hel's Eight picks up several years later after Ten has gone to stay close to the Edge where people won't find her unless they need her medical assistance. But as fate would have it, her friends need her skills with the Seekers whom she has been marked by to help stop a war before it begins.
This is the type of story I find very hard to put down and it really stays with me afterwards. Ten is such an amazing character and the world that Stark Holborn has created is so insane, I love it. Ten is the character you would get if you took River Tam from Firefly and Neo from the Matrix and mixed them into this complex and unforgettable character.
The world that Stark Holborn has created is both terrifying and intriguing and you don't know if you should love it or hate it. I just know that I love this series and it will definitely be read again in the future. I highly recommend them.… (más)