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highlanderajax's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This is a really good book for the most part. Very interesting characters, some very raw and gritty storytelling, and the worldbuilding is excellent in that "small part of a very big world" kind of way. The immediate surroundings of the plot are done very well with only a few gaps, and overall I felt like (after a while) I had a good sense of how the setting worked, at least enough for the plot. Helped that it felt like a lot of inspiration was drawn from places I've had the particular fortune to end up before.
The action is harsh and punchy, disjointed in a way that adds to the effect and captures some of the chaos of real firefights and bloodshed. The world is grim and hard and this gives us some excellently written characters who are every bit as grim and hard. It's an oddly believable world for one that is so very sci-fi. Even adding some of the weirder plot points, so much of the plot here was rooted in very human and very real emotional and psychological turmoil that I found myself relating to the characters in ways I didn't think I would.
That being said, there's a few things that knock this down a star. First, while the world is good, at times it's so uncompromisingly and unceasingly harsh that it detracts from the reading experience. Things can drag a bit when there's no respite from the state of things, and while there are the odd flashes here and there it's almost excessively grimdark at times. This book gets compared a lot to Firefly, and while I get that, Firefly's "lawless wastes" had an Old West vibe, whereas this has a Post-Apocalypse vibe - it leads to a much less adventurous and much more resigned audience experience. I'm interested in sequels, but I would very much like to see a bit more variety than what was on display here. The constant stream of hardscrabble suffering is not a vibe that I tend to enjoy.
The action is harsh and punchy, disjointed in a way that adds to the effect and captures some of the chaos of real firefights and bloodshed. The world is grim and hard and this gives us some excellently written characters who are every bit as grim and hard. It's an oddly believable world for one that is so very sci-fi. Even adding some of the weirder plot points, so much of the plot here was rooted in very human and very real emotional and psychological turmoil that I found myself relating to the characters in ways I didn't think I would.
That being said, there's a few things that knock this down a star. First, while the world is good, at times it's so uncompromisingly and unceasingly harsh that it detracts from the reading experience. Things can drag a bit when there's no respite from the state of things, and while there are the odd flashes here and there it's almost excessively grimdark at times. This book gets compared a lot to Firefly, and while I get that, Firefly's "lawless wastes" had an Old West vibe, whereas this has a Post-Apocalypse vibe - it leads to a much less adventurous and much more resigned audience experience. I'm interested in sequels, but I would very much like to see a bit more variety than what was on display here. The constant stream of hardscrabble suffering is not a vibe that I tend to enjoy.
Second, while the worldbuilding is good, I'm somewhat tired of books that drip-feed the backstory of the universe to the reader. Show don't tell is a fine adage, but sci-fi novels are particularly bad for just tossing in terms that give just enough info to be unhelpful - terms that hint at a backstory and would be enough for you to plot it out if you actually tried - without any explanation, and slow-walking the actual exposition through the story. It's fine, but frankly when the backstory (as here) doesn't end up being involved in some big twist or revelation, it feels like undue work to piece together something that would have been more useful to know BEFORE the main plot.
I'll also say that I wouldn't have minded secondary characters getting a BIT more characterisation, because the character work is good but it's basically reserved for one or two people; some more fleshed-out secondaries would have given everyone more to work with, and the cast would feel a little less...impersonal? That's kind of ok for a first entry in a series though. I'll also add that the first 100 pages were definitely the weakest, and I thought this was going to end up lower than it did, but things pick up in both pace and engagement from there out, and the book is much better for it.
Overall, a very good book that I would recommend, but that is a little too caught up in being raw and gritty sci-fi at times to be an out-and-out enjoyable and entertaining read. Will likely pick up the sequel but will hope for some issues to be smoothed out.
timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
Messy. The author has enough ideas here for two books, and that's the problem.
We're on a gritty world, so gritty that it sometimes gets in the way of the story. It doesn't seem plausible that people are getting along with very little food, and no water to speak of except that from time to time someone delivers water to somewhere, we aren't told from where, and everybody somehow gets some.
We have some stock components, like characters who get hurt every third page but are fine an hour later. Like the hero popping the local drugs to keep going.
And one unforgivable one. As soon as we saw something vaguely analogous to a train, I *KNEW* we were going to have a fight on its roof; against a much stronger opponent; with the Good Guy injured; yet hanging by one arm inches above the track .... JFC, maybe ChatGPT is already writing these. Also, there has never been a fight on a train that ended with our hero on the tracks swearing as the train chugs off into the distance.
The whole Accord side is just yer basic Star Wars empire - cruel leaders and soldiers who can't hit anything.
And lookit, authors can write whatever they want, and maybe Holborn WANTED to write a bang-up gritty adventure made of stock components. And maybe a lot of people like reading that kind of thing. Look at cozy mysteries, for example.
I award a point for the If (Ifs?), but take it away again because they aren't explained in the least.
We are told what the Seekers DO, but I would have liked a couple of paragraphs of back story instead of the occasional flourish of "tough place, ya gotta get used to it."
I'm OK with Low's conflict and how it played out, not so much with the delayed reveal of the narrator's own background. But maybe I won't judge that until 2060, when the very elderly Pat Rothfuss finally tells us who Kvothe is and who's been telling his story.
And, as we reach the end here, Holborn did nail the ending.
We're on a gritty world, so gritty that it sometimes gets in the way of the story. It doesn't seem plausible that people are getting along with very little food, and no water to speak of except that from time to time someone delivers water to somewhere, we aren't told from where, and everybody somehow gets some.
We have some stock components, like characters who get hurt every third page but are fine an hour later. Like the hero popping the local drugs to keep going.
And one unforgivable one. As soon as we saw something vaguely analogous to a train, I *KNEW* we were going to have a fight on its roof; against a much stronger opponent; with the Good Guy injured; yet hanging by one arm inches above the track .... JFC, maybe ChatGPT is already writing these. Also, there has never been a fight on a train that ended with our hero on the tracks swearing as the train chugs off into the distance.
The whole Accord side is just yer basic Star Wars empire - cruel leaders and soldiers who can't hit anything.
And lookit, authors can write whatever they want, and maybe Holborn WANTED to write a bang-up gritty adventure made of stock components. And maybe a lot of people like reading that kind of thing. Look at cozy mysteries, for example.
I award a point for the If (Ifs?), but take it away again because they aren't explained in the least.
We are told what the Seekers DO, but I would have liked a couple of paragraphs of back story instead of the occasional flourish of "tough place, ya gotta get used to it."
I'm OK with Low's conflict and how it played out, not so much with the delayed reveal of the narrator's own background. But maybe I won't judge that until 2060, when the very elderly Pat Rothfuss finally tells us who Kvothe is and who's been telling his story.
And, as we reach the end here, Holborn did nail the ending.
1jmr's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sian_m's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, what an intense read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It had me in a chokehold. Ten Low is a great character, a brave warrior at the edge of the universe. The storyline is packed full of twists and turns and survival is the only path acceptable. Loved it! How fortunate that there is a book 2.
I give this book a high 4.5 stars.
I give this book a high 4.5 stars.
tjperry07's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
domhnall's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
akshayps's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
nigellicus's review against another edition
Gritty, dystopian sci-fi western set on a desert planet/moon, but not desrt like Dune, desert like a cross between Mad Max and Sam Peckinpah, as a wandering medic trying to atone for her deeds during the just-finished war rescues a young girl from a crashed ship only to discover she's a child-general bred and altered and trained as a super-soldier. Dodging scavengers, haunted by weird probablistic things that feed off violence, beset by bandits and betrayal, they carve a path through the planet looking for safety. It's not bad, a touch over-wrought, though whether that's the writing or the reader or both it's hard to say.
kody's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I read this for an upcoming book club! It was labeled as "LGBT" and "space western" and I was immediately sold. This novel explored some interesting themes and had unique world building, but it did not quite live up to my expectations.
The narrator, Ten Low, is a former prisoner on a desert planet with the sole life mission of atoning for what she did during the war. She stumbled across a downed spaceship in the first pages and rescues a child soldier. From there, she travels through the darkest and most dangerous parts of the planet and builds a ragtag cast of characters to protect both the child and herself. All the while, a mysterious supernatural force follows (or maybe guides?) her company and she is forced to confront moral dilemmas from her past and present.
This book is packed with exciting action sequences and dangerous situations. I found myself invested in what happened next and dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of this far flung society. I also enjoyed the exploration of the different ways of life in all those relegated to the farthest reaches of space. Holborn clearly had fun conceptualizing how people would live on a forgotten desert planet at the very edge of human society.
That said, this book over-promised on sci-fi themes and under-delivered on character building. From the get-go, I expected interstellar travel and spacefaring. Unfortunately, the characters never made it off their planet. Additionally, the cast of characters was large and diverse, but only Ten Low had enough characterization for me to truly care what happened to her. In fact, Holborn successfully delivered her a twisting and turning backstory with fulfilling arcs and revelations. For the other characters, there were some incredibly compelling backgrounds, and I wish there had been more opportunity to get to know how that influenced the characters and their motivations.
Overall, this story was a fun and fast-paced adventure that captured and sustained my interest from the very first chapter. I would recommend to a friend looking for an action-focused sci-fi adventure.
The narrator, Ten Low, is a former prisoner on a desert planet with the sole life mission of atoning for what she did during the war. She stumbled across a downed spaceship in the first pages and rescues a child soldier. From there, she travels through the darkest and most dangerous parts of the planet and builds a ragtag cast of characters to protect both the child and herself. All the while, a mysterious supernatural force follows (or maybe guides?) her company and she is forced to confront moral dilemmas from her past and present.
This book is packed with exciting action sequences and dangerous situations. I found myself invested in what happened next and dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of this far flung society. I also enjoyed the exploration of the different ways of life in all those relegated to the farthest reaches of space. Holborn clearly had fun conceptualizing how people would live on a forgotten desert planet at the very edge of human society.
That said, this book over-promised on sci-fi themes and under-delivered on character building. From the get-go, I expected interstellar travel and spacefaring. Unfortunately, the characters never made it off their planet. Additionally, the cast of characters was large and diverse, but only Ten Low had enough characterization for me to truly care what happened to her. In fact, Holborn successfully delivered her a twisting and turning backstory with fulfilling arcs and revelations. For the other characters, there were some incredibly compelling backgrounds, and I wish there had been more opportunity to get to know how that influenced the characters and their motivations.
Overall, this story was a fun and fast-paced adventure that captured and sustained my interest from the very first chapter. I would recommend to a friend looking for an action-focused sci-fi adventure.