So you're looking for a really good space adventure? Have I got the book for you.
Our protagonist is Ten "Doc" Low, a medic, ex-convict, ex-soldier on the losing side of a war with PTSD and crippling remorse for what she did in the war. She's eking out an existence on the barren, arid moon Factus on the edge of the known universe.
She rescues a young girl from a crashed ship who turs out to be an augmented super soldier. Ten sees redemption in getting General Gabriella "Gabie" Ortiz to safety but to do so they have to cross a wasteland and dodging bandits, cult-like organ harvesters, military hit-squads, and bounty hunters. Along the way they pick up allies but numbers don't equal safety and the future is far from certain.
Holborn does a masterful job of world building. She doesn’t try to explain everything at once but shows us as the story unfolds. The reader feels the bleakness of Factus, its its low oxygen atmosphere and filthy hardscrabble life.
The characters are well developed and you come to care for them. Ten's remorse and torment for what she did in the and need for redemption is real and visceral. The author has fun with General Ortiz, only13 years old but a hard-bitten, hard-drinking, soldier who will kill without blinking or regret. The group that forms around these two are equally well fleshed out and their motivation explored.
The book is fast paced with action scenes that are well written and near unbearable at times: narrow escapes, tense standoffs, gunfights, it's all here. But the story and character development are not sacrificed to the action. There also is a mysterious force that seems to be guiding but I don't think it veers into magic.
Someone suggest that readers who like The Locked Tomb series (Gideon the Ninth is the 1st) by Tamsyn Muir will also like this book. While there is no similarity in themes I get the vibe since I also love that series.
There are 2 more books in this series and I will be reading them.
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