Gritty, cyberpunk, Western inspired sci-fi, Ninth Life is the third book in Stark Holborn’s series and it is a tour de force. A taut and gripping narrative, it’s a unique work as breathless and relentless as it is beautifully crafted.
Where the previous books where centred on Ten Low and an outlaw moon on the edge of the known universe, the third book features the General Ortiz – child super soldier, traitor and infamous fighter now known as Nine Lives. Crashing on the remote JP V, a small settled asteroid, she is rescued by the young and inexperienced Deputy Havemercy Grey. Desperate to uphold their office and do what’s right, Havemercy finds their every moral fibre questioned when it’s clear who Nine Lives is and just how large a bounty has been put on her head.
Soon, Grey is on the run trying to get their prisoner into the proper hands. But, with the news out on the wire, everyone wants to be the one to collect the money, from the local mining boss to mercenaries, bounty hunters, military and even their own superiors. Nine Lives knows what’s a stake and she offers Grey a deal to protect them if they’ll listen to her story.
Told between the two perspectives, Grey’s immediate one and Nine Lives’ memories that stretch back through time and reality, the structure of the story closes upon itself like a snake swallowing it’s own tail. The past – Low/Hel and Factus, the war that never happened and Xoon Futures and it’s concerns with Them – reaches forward through Nine Lives and every death she’s escaped over the decades. And, as Grey listens, she’s dragged back into all those possible probabilities that are always and never present. As they listen it becomes clear the record is more than just a memory; it’s a memorial to freedom and justice. Because as Havemercy listens, others are chasing down the legend that is Ortiz/Nine Lives/The General and trying to erase every existence of her.
Fascinating stories of pit fighting and rebel wars are punctuated with mad escapes across the system as Grey and Nine Lives try to stay one step ahead of the assorted posse tracking them down. Each one brings both of their truths closer to the surface as they both grow closer together despite knowing that it can only end one way. As greed and treachery, malice and madness all seek to sink their hooks into the pair, Nine Lives remains immutable; a stone within the chaotic flow – a strange attractor around which reality swirls. She might be on her last life, but she won’t relinquish it until her story has been told. And, as that explosive shoot out arrives, the question of what has passed between Havemercy and Nine Lives is left up in the air.
Giving a nod to its influences in so many wonderful ways, Ninth Life bursts forth with a creative force to claim its own unique place. A cyberpunk Western full of gangs and criminals and freedom fighters, the journey is a gritty, dust coated ride as the warriors thread their way back to the end with luck and chance chasing them all the way. Breathless action, truly outstanding characters and brilliant world building, this is epic science fiction. Peeling back the layers on the human condition and finding the beauty in its messy complexity, Ninth Life is a stunning work of fiction. Exciting, engaging and absolutely excellent.
Review copy
Published by Titan Books
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