The Three

by Travis Daniel Bow

Tel, the blacksmith's son, was a Two until someone stole his father's tools, livelihood, and dignity. No longer able to live among the craftsmen on the second terrace of the city, Tel's family is consigned to work as day-laborer Threes in the squalor of the third terrace. Seeing his mother in poverty is hard enough, but seeing his father broken is too much for Tel to bear.

But the Lu is coming. Tel has one chance - in the ancient ritual battle of the classes - to win back his family's honor. And he will do whatever it takes.

Audible Audio

Published January 31, 2017

About the author

Travis grew up in Reno (where he raised pigs for FFA), went to Oklahoma Christian University (where he broke his collarbone in a misguided Parkour attempt) and Stanford (where he and his bike were hit by a car), and earned 6 patents in the Bay Area before returning home. He now designs medical robots and does CrossFit by day, works on an MBA and plays board games with his wife and three kids by night, and writes fiction by very-early-morning. Check out his fiction here or DIY "Instructables" here.

Reviews

[J.B. Trepagnier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick read with a nice twist at the end. The story is short and satisfying, but I would have liked to have read a little more about the pairing and why this was the Lu the villain chose to act out his plan.

It would be interesting to see some of the backstory as far as classes and the changes the rulers tried to make in the past and the twist at the end developed into a longer work because the short story in itself was good and I'd like to read more about these characters

[A.D. Herrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A unique twist

A very interesting read. The story has such an unexpected twist! I look forward to reading more works by this author.