Grimspace (Sirantha Jax, Book 1)
by Ann Aguirre
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Book Reviews of Grimspace (Sirantha Jax, Book 1)
Book Review: Grimspace
Summary: 4 Stars
First Impressions: Part of the reason I shy away from Sci-Fi is my inability to visualize unfamiliar settings. I find it frustrating and distracting when I keep forgetting unfamiliar terms etc. and that usually takes away from the story for me since setting is so important in Sci-Fi. However after a couple of chapters I felt fairly comfortable in the world of Sirantha Jax. While the world is most certainly different and futuristic, I was not overwhelmed with scary, Sci-Fi beings, gadgets, and machines. The writing was descriptive enough to place me comfortably in the setting but not so much that I felt as if I was being overwhelmed with information.
The Hero: March is a hardened hero that seemed to have a connection to Sirantha early on. I always had the sense that he knew so much more than he let on and at times I found it frustrating that he held back. I couldn't actually figure out if it was a romantic connection at first but once that was established March turned out to be a very passionate hero. I loved the chemistry between him and Sirantha.
The Heroine: Sirantha was one of those heroines that take a little while to warm up to. On the surface she seemed a bit selfish and self-centered, determined to make things harder than they needed to be. However she carries a lot of guilt and blames herself for the death of her lover and several other people. Because the story is written in first person there is lot of introspection from her. Sirantha grows and changes throughout the book and becomes a very likable heroine. She also kicks ass and takes names now and then.
The Action: Wow, the action! This book was a non-stop thrill ride. I was completely caught off guard with the intensity of the action scenes, as well as the complexity of relationships. Yes, I put the relationships under the heading "The Action" because not only was the romance intense but the friendships--some of them unlikely--were emotionally powerful.
Final conclusion: While I'm not convinced I should move the Sci-Fi genre up to the top of my `to-read' list I will certainly be moving this series up. I am a Jax fan (As well as Ann Aguirre) and I look forward to reading more in the amazingly gritty, intense world of Sirantha Jax.
Rating: 4.5
Book Review: Breathlessly Told and Totally Enjoyable
Summary: 5 Stars
Up front, lest I be accused of hiding it, I know Ann Aguirre. I happen to think she's fabulous and I talk to her pretty much daily via IM. I also happen to think she's a really gifted writer and I've thought so before I IM'd her all the time.
Anyway - Ann kindly sent me an early peek at Grimspace some months back and when I read it, it blew me away. It's one of those books what you look at and think, first person? Present tense? But it works. It conveys a sense of urgency, of breathlessness but every once in while it slows, tensing, making that pause sort of delicious before speeding up again. Aguirre's words are sharp and tensile and some of the passages are so gorgeous in their description that even alone they'd make Grimspace an above average read.
But there's more of course by way of a story well matched to the breathless manner in which Aguirre delivers it to the reader.
The first time in the book when Jax sits in her chair and she's describing how grimspace is indescrible? I was there. Aguirre leads me through as Jax prepares and then jumps. I'm now jumped into the book and the journey begins. I love science fiction and futuristics and I read across sub genres and authors but I tend toward the edgy sort of delivery you see with Gibson and Morgan and Grimspace has that. It's lush in places but the pace keeps it stark at the same time. I loved the action element as well as the romantic storyline. March is as well drawn as Jax, even through Jax's eyes and they're well matched on the page. There's a lot to March but he's like an iceburg character - much of what he is is below the surface and so we learn it slowly but surely.
There's something deliciously flawed in Sirantha Jax. Deeply wounded. Prickly, bitchy at times, defensive and guilt ridden. But you know why. You're in her head, no one holds her more accountable than she does herself. But there's a resilience in her. She tells herself she doesn't need anyone else but she does. She tells herself not to take a risk in reaching out but she does. I just really liked her.
Anyway, as you can tell, I dug Grimspace. I think it's a great mixture of action, emotion, romance with some startlingly wonderful and memorable characters.
Book Review: If everyone died, I wouldn't have cared
Summary: 2 Stars
"Grimspace" is a sci-fi novel, centering on J--. J-- is the "eyes" for a spaceship, a job requiring rare genetics, a small amount of training, and mind-to-mind contact with the pilot. She starts the novel in jail, accused of crashing a spaceship (massive casualties). A closed-mouthed group breaks her out of jail, and brings her to their compound. They have a bold plan, and need J--'s expertise to make it work. This fast-paced journey (about 1/3 of the book) includes lots of combat and unexpected troubles.
J-- swears constantly and has the steriotypical personality of someone who swears that much: poor education, impulsive, poor interpersonal skills. The universe has some creative ideas, but is riddled with are a whole bunch of things that make no sense. For example, the genetic makeup for J--'s job are rare, and the job usually fatal in 10 years, so they ... recruit teenagers ... before they have families ... to make sure the rare genetics aren't passed on to any kids. Hunh? Also, we are told repeatedly that J--'s previous job included first-contact with aliens, because she has good people-skills, yet her actions in the book at no time exhibit even a basic knowledge of how to make friends. Not to mention, first-contact is obviously high-risk, and if she got killed, everyone on the spaceship would be stranded there forever. On those contradictions, I suggest you suspend disbelief. The action is fast paced and reasonably exciting. The writing quality is pretty good.
My problem with this novel is that everyone, EVERYONE, is unlikeable. The people who rescue J-- blame her for every bad event that occurs in the first 1/3 of the book, despite her having no fault whatsoever in any of them. They are the "bite your nose off to spite your face" sort who don't warn J-- about the obvious dangers inherent to their homeland, and then blame her (???) when her ignorant actions help to attract a monster (who would have attacked anyway, due to their actions). Everyone we meet is nasy and hostile: to J-- and to each other. About 2/3 of the way through the book, one person says something nice to J--; she is stunned and so was I. After about 1/3 of the book, I decided that if J-- and everyone else was killed off, I wouldn't care.
Book Review: Excellent!
Summary: 5 Stars
Sirantha Jax is a jumper, an individual with a rare gene that allows her to access GRIMSPACE and therefore speed up space travel. She finds herself trapped in a psych unit cell, accused of somehow killing the entire crew of her last assigned ship. Everyone... including her pilot, lover, and friend, Kai. The bond between pilot and jumper is sacrosanct and Sirantha can't fathom how or why she would have caused such a crash. Unfortunately, she can't remember what went wrong. A man named March enters her cell and offers to rescue her. But what does he want in return? What will be the costs of this rescue?
Sirantha Jax is a great leading character. Her heart and motivations are fully bared for the reader to see her, faults and all. Who can't help but love her prickly attitude, her unwillingness to give up even when all common sense says it's over? Only a woman like Sirantha Jax could have survived that initial crash and the resulting imprisonment afterwards. It is a pleasure to read about such a strong female heroine.
GRIMSPACE is written entirely in the present tense. I had thought this would be distracting but instead it drew me further into the story. It was as if I was right there in the moment as each event occurred. Bravo, Ms. Aguirre for such a daring move!
Ann Aguirre does a phenomenal job at world building, creating several different worlds as Sirantha and March jump through GRIMSPACE. GRIMSPACE itself is well described as is each world they encounter. The details aren't so descriptive as to lose the momentum of the story but instead enhance the fast pace. Who didn't shiver when reading about the Teras or want to meet and cuddle with Baby Z? Ann Aguirre made the various worlds and their inhabitants spring to life.
GRIMSPACE is a fantastic entry into the science fiction genre. Ann Aguirre captures the nobleness of sacrifice beautifully. GRIMSPACE is highly recommended, even for those who aren't as thrilled by the science fiction genre as Ann Aguirre writes a story in which the emotional impact transcends the genre.
COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES
Book Review: Intriguing, imaginative science fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
Sirantha Jax is a jumper, a human who possesses the J-gene which gives her the ability to navigate grimspace, an alternate dimension that can be used to travel enormous distances in a short span of time. She was the Corp's star jumper until her ship crashed mysteriously, killing her pilot/lover and a whole lot of diplomats. The Corp, a galaxy-wide organization with its fingers in all aspects of trade and commerce, is determined to break Jax's mind, and she finds herself taking the only avenue of escape available to her: being kidnapped. March, a mercenary with unusual mental powers, and his crew have a purpose in mind for Jax, but they find themselves sucked into a much bigger conspiracy, one that will affect their whole civilization.
I won an ARC of Wanderlust, the sequel to this book, on Smart Bitches and since I couldn't review a sequel without reading the first, I ran out and bought Grimspace. And it's one of the best books I've read in ages. It's written in first-person, present-tense, which is usually the bane of my reading existence, but Aguirre's writing style and the fluidity of Jax's narration were so masterfully handled that after a while, I completely stopped noticing the tense and got sucked into the story.
The characters, particularly Jax and March, are fleshed out and refreshingly flawed. I love that, at one point, Jax cuts and runs instead of playing the hero. That made her more realistic to me than anything else; she's selfish and scared and more than a little screwed up, and she's incredibly likable because of that. The story itself is reminiscent of Joss Whedon's Serenity, with the ragtag bunch of reluctant heroes fighting the huge, faceless establishment. The plot is very well-developed and interesting, and the world... well, galaxy, really, is intricately constructed. I love a well-built world, and this one, with its roots in Old Terra, definitely satisfies.
I seriously can't recommend this book enough, whether you're a fan of futuristic romance or straight science fiction. The romance isn't played too heavily, and the book easily jumps between the two genres.