Grimspace (Sirantha Jax, Book 1)
by Ann Aguirre
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Book Reviews of Grimspace (Sirantha Jax, Book 1)
Book Review: A fresh new voice in the genre.
Summary: 4 Stars
Sirantha Jax is one of the rare people that carry the J-gene. This gene allows one to travel grimspace. (Much fast than even Warp travel. Several weeks of travel is done in moments.) Those with the J-gene are located by the Farwan Corporation (referred to as simply "Corp"). Corp than trains the recruits to jump into and out of grimspace. Thus far, Corp has a monopoly on jump-travel, charging high rates and taxes for people to board a ship and be taken through grimspace. But each Jumper has a limit. Ten jumps is the normal amount for most J-gene carriers. However, Jax has jumped hundreds of times and has yet to burn out. No one knows how or why.
At the end of Jax's last jump something went horribly wrong. Seventy-five people on the ship "Sargasso", including elected Conglomerater representatives and Kai, Jax's pilot and lover, were killed. Jax is the sole survivor. As the story begins, Corp has Jax confined and undergoing mental treatment. She has been accused of killing everyone during her last jump. Jax has no memory of the crash which followed her jump or what caused it. She may very well have crashed the ship deliberately. So Jax is having a hard time defending herself. After ruthless interrogations, Jax is about to succumb to madness when a former merc breaks into her cell and offers to break her out if she agrees to help his small group break Corp's monopoly on jump-travel. Jax literally jumps at the chance; but to find the answers needed for the future of jumpers, Jax must first remember what happened on the "Sargasso".
**** This was a perfect book until the rushed ending. I could not help feel that several pages, if not paragraphs, were missing. As I read, I kept comparing this story to the StarDoc novels (by S.L. Viehl) and a few novels by Linnea Sinclair. The flavor is very familiar to me; however, the plot line about Jumpers is totally unique to me. Fans of Viehl and Sinclair will love this fresh new voice in the genre. ****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
Book Review: Enjoyable imperfection.
Summary: 4 Stars
Just opening and reading the dedication/acknowledgement page should tell you quite a bit if you will like an author's style. Writers mentioned are: "Robin Mckinley, Patricia Briggs, Sharon shinn, Patricia McKillip, Robin D. Owena, Connie Willis, Jeri Smith-Ready." I can see the bits and pieces of stylistic homage throughout this book. Stylistically I also see some commonality with Shoron Lee & Steve Miller's Liaden and Korval stuff(especially the liaden companion books or the chapbooks).
My only reason for not giving a a full 5 star rating (I rarely give those) is that the end feels a tiny bit rushed. I suspect that the either the publisher cut a few too many pages near the end, or that the author self edited a bit too much near the end. The last 3 chapters are an acceptable ending, within the books logic. A sequel is possible but not required. Having read no other books by the author I do not know her habits. This book is a blinding blur for the reader focusing on keeping you as off balance as the main character. I would be interested in learing more about these characters, but if a sequel never happens thats ok. MY enjoyment is as much being along for the heady ride of Sirantha Jax learning things about her world she never knew before, chalenging her identity, as well as the underpinnings of her society as she understands it at the books beginning effectively locked in a computer monitered holding cell called her "gratis" quarters being evaulated and recovering from her session with psych/rehab. I liked author Ann Aguirre's style and will read more of her work to see if I enjoy it as much as I did this. This book isnt earthshattering in its plot's breath and scope, but it is quite fun and satisfying on the whole.
This book isn't perfect, but it fits in with the characters who are not perfect either. Its an interesting mirroring effect, because no one in real life is perfect. This books universe and characters seem real enough with the context of the story. I like it great deal.
Book Review: Taut space opera with damaged heroine
Summary: 4 Stars
Ann Aguirre's "Grimspace" is classic space opera. The heroine/narrator, Sarantha Jax, is a starship navigator who has the genetic ability to "jump" into "grimspace," where she is able to guide the pilots safely to existing worlds, and discover new ones.
Set up to die by the corporation for which she works, when the ship she was navigating was given the wrong coordinates so that it would crash, killing those on board, Sarantha survived and is being subjected to psychological pressure when we first meet her.
Quickly rescued by a man who tells her to March (she asks if that's his name or if she should get moving; he says both), the two then proceed to have excellent cliff-hanging adventures in space (along with a shag or two). The action never stops; Ms. Aguirre writes well, using first-person present tense pov, and the supporting cast is excellent. Especially the last major one to appear.
What's especially fascinating is the interactions of Jax, March, and the supporting cast. Both are damaged; both are impulsive; both make plans that never come to fruition. (A side quest involving an alien youngling goes totally awry.)At first, the abrupt ending puzzled me, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that, well, the part of the action that takes place "offstage" is rather by the way. We've all seen that sort of stuff before, and what takes place "onstage" is the sort of stuff we haven't seen before. But some readers may not see it that way.
Anyhow, I certainly hope there will be more novels featuring Jax. Oh wait! There will be. In fact, another one has been released. It's called "Wanderlust." I'll certainly want to read it.
Notes and asides: 4.5 stars, really. Mandatory .5 star deduction for "the holos." Will sci-fi authors please stop search and replacing "movies" with "holos"? If this doesn't bother you, consider it a five-star effort . . . several of the blurbs are written by people who the author acknowledges. Tsk tsk tsk.
Book Review: An engaging read
Summary: 4 Stars
I discovered Grimspace through reading the author's e-published romances. I really liked her voice in those stories, so I thought I'd give this a try, though sci-fi isn't usually my first choice. While not perfect, I still found myself sucked in, and devoured this book in record time.
The 1st person/present tense is a risky choice, and for me, works. It creates an urgency within the action that propels it forward even more than the short, clipping chapters do. It puts us into Jax's head, and makes it impossible to see her as anything but a very damaged woman. She's had a lot of trouble heaped on top of her, and the only way to deal with it is to compartmentalize it away. It makes her brittle and caustic, but getting to see her own insecurities, her fallibility, helped me sympathize with her. Though she makes less than heroic choices during the course of the story, they're true to who she is, and make her far more human than if she suddenly always did the most honorable thing. I was on her side, almost the entire way.
There's a very large cast of characters, as people and creatures come and go in her life. Some of their characterizations suffer for their short time on the pages; others thrive. March and Vel are the best drawn of the supporting cast, and falling for the relationships they have with Jax was easy.
Another criticism I have with the book - even as much as I like the author - is the one-liner endings she put on each chapter. It was fine in the beginning, but grew wearisome halfway through. I didn't need the reminder of Jax's quippy nature. I already had that through the rest of the text.
But I thoroughly enjoyed myself. And I'm going out tomorrow to get the second book. I like Jax and March enough to follow them, mostly because they are so flawed. It just makes them human.
Book Review: 3.5 Stars - Pretty good, rough in places, but I'll read the next one.
Summary: 4 Stars
While Grimspace is in motion it's a pretty entertaining read and fortunately there is plenty of action to move the story along. I liked the herione Sirintha Jax just fine, and had no problem with the 'me first' attitude she had at times. Since Jax walks the edge of survival, not only is she on the verge of the mind stealing burnout that threatens those like her who can navigate Grimspace (the warped space traveled during a 'jump'), she is also fleeing the evil militaristic corporation which wants her mentally broken or dead, and with allies that really just want to use her, it's not surprising that she needs to look out for herself since everyone else is focused on the 'greater good'. However the first person voice used in Grimspace doesn't help the romance elements of the story along at all. Even with March, who was a great character by the way, having psychic powers to bridge the gap a bit so that eventually we know what he's feeling, his feelings for Jax come out of nowhere mostly because she's not aware of them.
Along with March, Aguirre has some other great characters but I personally thought that Velith, the bounty hunter who comes in late in the story, stole the show -- he was honorable and smart and I hope that we see more of him. My one major nit with the plot was that once Jax finally remembers the truth about the accident that killed her pilot and passengers and put a big bullseye on her back, she doesn't share it with anyone or do anything about it for a really really long time. This bothered me, especially since it ends up being key to the resolution of the story at the end.
I gave Grimspace a try mostly because I ran into the author at a booksigning, but it was entertaining enough that I'll give the next book a try.