Sirantha Jax is a jumper, one of the very few with a genetic constitution that allows her to navigate grimspace. Highly in demand, the Jumpers are rock stars in this world, at least until something goes wrong. Jax is the only survivor of a terrible accident, one which claimed many lives, including that of her lover and pilot Kai. The details surrounding the crash are vague, Jax cannot remember what happened exactly, even through repeated "treatment" at the Corp facility where she's being held. Subjected to brutal mind games, Jax is near the breaking point, and at times is uncertain of whether or not she did cause the crash, though she can't believe that she ever would have.
The Corp controls all the jumpers, and with them most of interstellar travel, but a small faction of rogue fighters has other ideas, and securing Jax is a central part their plan. Breaking her out of the interrogation facility she's in, they spirit her away, back to the small headquarters they have to begin their mission. Jax isn't so sure that her rescue is all it's cracked up to be, and at times even wonders if she might have been better off staying in the Corp holding cells. It seems that she destroys the lives of everyone she touches, but somehow through it all she becomes attached to the motley crew that rescued (kidnapped) her, especially their captain, as hard as they try to fight it.
I actually picked Grimspace up with no previous knowledge of the author while looking for some new Science Fiction, which I claim to like, but then never seem to read any of! Not long after that, I saw my friend Susan over at West of Mars promoting Ann Aguirre and thought, hmmm, I just bought that! I'm glad I did, it was fast paced and full of action, definitely keeping my attention, which I'm afraid at times that Sci-Fi won't. The feel I got from this one was something of a cross between the show Firefly by Joss Whedon and the Crystal Singer series of books by Anne McCaffrey, both highly worth the watch and read if you haven't! I also wasn't the only person to make the Firefly statement, as I saw at least one review on goodreads that said the same thing, after I had already thought that to myself. lol!
This is a debut I will definitely recommend, and I'm looking forward to the next episode of the Sirantha Jax story, Wanderlust, which is out now! If you check on the title link, you'll see that Ann is running a contest this week, so go out and buy them, right now! Borders and Barnes and Noble are open late, and Amazon is always online, so there are no excuses! ;)
Check out Ann's website HERE
Oh, I'm so glad I encouraged you to read a good book! (and thanks for the link love, too)
ReplyDeleteAnn is cool people. I'm pleased to have met her in person and she's just ... cool. I didn't get to speak with her for very long, but I liked what I saw of her.
In the meantime, *I* still need to get a copy of this! I'm such a slacker!