Review: Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre

Description:

Sirantha Jax doesn’t take chances…she jumps at them…
Sirantha Jax is a “Jumper,” a woman who possesses the unique genetic makeup needed to navigate faster than light ships through grimspace. Jax has worked for the Farwan Corporation her entire career. But now the word’s out that the Corp deliberately crashed a passenger ship, and their stranglehold on intergalactic commerce has crumbled—which means that Jax is out of a job.

She’s also broke, due to being declared dead a little prematurely. So when the government asks her to head up a vital diplomatic mission, Jax takes it. Her mandate: journey to the planet Ithiss-Tor and convince them to join the Conglomerate.

But Jax’s payday is light years away. First, she’ll have to contend with Syndicate criminals, a stormy relationship with her pilot, man-eating aliens, and her own grimspace-weakened body. She’ll be lucky just to make it to Ithiss-Tor alive…

(Book Blurb)

Review:
This book was so sad that I really don’t know how to say what I thought about this book. It’s really good but it kind of really hit home for me. Made me into a total crybaby. But I should start at the beginning.

Jax life is crumbling down. The Corp is history, she is totally broke, her mother is in deep shit with the syndicate and her health is decreasing more and more. She has to do something about this and stumbles- Jax-style from one catastrophe to the next on her way. Jax is lucky to have March because he’s always pulling her back from her destructive thoughts. March isn’t taking that with ease, he suffers from her doubts and destructive thoughts. The situation changes dramatically and that pulled the rug out from under Jax and my feet. One of the saddest thing I ever read was the moment March made this decision. After this moment Jax has to stand on her own feet and has to find someone else to rely on.

The side characters in this book are as great as ever. They all have developed over time and got a real depth on the way. We learn more about all of them and also meet a few new ones.

This book has one of the most disturbing and disgusting monsters I read about in a long time. OMG these were really icky. The bad guys are really canny and hard to identify. A good surprise waits for you at the end.

The book was as great as the first one. Perhaps a little too sad for my taste but perhaps that was just the stress I had in the last month. I enjoyed this book and can’t wait to finish Doubleblind.

To learn more about Ann Aguirre and her books please visit her website here.

Sirantha Jax Series:
1. Grimspace:my review, reviews @goodreads, buy @amazon

2. Wanderlust: reviews @goodreads, buy @amazon
3. Doubleblind:

reviews @goodreads, buy @amazon

4. Killbox (release October 2010)
I bought this book on my own.

Read more...

Review: Grimspace by Ann Aguirre

Description:

By all accounts, Sirantha Jax should have burned out years ago…
As the carrier of a rare gene, Jax has the ability to jump ships through grimspace—a talent which cuts into her life expectancy, but makes her a highly prized navigator for the Corp. But then the ship she’s navigating crash-lands, and she’s accused of killing everyone on board. It’s hard for Jax to defend herself: she has no memory of the crash.

Now imprisoned and the subject of a ruthless interrogation, Jax is on the verge of madness. Then a mysterious man breaks into her cell, offering her freedom—for a price. March needs Jax to help his small band of rogue fighters break the Corp monopoly on interstellar travel—and establish a new breed of jumper.

Jax is only good at one thing—grimspace—and it will eventually kill her. So she may as well have some fun in the meantime…

(Book Blurb)

Review:
I so love science fiction and this book gets an extra point for being such a great book in this genre. The created world is developed in such great detail and with so much love that it sucked me in from the beginning. The concept of the J-Gene is thoughtful and gives the whole story a ethical and moral aspect. Ann Aguirre’s writing flows and she knows how to give each character just the right words to say. Every person in this book is an individual and talks like one too.

Jax is a real kick-ass heroine. She always says what she thinks and is one of the truest and most candid characters I ever met or read about. She doesn’t care if her opinion is hurtful or if it will cause her trouble. She can’t shut up and sometimes that's the worst character trait imaginable. She has to earn the trust of the crew and before she can even think about that she has to clear herself off all the prejudices the crew has. She’s not the perfect heroine, she makes mistakes and shows a few not so good character traits but this only made her more real in my eyes.

The side characters are mostly hostile in the beginning. They all have lost something or suffered in the attempt to rescue Jax. This makes the getting to know each other really complicated. They don’t want to give her a chance but they realize soon that not everything is like they thought it is. I really loved the Doc who’s the only one to be without prejudice against Jax. March is difficult in the beginning and needs a few talks and fights with Jax till these two warm up. The bonding of the characters (not only between Jax and March) is well described and we learn to love them on the way. The bunch of people becomes a group while the story is told and you can feel how they start to respect each other.

The story is complex, full of moral questions and has a few bloody and disturbing scenes too. The bad ”guys” are disturbingly frightening and the solution of the conflicts isn’t a walk in the park. Loved the plot, loved the genre, loved the characters, loved the romance- perfect book.

To learn more about Ann Aguirre and her books please visit her website here.

The Sirantha Jax Series:
1. Grimspace:

reviews @goodreads, buy @amazon

2. Wanderlust: reviews @goodreads, buy @amazon
3. Doubleblind:

reviews @goodreads, buy @amazon

4. Killbox (release October 2010)

I bought this book on my own.

Read more...