Grimspace (Sirantha Jax, Book 1) [Mass Market Paperback]

Ann Aguirre (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 26, 2008

As the carrier of a rare gene, Sirantha Jax has the ability to jump ships through grimspace-a talent which makes her a highly prized navigator for the Corp. Then a crash landing kills everyone on board, leaving Jax in a jail cell with no memory of the crash. But her fun's not over. A group of rogue fighters frees her...for a price: her help in overthrowing the established order.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Jax's brutal eloquence will twist your heart when you least expect it." -JERI SMITH-READY "Exciting, evocative and suspenseful science fiction romance...Characters and a world you'll think about long after the book is done." -ROBIN D. OWENS

About the Author

Ann Aguirre is a USA Today bestselling author who lives in Mexico with her husband, children, two cats, and one very lazy dog. She writes SFF, romance, and YA. Visit her online at annaguirre.com.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Ace (February 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441015999
• ISBN-13: 978-0441015993
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (123 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,315 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

USA Today bestselling author Ann Aguirre has been a clown, a clerk, a savior of stray kittens, and a voice actress, not necessarily in that order. She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but now she lives in a terracotta adobe house with her husband and children. In this guise, she writes SF, UF, and YA.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathlessly Told and Totally Enjoyable February 26, 2008

By Lauren Dane VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

30 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent! March 23, 2008

By Deborah Wiley VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

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

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Eh March 8, 2008

By somethingsweet

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I thought this book was just ok. The author did do a good job of handling the present-tense writing style, though the present tense also allowed her to cop out on some of the building blocks that are usually required for a good setup and background.

This book was more relationship/romance than science-fiction, and the science wasn't very convincing - more like current technology plus space ships and a couple of gadgets. Random alien races would appear, and since the book was in present-tense, they didn't really get explained, just accepted and we moved on. Our heroine also seemed singularly out of touch with even extremely high profile world/universe events that had occurred during her lifetime. Overall, the book was a chaotic series of vignettes with no solid base to rest on. It was interesting for that, but I don't think I'll be buying the next one.