Saturday, April 12, 2008

Grimspace - Ann Aguirre

A couple of the comments in the previous post reminded me I've been meaning to post about Grimspace. I read it a while back and really enjoyed it - couldn't put it down in fact. It's definitely sf, but it's also a romance. I'm very much looking forward to the next book in the series.

Here's the blurb - you can check out an excerpt on the author's website:

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…

I know a lot of you have read this already - what did you like best about it? Any other sf/romance recommendations?

Also, you guys have to check out this Author Talk video with Kresley Cole. Don't have coffee in your mouth when you do (you'll thank me when you get to the "birth" scene). *grin*

Have a good weekend folks!

18 comments :

Anonymous said...

Grimspace is one of my favorite books this year.

For sf/romance, I like Linnea Sinclair's Games of Command and S.L. Viehl's StarDoc series.

Sweet said...

Thanks for that link Nalini :) The "birth" was soo funny :p.

I loved Grimspace too, and I can't wait until the next book.

For sf/romance I like the StarDoc series. Tinker and Wolf Who Rules.

I'm looking for other good sf/romance recs also.

Janicu said...

I liked this book very much. I think the best thing about it is the action - so much edge on your seat going ons: adventure, space travel, gunfights, bad guys, aliens, but written for girls! Very gritty stuff too, and interesting people. Jax isn't always trying to do the right thing - she's trying to be a survivor and look out for herself. The interaction with her and March was great.
I'd agree with goddessinwriting above and recommend Linnea Sinclair's Games of Command (or any of her other novels, but that's my favorite), and Keeping it Real by Justina Robson (sf/fantasy/romance).

And for something not exactly the same, but with the same sort of cross-over appeal - Driven by Eve Kenin. No space in it, but a post apocalyptic, arctic cold wasteland with big rigs and pirates? Just as good.

For a young adult take on this sf/romance - Delia Marshall Turner. Cannot recommend her enough. Her 2 books are out of print, but worth tracking down.

Ann Aguirre said...

Oooh, thanks for the mention! I'm really glad to hear you guys enjoyed it.

Christine said...

I loved GRIMSPACE, too. The story is chock full of awesome action, tension, fantastic secondary characters, and a bit of the romance we all love... and all the while the heroine, Sirantha Jax is on an emotional journey that transforms a pretty self absorbed young woman into someone more sensitive and altruistic. I was truly absorbed by Jax's emotions throughout the book.

***** POSSIBLE SPOILER *****

I think one of my favorite parts was towards the end when Jax was taken captive by the bounty hunter Velith and all that transpired between them. I also totally loved the way March kind of went ballistic when he thought Jax was dead. Was that true love or what? ;)


***** END POSSIBLE SPOILER ******

The premise to the series is unique and interesting... and there's so much potential for some really fascinating story arcs! I can't wait for the next installment.

Christine said...

OMG that was the best author video I think I've ever seen. LOL Not that I've seen many, but that one is going to be tough to top! Thanks for the link! :)

*still giggling*

Anonymous said...

LOL, thanks for the link Nalini! I love Kresley and I am eagerly awaiting both of her books (you are both 2 of the authors I always buy the day of release!).

I haven't read Grimspace yet, but I am always looking for good reads.

Wendy said...

I loved Grimspace! And Christine I totally agree with you and when *SPOILER!!* she gets back to March and he's hugging her so tight - awwww!

I loooves March!

KT Grant said...

I loved Ann's heroine Jax. She is my favorite heroine for 2008 so far.
I can not wait for the sequel in September :)

Anonymous said...

I've been meaning to pick this book up, just haven't made it that far yet.

Anonymous said...

scooper, you wanna read this book. Trust me, you do.

I offer a link to my humble review here: http://karenknowsbest.com/?p=971

Lady of the Review said...

I liked the dialogue, the fact that there wasn't a ton of info-dumping (one reason why I stopped reading sci-fi) and the romance is sexy. :)

I reviewed it & gave it a good grade. Loved the story!


~Kaitlin

loonigrrl said...

I loved the ending. It was so intense I thought my heart was going to explode.

And I wholeheartedly second the StarDoc series rec. It's one of my favorites. I've heard she's going to finish the series when she gets to book 10. I swear I almost cried when I found out.

Gail Leinweber said...

Time to add Grimspace to the TBR pile.

I second the Wen Spencer recommendation (Tinker, Wolf Who Rules etc...) and while the romance is only a subplot I'll hype Eric Flints Boundary. Paleontologists discover alien bones next to dinosaur bones and up doing excavation in outer space. Lots of fun. Linnea Sinclair's latest Down Home Zombie Blues is also good.

Nalini Singh said...

You're totally welcome, Ann. It was a great book.

Thanks for the sf/romance recs, everyone. I've read quite a few of these already, but there's a couple that seemed to have slipped through, so I'll be following up on those once I get out from under deadlinitis! :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks Azteclady. I'm going to read it now.

Anonymous said...

Ok, now I'm REALLY looking forward to reading Grimspace :) Thank you so much for the other recommendations everyone!

Weirdly, I've just started a sci-fi book - The Outback Stars by Sarah Macdonald. I'm only about 2 pages in *grin* but to far so good!

orannia

Anonymous said...

Lois M. Bujold's "A Civil Campaign" is basically a Regency romance in space; it's subtitled "a comedy of biology and manners", and it really is. The dinner party in chapter 9 does more plot damage than the later ray gun battle, and the political consequences of a sex change operation, abuse of uterine replicators and bioengineered beetles are hilarious.

It's also about 10 books into her Vorkosigan universe series, so while you can start with it, you might not want to. The first book in that series is "Shards of Honor"; it is often bundled with a later book "Barrayar" under the dualogy title "Cordelia's Honor". Which has a major romance subplot, come to think of it. A quick path into ACC would be "Borders of Infinity" (for background), "Komarr" (which starts the story arc completed in ACC), then ACC. Beware! Bujold doesn't write the same book twice, so don't expect them to be alike in either tone or theme, they are fairly different. BoI is space opera; Komarr is about divorce and recovery with a terrorism subplot, and ACC is a romantic comedy.