Really Ravishing Review (Grimspace)

Review of Grimspace, by Ann Aguirre. 

Quickie: Fantastic Sci-Fi! Loved the world, loved the characters.

Full: Sirantha Jax is a jumper. She was born with the J-gene, a genetic anomaly that allows her to "jump" through space, to take entire ships full of people from one place in space to another. She's the Corp's star, their best. But her last jump, a jump to a planet called Matins IV, went terribly wrong. Stuck in the Unit Psych being interrogated endlessly about the events preceding the crash, undergoing "dream therapy", and reliving horrible, confusing memories, Sirantha is about to break.

Her time there is cut short, however, when an unexpected savior breaks in a takes her out of the Unit Psych and off planet. The question she asks herself after a few days with this "hero" is, "Is this really better?". They're on the run and Sirantha doesn't know why. She soon uncovers the mission of the rag-tag crew she's with though; they're out to create an academy to train jumpers and give the almighty Corp some competition. Sirantha is necessary because they need a jumper to take them to all the different planets that the want to gather untapped jumpers from.

Sirantha's past winds up catching up to her, endangering the whole crew, and Sirantha feels (justly) responsible. She must confront her past and save the lives of those she's grown to care about. Without dying in the process, of course. That proves harder and harder as the Corp uses their power to manipulate and corrupt.

This isn't the first book by Ann Aguirre I've read, so I was prepared for the awesomeness. Even so, I was more than a little bit blown away. Sirantha was so very real. She was flawed and funny and had an extensive backstory that I loved getting glimpses of.

She was also a strong person, and I admired her greatly. Maybe this just shows what a girl I am, but I was heartbroken when she had to shave all her hair off. I'm very attached to my own hair, it's long and it's taken ages to get it that way. So the thought of shaving it all off.... AH! Anyhow, she had to lose her hair and although she was sad, she did it anyway. Maybe she just wasn't as fond of her hair as I am of mine... but still. Props to her for being so cool about it.

Writing-wise, there were a few spots where the pacing wasn't quite ideal, but in general I have no complaints. The characters were multi-dimensional and I loved all the sci-fi gadgets, gizmos, and life-forms. In fact, I was delighted by the realistic qualities... It was a future I could envision. It felt like this was a future that could actually happen, and I could understand the timeline. Usually I feel like sci-fi books are just a spot in time and I can't quite place it, even if they give a date. In Grimspace, I felt grounded, I knew how I got there. There's a good chance I'm not articulating this well, but it's difficult to describe.

Anyhow, I loved Grimspace and I can't wait to read the rest of the series. If you enjoy sci-fi, strong female leads, and just the right amount of humor, you should give Grimspace a try. :)

5 out of 5 stars.