Aguirre, Ann: Grimspace
Grimspace
Writer: Ann Aguirre
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 312
I first heard of this book via janicu, where she posted a Grimspace quiz, all part of a promotional effort of the author to encourage people to blog about her book and in doing so, said bloggers would be entered in a giveaway for a signed (I think) copy of the book.
Well, I didn't enter, but I took notice. Then I saw an actual advert on Smart Bitches Love Trashy Books, so at that point, I knew pretty much what this book would be: a space opera with some romance. And given the fact it's SF written by a woman, and a newbie--which always catches my eye--I decided to give it a shot.
According to Amazon, this book isn't available until February 26th, but I found it last weekend at Borders, so of course I snatched it up. I had mixed thoughts going into this book, for whatever reasons, but those mixed thoughts were put aside immediately as soon as I started reading.
In this universe, we have grimspace as a means of faster space travel instead of FTL. Now, while I don't quite get all the mechanics of how grimspace works exactly, I do understand that only those people with a specific gene even have the ability to navigate grimspace, and if I understood this correctly, only women are carriers of this gene.
Jax is such a woman, and she's close to a breakdown. Jumper for a ship that basically crash lands, she gets the blame and locked up in a Corp institute with no memory of the crash, and the Corp psychologists aren't exactly making it easy for her either.
Help comes in the form of a man named March, who busts her out without explaining why, introduces her to his crew, and takes her to a planet where she learns that there's a group of people who basically want to give the Corp a run for its money. All jumpers, you see, are snatched up by the Corp, giving the Corp a monopoly on all grimspace lines. Jax agrees to help recruit possible jumpers and train them, because she's now a fugitive, doesn't have anything else better to do, and wants to stick it to the Corp for treating her like shit.
Of course, it's never that easy. Bad luck follows Jax like a plague, and people keep dying either because of her actions or because they want to find her. Between that and the suspicion that March might be trying to kill her, Jax doesn't know who to trust, or what she should really do.
Now make no mistake: this book has all the comfortable familiarity of any space opera you see in movies and television. I had a couple of Star Wars moments, and a Firefly/Serenity moment as well. I also had moments of comparison with other space operas/SFRs I'm familiar with, like Catherine Asaro's Primary Inversion and Sandra McDonald's The Outback Stars. No biggie. For starters, I wasn't reading this book to find the most original, unique SFR EVER, and frankly, you shouldn't either. This book is fun, entertaining, and not quite total braincandy, but close enough that I'm very willing to forgive any elements that might appear derivative.
But let's make one thing clear: this book freaking SHINES, and it shines for two reasons. First, we've got voice: we've got first person, present tense, and not just any first person/present tense, but frankly, Jax has the voice of an urban fantasy heroine blasted into space. I'm not joking. The tough-girl, kick-ass, snarky attitude is on par with most all the urban fantasies I've read so far, and I have to say, that's a touch of genius. No really, it is. I know I'm biased, because I tend to like first person anyway, but this voice gives this book LIFE, and we're so entrenched into Jax's point of view that even when she makes mistakes, we're rooting for her anyway. And more important, there's not a single moment that we don't understand her motivations for doing something.
The second reason this book shines? Tension. Pure and total tension. Not only is the tension between Jax and March freaking fantastic (they've got some of the best chemistry I've seen in an SFR I've ever seen), but not a single chapter ends without some note of tension. Not always cliffhangers, but frankly, nothing wraps itself up in a nice neat bow. You want to keep reading, and keep reading, and keep reading.
Granted, the voice really helps. It's a FAST read, but it's also a tight, action-packed read. There's no dead moments. Every scene has its importance, and Aguirre handles transitions remarkably well. I was thoroughly impressed with how she kept this book rolling, and trust me, that's hard to do when you're writing in first-person, PRESENT TENSE. Present tense is hard to do, so I applaud her use of it here.
And let's face it, the story's just good. I had no misconceptions that the point was to see how Jax and March would hook up, but the larger story of recruiting possible jumpers from alien races as well as Jax hiding from the Corp was a good one that kept the story rolling. I have much love for the scenes with Baby-Z, and the humor is right on.
Oh sure, there's info dumps, but that's par for the course when it comes to first person. And yeah, we've got some standard science fantasy tropes, like telepathic abilities. Honestly, I didn't care (okay, I did sort of care, because what March is able to create with Jax is right on par with what I'm trying to do with my own characters, damn it!), because the story was executed well and like I said earlier, the chemistry between March and Jax was freaking awesome.
I thoroughly recommend this book to any fan of science fiction romance, and hell, any romance reader who enjoys otherworldly settings will get a kick out of this too. I loved reading this book because it was so much damn fun and entertaining, and I can't wait for the sequel, slated to come out this September.
I'm definitely keeping an eye on this author, and I'm thrilled I got my hands on this book when I did.
Next up: Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing edited by Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss