Grimspace
26. Ann Aguirre, Grimspace
Sirantha Jax is a woman with an unusual ability: due to a genetic abnormality, she’s a jumper, which means she can travel through grimspace, an alternate dimension where the normal rules of time and space don’t apply. While this ability would normally make her a valuable asset to the Corp (the enormous corporation that governs the universe), Jax is currently in bad shape: she’s the only survivor of a massive crash that killed over 80 people, including her pilot/lover Kai…and it might have been her fault. She’s on the verge of mental collapse when a mysterious stranger called March breaks into her psych ward and essentially kidnaps her. March and his band of rogue followers are on a dangerous mission that could threaten the Corp’s very existence, and they need Jax’s help. However, Jax isn’t sure whom to trust - especially when she begins to remember what happened in the moments before the fateful crash.
After reading so many glowing reviews of Aguirre’s work, I finally decided to dive in, and I definitely wasn’t disappointed! Jax is a fun character to read about, with her penchant for sarcasm and ass-kicking. The plot is exciting and adrenaline-pumped, with plenty of action sequences that held my interest. I really enjoyed watching Jax interact with the other characters, particularly the brooding, buttoned-up March: their evolving romance was a nice complement to the fast-paced violence of the plot. The weakest part of this book is probably the world-building, at least in my opinion. I haven’t read much science fiction, but it seems like a lot of the sci-fi elements here weren’t terribly original, particularly the sinister and all-knowing corporation that’s engaging in horrific genetic experiments. Also, when Jax was explaining grimspace, I couldn’t get the image of hyperspace from “Star Wars” out of my head. Be that as it may, I couldn’t put this book down, and I look forward to reading more by Ann Aguirre.