Grimspace (Sirantha Jax, Book 1) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm not usually a sci fi reader. Call me a wuss, but whenever I would try to read sci fi, I usually got too distracted by all the sciencey stuff to remain focused on the story. But I had seen Grimspace advertised on a website and the cover caught my eye. At that point my reaction was about as intellectual as "Ooo, pretty colors..." but hey, attractive covers are a plus. Then the book caught my eye again, this time in the bookstore, and lo and behold, it sounded interesting. I figured, what the heck? What I didn't know at the time of purchase was that it's something called "romantic" sci fi. This left me a little worried; I wanted what was promised to me on the back of the book, not a romance novel with spaceships and lightsabers.
Starting out, I really wasn't sure what to make of it. I found Jax to be inconsistent as a character at first and hard to empathize with. There were little quirks of writing style that drove me crazy, like the incessant use of the word "frag" as a swear and Aguirre's habit of leaving off things like proper nouns from the start of a sentence. For example, you'd get "Could have seen it" rather than "I could have seen it". This became really fragg--er, really frustrating pretty quickly. But for all of that, I found it pretty easy to keep reading. Okay, I suffered a major WTF moment on the planet Lachion. You've got gobs of space open to you and you choose to colonize a planet with packs of man-eating flying dinosaurian creatures that can rip through the plate armor on vehicles and smell blood in the air from miles away? Why!? I think perhaps that taking time for a little bit more history of these sorts of places would be good, and I think Aguirre could manage it fine without bogging her story down.
So about halfway through I suddenly realize that I'm rather enjoying myself. A short time later I notice that I'm really enjoying myself. The book is fun and witty, and those little quirks that were annoying me either thinned out or became less noticeable (hard to tell in the middle of reading). You learn more about Jax, which makes her character come together at last, and she's remarkably easy to empathize with. Her thoughts are often selfish, her first instinct tends to be about what is good only for her, but I could understand where she was coming from after a while. She's an interesting protagonist with a lot of potential, I think.
Grimspace is light on things like technobabble and scientific info dumps, which keeps it from bogging down. And the romantic element really isn't a concern. It's far from being the main plot focus and though it gets a little bit obnoxious towards the end, it never comes close to consuming the whole novel (I think some of this feeling has to do with the first person POV, which makes it difficult to get across the perspective of other characters). Being far from savvy when it comes to science, though, and sci fi for that matter, I wanted the opinion of someone who was; my fiance, in this case. He didn't find the romance element to be obtrusive either and the science that was there was mostly sound (he did question what precisely these dinosaur creatures eat when human flesh is unavailable, since that wasn't mentioned. Which I have to admit is a pretty good point). So that's a pretty strong recommendation from someone who has a clue what they're talking about.
I personally was a bit concerned with the end. I found it seemed a bit too pat, too perfect, and I really hope it will be addressed in the second one. Even with the few misgivings I have, I'm looking forward to the second one a lot. Good thing it'll be out in September. You can already see the cover for it on Ms. Aguirre's site. Ooo, pretty...


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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.

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Enclave Review

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(More customer reviews)I've really got to hand it to Ann Aguirre for writing a fascinating post-apocalyptic YA that I was able to finish without rolling my eyes. To be honest, the amount of Dystopian YA's being published bores me. Every one of these YA's are being courted as the next Hunger Games just like a few years ago with every single YA with vampires, fairies or fallen emo angels was the next Twilight. Ann takes some interesting chances with Enclave, and this is not for the weak of heart. Nothing is sugar coated here. The first half of the book gave me a claustrophobic feeling while reading. Unfortunately the second half faltered because the action wasn't as intense and Ann falls back to an all too familiar trope found in present day YA- the evolution of a love triangle that will most like appear in Outpost, the second book in this series.
Have you ever seen the movie, 12 Monkeys? Enclave (Razorland #1) is a YA version of that film. Enclave takes place sometimes after the second holocaust of the Earth. Humanity has suffered immensely from some unknown catastrophe that has occurred. (Most likely an atomic World War III). We're introduced to this world through the eyes of Girl15 who becomes Deuce on her naming day, her birthday. Deuce lives underground and has never gone up to the above. Upon further reading, I would say Deuce lives in the former subways of New York City. Everyone has a role in the enclave and Deuce's role is to become a Huntress. She will hunt for food in the tunnels. Deuce lives in a dark and dank world both literally and figuratively. Disease is rampant and hygiene is not the best. Some women are solely used to breed children, known as brats, while others keep their fortress strong and safe from the Freaks. Freaks are monsters who feed on the flesh of the living and even themselves. They roam the tunnels looking for their next meal. Hunting for food can be dangerous, but Deuce is strong and fast. She is partnered up with Fade, an older boy who came from the above when he was a small child. Fade is not well liked by the elders because of where he has come from and has the makings of being a troublemaker. The elders make sure the rules are followed with an iron fist. If not followed, they have no qualms in exiling those who don't behave. Exile means certain death.
Deuce and Fade soon figure out that the Freaks are not the mindless creatures that only exist to eat that the elders think them to be. And because of that everyone is in danger. Fade is more than willing to break away from this near like prison community and move on, but Deuce is scared because the enclave is all she has known. But then Deuce something unselfish to save one of her friends, and she is exiled. Fade goes along with her and they go up to the above where a new fascinating world of danger awaits them. Deuce and Fade don't only have to worry about the Freaks, but roaming gangs that will kill without warning and use women as their own playthings. And when Stalker, the leader of one of the gangs, targets Deuce and takes her, Fade will put his life on the line to save Deuce. They'll try to find a place where they can be safe without the fear of starvation and targets of the flesh hungry Freaks.
Enclave has a great atmospheric feel to it. I was right alongside Deuce as she fights for her own survival. The sounds, scents and mind numbing fear are strong. Fade is a great partner for Deuce and they both bounce off of each other very well. These two are the strongest and most well rounded and dimensional characters here. That became one of my main problems while reading. Characters come and go without any real meaning of substance. Because the story is so centralized on Deuce and Fade, everyone else pales in comparison. I couldn't connect or sympathize with anyone else because they came across very flat as the paper they were written on.
When Deuce and Face go up above, that's where things go downhill. In the enclave, everything was wonderfully descriptive. In the above, we're given a quick overview. Deuce and Fade spend most of their time running and finding food and shelter. That is until a gang right out of Mad Max (done YA style) finds them. They meet an abused rape victim named Tegan, who has been at the mercy of the gang run by Stalker, a nasty piece of work. But then at one point either Ann or her editor came to the conclusion, we can't have Deuce happy with just Fade and we'll make Stalker a bit ambiguous in his actions so he can be redeemable and a possible future love interest for Deuce. That is where I grew weary of the story. We're told from Tegan that Stalker is a killer and most likely a possible rapist who may have raped her time and again. But then at one point Tegan changes her story and says Stalker only handed her over to the other men and never touched her. So, Stalker, who again is most likely going to be a love interest for Deuce in the next book, isn't such a bad guy because he didn't actually rape Tegan, but only gave her untouched to his men to share. Sorry, this doesn't make him redeemable in anyway and I would hope Deuce will realize this and stick with Fade. Or perhaps in Outpost, Stalker will become the ultimate villain Deuce or Fade must battle. If so, I'd be very interested in seeing how that goes down and hope Ann doesn't fall back on the classic, let's redeem the near psycho and amoral bad boy so we can see that the world can be a wonderful place again because love from the heroine has set everyone free.
Enclave should appeal to those looking for something different with their Dystopian YA's they've read. If the first half of Enclave continued that way to the very last page, then I would have considered Enclave one of the best books I read this year. Overall, it's a solid read that could have been so much better.
Katiebabs

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WELCOME TO THE APOCALYPSEIn Deuce's world, people earn the right to a name only if theysurvive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed 'brat'has trained into one of three groups-Breeders, Builders, or Hunters,identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce haswanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember.As a Huntress, her purpose is clear--to brave the dangeroustunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group whileevading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She's worked toward thisgoal her whole life, and nothing's going to stop her, not even abeautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomesher partner, Deuce's troubles are just beginning.Down below, deviation from the rules is punished swiftly andharshly, and Fade doesn't like following orders. At first she thinkshe's crazy, but as death stalks their sanctuary, and it becomes clearthe elders don't always know best, Deuce wonders if Fade might betelling the truth. Her partner confuses her; she's never known a boylike him before, as prone to touching her gently as using his kniveswith feral grace.As Deuce's perception shifts, so does the balance in the constant battle for survival. The mindless Freaks, once considered a threat only due to their sheer numbers, show signs of cunning and strategy... but the elders refuse to heed any warnings. Despite imminent disaster, theenclave puts their faith in strictures and sacrifice instead. No matterhow she tries, Deuce cannot stem the dark tide that carries her far from the only world she's ever known.

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