Review - Quantum Drop by Saci Lloyd

Quantum Drop by Saci Lloyd
Librarything / Goodreads

Genre: Futuristic/Sci-fi(ish) Young Adult
Received for review from publishers

Rating: 4 stars
Pages: 276
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books (UK)

Summary: Anthony Griffin is an ordinary kid caught up in a dangerous world. The boundaries between real and virtual are more and more blurred, and when Anthony’s girlfriend is taken out in a gang hit, he has to venture into the underground world of the Drop to flush out her killer and bring him to justice.

Thoughts: Let me just start off that Quantum Drop was exactly what I want in a YA novel. Saci Lloyd doesn't shy away from real-life issues, she doesn't consider the status quo sacred, and she sure as hell isn't afraid of calling out our species for, well, sucking. I love that, because she's so right, but no one ever seems to want to say it. The fact that she not only does, but puts it into a kick-ass book? Brilliant.

But, I have to admit that Quantum Drop is probably not the book for everyone. If you aren't in the mood for a book that needs your brain to be "on" the whole time (which I totally get, by the way), then wait for a while before you pick up Quantum Drop. Otherwise you just won't enjoy it as much.

Now, apart from Saci Lloyd's oh-so-accurate insights into humanity, I also really enjoyed the setting of Quantum Drop. Anyone who has been round the East End will recognize the familiar-yet-futuristic "Debtbelt". Saci Lloyd has kept the verse just post-modern enough to be recognizable - so much so, I barely felt the sci-element of the book. That said, the characters spend a huge part of the novel in a virtual world known as "the drop" (which, if I had to describe it, I'd liken to The Matrix). Super futuristic stuff that, for some reason, felt totally normal.

The characters in Quantum Drop were complete stand-outs. They aren't the middle-class, worried-about-prom lot that we typically see in YA - instead, they have grown up with the odds stacked against them, and they know it. They are swimming against the tide, trying to do what is right while staying afloat. The main character, Anthony, wants justice for his girlfriend, but he also has a legitimate fear for his life and the life of his family. It's easy to just give up - so when many of the characters do, it's also easy to forgive them. This made Anthony's struggles all the more impressive.

Bottom line? Quantum Drop is one of those books that makes you think (about life, the universe and everything) while telling a hell of a tale along the way. Pick it up if you are looking for something different in your YA.

Review - Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer
Librarything / Goodreads

Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Received for review from publishers

Rating: 3.5 stars
Pages: 400
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Summary: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.


Thoughts:
Things I liked about Cinder:

• It was only loosely based on Cinderella. Cinder wasn’t a “sit back and wait for my fairy godmother” character and actively rebelled against her family.
• The universe had fantastic potential. It was very futuristic – complete with cyborgs, flying vehicles, and aliens on the moon – and yet it also seemed quite historic – with a royal family, a hideous plague, and terrible human rights.
• Prince Kai. I have never been one to swoon over a prince, but this prince? He was everything you could possibly want from a monarch: reluctant to rule but feels obligated to do the best job he can, genuinely cares about his subjects, and has no real prejudices towards people of lower classes. I wholeheartedly approve.

Things that made me roll my eyes:

• The big “mystery”. Mystery… hah! Within about 10 pages I had worked out the book’s big secret – so I spent the rest of the book hoping that someone would wise up and just say it out loud before I killed them all for their stupidity. Unfortunately, is wasn’t revealed until the end of the book – and revealed with dramatic flair it did not deserve.
• Cinder. While she did have quite a bit of gumption, I found her self-loathing for her cyborg nature to be extremely tiresome. I wanted to just slap her and say “I get it, you’ve had a hard knock life, but just accept the fact that you don’t deserve it and DO something about it!” In a way, it was rather like a slave believing that they are property… something I cannot possibly accept in a protagonist, although I am sure it is possible in real life.
• The lunar queen. If one-dimensional were a country, she would be its queen. And, hell, I think she’d enjoy it. Queen Levana was a simple “Big Bad” and absolutely nothing else. Instead of finding her scary, I found her rather cartoonish.
• And, again, the “mystery”. Seriously, this really bugged me. I mean, I get that this book was aimed at teenagers but it wasn’t aimed at oblivious idiots. I mean, c’mon…

In short, Cinder is good. Quite good indeed. But it isn’t the miraculous novel that some reviews have made it out to be. It has significant flaws and is clearly a debut novel. I just hope that Meyer does a better job with the sequel…

Bottom line? Cinder is an enjoyable sci-fi novel with a well-incorporated fairy-tale at its heart. But is it the best thing since sliced bread? No, it is not.

Review - Killbox by Ann Aguirre

Killbox (Sirantha Jax #4) by Ann Aguirre
Librarything / Goodreads

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: 3.5 stars
Pages: 353
Publisher: Ace Books

Summary: Sirantha Jax is a “Jumper,” a woman who possesses the unique genetic makeup needed to navigate faster than light ships through grimspace. With no tolerance for political diplomacy, she quits her ambassador post so she can get back to saving the universe the way she does best—by mouthing off and kicking butt.

And her tactics are needed more than ever. Flesh-eating aliens are attacking stations on the outskirts of space, and for many people, the Conglomerate’s forces are arriving too late to serve and protect them.

Now, Jax must take matters into her own hands by recruiting a militia to defend the frontiers—out of the worst criminals, mercenaries, and raiders that ever traveled through grimspace…

Thoughts: Killbox was… different. More than any of the previous books, Killbox was a war book. March, Jax, Vel, Dina, Constance, Doc – hell, everyone – is at war and there is no time for them to sit about thinking about what they want out of life. There’s a galactic threat on the horizon and selfishness is not the word of the day.

In other words, there was a lot of killing, training and marching in uniforms. Great stuff, in the plotty sense, but I felt as though it was a bit rushed. Months would pass in a couple of sentences and, as a result, it seemed as though Jax wasn’t interacting with certain characters. *cough* Vel. *cough* I know it was necessary in order to cover the various plotlines Aguirre had set out, but that didn’t make it all that enjoyable.

Also, I had issue with the Morgot. For the first 3 books, I considered them rather like Reevers (from Firefly) – pure, unadultered evil with no redeemable qualities. But there is one scene in the book that made me pause and consider think: hey, maybe these guys are open to parlay? And then suddenly the scene was over and my idea was never followed up on. Will it be covered in other books? I doubt it… but I hope so. I can handle pure evil, but I am not OK with simple assumptions about a species!

But on to my real issue with Killbox: March. March. God, I remember the days when he and Jax had me in tears – when just the word “March” made me whimper. Now, when I try to access those feelings… I find I have nothing to give. To be honest, I have grown sick of his man-angst. I am sick of his constant, “Oh Jax, I love you! But now I have to leave you as the fate of the world is in my hands (or so I think).” I get that he is a good guy. I get that he is a good soldier. I still care about him, but I really just want to hit him over the head and tell him to get over himself. Because this misery he insists on putting himself through? It is not good for Jax anymore. He isn’t good for Jax anymore.

Vel, on the other hand? He hasn’t waivered. He stayed true to himself and developed as a character – just as March did – and yet he has never abandoned Jax. Aguirre acknowledges this and, yes, she is clearly a fan of the Vel/Jax relationship… and yet there was a terrible lack of Vel in Killbox. Why, Aguirre, why? *sobs silently*

Bottom line? Killbox is the weakest book in the Jax series – although maybe if all the Jax/March misery had been written out of it, I may have enjoyed it more.

Review - Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre

Doubleblind (Sirantha Jax #3) by Ann Aguirre
Librarything / Goodreads

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: 4.5 stars
Pages: 310
Publisher: Ace Books

Summary: Sirantha Jax isn’t known for diplomatic finesse. As a “Jumper” who navigates ships through grimspace, she’s used to kicking ass first and taking names later—much later. Not exactly the obvious choice to sell the Conglomerate to the Ithtorians, a people whose opinions of humans are as hard as their exoskeletons.

And Ithiss-Tor council meetings aren’t the only place where Ambassador Jax needs to maneuver carefully. Her lover, March, is frozen in permanent “kill” mode, and his hair-trigger threatens to sabotage the talks—not to mention their relationship.

But Jax won’t give up on the man or the mission. With the Outskirts beleaguered by raiders, pirates, and the flesh-eating Morgut, an alliance with Ithiss-Tor may be humanity’s only hope. Which has Jax wondering why a notorious troublemaker like her was given the job…

Thoughts: There were so many things I loved about Doubleblind, I hardly know where to start. While this was an unmistakably Jax book, it was extremely different Aguirre’s previous books. There was less action and a lot more talking. And while that may sound anticlimactic, it was, if anything, even more nerve-wracking than guns-blazing action. Why, you ask? Because it was all politics – old-school, world-saving negotiations with assassination attempts and violent demonstrations. It was The West Wing on crack in space. It was glorious.

And to top it all off, all this glorious political action took place on Ithiss-Tor. When I first read Grimspace, I was rather floored by the entire book… but Vel just knocked my socks off. He only appears in the last, say, 50(?) pages of the book and in that time became one of my very favourite characters. So getting to visit the home-world he left behind? Well, nothing could have made me happier.

In Doubleblind, Aguirre reveals a lot about the Ithiss-Tor, Ithorian culture, and – best of all – Vel’s past. If I hadn’t loved Vel before, Doubleblind would have sealed the deal. He is such a noble, loyal, brilliant individual – and his relationship with Jax is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. He cares about her so deeply, in a way that completely defies traditional values. He’s an alien – an insect-like, long-living, practically Vulcan alien. And yet, I adore him. You will too.

Doubleblind also includes an extremely traumatised March. This is not at all the man we met in Grimspace: he’s senselessly violent and pretty much soulless. Aguirre handled his changed interaction with Jax spectacularly – although, I admit, my attachment to the two of them together began to wane in this book… I’ll just leave it at that.

Bottom line? Best book since Grimspace. Pick up this series if you love 3D characters and complex plots.

Review - Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund

Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund
Librarything / Goodreads

Genre: Science Fiction Young Adult 

Rating: 4.5
Pages: 272

Summary: With a past too terrible to speak of, and a bleak, lonely future ahead of her, Aerin Renning is shocked to find she has earned a place at the most exclusive school in the universe. Aerin excels at Academy 7 in all but debate, where Dane Madousin - son of one of the most powerful men in the Alliance - consistently outtalks her. Fortunately Aerin consistently outwits him at sparring. They are at the top of their class until Dane jeopardizes everything and Aerin is unintentionally dragged down with him. When the pair is given a joint punishment, an unexpected friendship - and romance - begins to form. But Dane and Aerin both harbor dangerous secrets, and the two are linked in ways neither of them could ever have imagined...

Thoughts: There is only one thing I hate about this book: it's too damn short! I could have kept on reading Academy 7 for another 500 pages - it was just that good.

Don't be fooled by the cover: Academy 7 is Science Fiction YA. But like all good Science Fiction it is about so much more than space, it's about character. And even while it is all about character, it's also about politics, and intelligence, and standing up and thinking for yourself. Academy 7 managed to weave a complex world behind the main narrative - a world both believable and intriguing that would have kept me hooked even if I hadn't liked the main story. It's part what makes any book great, but in Academy 7 it is what made it brilliant.

While there was a romance between the two main characters - Aerin and Dane - Academy 7 wasn't about them getting together... it was about them getting over the misery that had been their lives. Both Aerin and Dane reminded me, in a way, of Katniss from The Hunger Games. Neither one of them wanted to open up to each other, but life brought them together to do just that. I love it when characters need to overcome real emotional obstacles... when their bond with another character develops out of the mistrust that everyone feels for strangers. Aerin and Dane were complex individuals, and watching them grow together was just beautiful...

I also loved how intellectual this book was. Academy 7 is an institute that brings together the brightest minds in the galaxy, and it shows. Aerin and Dane are there because of their extraordinary intelligence, and Anne Osterlund lets it shine through the pages. Here's what I mean:

Aerin was reminded frequently over the next two months that Dane was still exasperating: the way he drilled her on the small points of an argument, then turned and argued the flip side against her in class; the way he refused to use certain openings in combat, claiming that to do so went against his sense of moral conduct; the way he managed to let others’ snide remarks slide past him as if they meant nothing. If Aerin had been asked at the end of their second term to describe Dane, the first word she would have used would have been maddening. She would also have added stubborn, intelligent, and, to her surprise, funny. His sense of humor, couched in irony, took her a while to appreciate, but it was also bluntly honest; and, by the start of Academia’s damp season, she found herself looking forward to his unvarnished opinions on every topic from flight paths to Ausyan philosophy.

There were no pedestals in Dane’s world. No crystal vases to be treated with supreme care. No heroes. But there was a constant willingness to take out a topic, test it, shake it apart, mix up the pieces, and test them again.

Perhaps that’s why he spends time with me, Aerin found herself thinking one afternoon as she negotiated the Great Hall’s uneven stairs on her way to report for work. Because I haven’t made up my mind about this part of the universe.

- Chapter 14, Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund

In case you hadn't gathered, I just loved this book. There were a few flaws, mainly due to the short length of the novel. I think Anne Osterlund had enough plot to fill at least 100 more pages and it was a shame to see some pretty key scenes rushed into a few pages. But the somewhat-uneven pacing is not enough to distract from the sheer brilliance of this novel.

Bottom line? Academy 7 is a stunning, emotional, and realistic novel. I adored the characters, the verse, and - hell - even the villains. When I say YA fiction can be astounding, this is the type of novel I'm talking about!

Note: Academy 7 reads as a standalone novel and will likely remain a standalone. Although Anne Osterlund envisioned the book as the first in a trilogy, there aren't any plans to publish any more in this series (although, please, someone tell me I'm wrong about this!). It's depressing when I think about it...

Summer Shorts - Lightspeed Stories: Carrie Vaughn and Kat Howard

Welcome to Summer Shorts, a summer feature of short story/novella reviews, posted every Saturday of July and August, 2011. I am going to try to have a different theme every week - be it featuring a specific anthology, a particular genre, or a great author.

 Last week I reviewed two stories from the infamous anthology Zombies vs. Unicorns, but this week I'm reviewing stories from the fantastic on-line science fiction magazine Lightspeed.

One of the really cool things that Lightspeed offers is a podcast version of their stories.  In other words, audio-stories!  I am not an audiobook fan, but I loved being able to listen to these tales.  They are very well read and really made the stories even more enjoyable.

Amaryllis by Carrie Vaughn

(Standalone science fiction tale that can be read or heard here.)

Thoughts: Amaryllis is simply stunning.  It is everything you could possibly want from a science fiction tale.  It deals with new governments, new ways of thinking, and in this case, new ways of considering the environment.  Amaryllis is set in a world where moderation is key; one where the world had suffered enough from our desire to expand.  And while the control mechanisms placed on people seem outrageous to 21st century eyes, they aren't evil.  In fact, they are purely meant to help.

In terms of characters, Vaughn more than delivers.  The story is narrated by the captain of the Amaryllis ship, a woman who has suffered her whole life because of the thoughtlessness of her mother.  She's strong yet terrified of the establishment... I really grew to care for her, which is more than I can say for a lot of narrators!  The rest of the Amaryllis crew were equally as endearing - especially the sweet, innocent Nina who starts off seeming rather childish but grew on me before the end.

Amaryllis is one of four finalists for Best Short Story in the 2011 Hugo Awards.  Congrats to Vaughn - it is fantastic to see such a deserving story get some official recognition!

Bottom line? Amaryllis is a striking story set in a realistic, somewhat-heart-wrenching universe.  Adoration will ensue. 

Sweet Sixteen by Kat Howard

(Standalone science fiction tale that can be read or heard here.)

Thoughts: I can't say I was over-the-moon about Sweet Sixteen, but it was fairly enjoyable.  The story is set in a world where girls are divided into Tiffanys and Rosalinds and Elizabeths, and given all the characteristics that go along with those names.  Literally given those characteristics, injected with new DNA to make them the ideal Rosalind.

I liked the premise, but I wasn't too keen on the main character.  She was the type of teenager I loathe -whiny and self-centred.  I couldn't see past her to fully sympathise with her situation.  Had Sweet Sixteen been narrated by a different girl, one not so easy to dislike, I might have loved this story.  Alas, we'll never know.

Bottom line?  Kat Howard delivers an interesting universe narrated by a loathsome teenager.  Good but not great.

Check out Lightspeed Magazine for more great science fiction stories - and don't forget to subscribe!

Review - Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre

Wanderlust (Sirantha Jax #2) by Ann Aguirre
Bookdepository / Amazon UK / Amazon US
Librarything / Goodreads

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: 4.5 stars
Pages: 312

Summary: Sirantha Jax is a “Jumper,” a woman who possesses the unique genetic makeup needed to navigate faster than light ships through grimspace. Jax has worked for the Farwan Corporation her entire career. But now the word’s out that the Corp deliberately crashed a passenger ship, and their stranglehold on intergalactic commerce has crumbled—which means that Jax is out of a job.

She’s also broke, due to being declared dead a little prematurely. So when the government asks her to head up a vital diplomatic mission, Jax takes it. Her mandate: journey to the planet Ithiss-Tor and convince them to join the Conglomerate.

But Jax’s payday is light years away. First, she’ll have to contend with Syndicate criminals, a stormy relationship with her pilot, man-eating aliens, and her own grimspace-weakened body. She’ll be lucky just to make it to Ithiss-Tor alive…

Thoughts: Ann Aguirre is one of those authors who can make me cry like a baby, keep me on tenter-hooks during an action sequence, and make me drink coffee at 4am so that I can keep reading. The only reason this book isn't getting 5 stars is because it falls slightly short of it's predecessor Grimspace - but not by much.

Everything I love about science fiction is in this book. The familiar-yet-different worlds, species with bizarre cultures taking the lead - it's like Star Trek meets Firefly meets, well, Ann Aguirre. This woman can write action and drama and romance, all while developing a stunning universe for her characters to play in.  Although there isn't quite as much mind-blowing action and drama in this book (although I don't see how that would have been possible, given how much happened in Grimspace) there's still a whole ton of it. I am constantly amazed by just how much plot Aguirre can pack into the pages!

I loved that Vel, who had a brief but essential part in Grimspace, returned for Wanderlust. He is not just alien in his appearance but in his attitude, and something about that makes me want him to love Jax. If any of you watch The Good Wife, the relationship between Jax and Vel is rather like that of Alicia and Kalinda. Vel is just so otherworldly and aloof, you never know quite how he'll react. But when he does act in Jax's favour? It makes it that much more meaningful.  As for Jax herself, she really grows into herself and her relationship with March in this book. She is one of my very favourite characters - nitty, gritty, kick-ass, and screwed up. And let me just say that the scenes between her and March? They made me cry without making me want to kill either character (quite a tough job!).

Unfortunately, there was one reveal towards the end of the book that had me thinking "seriously?". It was just a bit too cliche and threw me slightly off-kilter for what would have otherwise been a fantastic ending.

Bottom line? A fantastic sequel in a fantastic series.  I'd recommend Ann Aguirre's books to anyone who wants their books both character-driven and plot-driven - Wanderlust has both in spades.

Review - Dark Life by Kat Falls

Dark Life by Kat Falls
Bookdepository / Amazon UK / Amazon US
Librarything / Goodreads

Genre: Young Adult / Science Fiction

Rating: 4.5 stars
Pages: 304

Summary: Ty has lived under the ocean for his entire life. Following global warming and the rise of the seas, his family joined an underwater community in hopes of living in the new frontier of the ocean floor. But When Ty meets Gemma, a girl from "topside", who is searching the seas for her brother, she quickly makes his life very complicated. Together Ty and Gemma face dangerous sea creatures and venture into the frontier town's rough underworld as they search for her missing brother. But the deeper they dig, the more attention they attract, and soon Ty and Gemma find themselves being hunted by a gang of outlaws who roam the underwater territories causing havoc, and who seem to have eerie abilities. But Ty has a secret of his own, living underwater for his entire life has meant he has also developed a "special" power. Can he keep it a secret from Gemma and his family or is it time for him to finally tell everyone the truth?

Thoughts: I adored Dark Life. Lately, I've been reading books that have been on my wishlist for eons and have turned out to be extremely disappointing. (The Body Finder is a fantastic example of a book I was in lust with - and like most superficial relationships, it fell apart upon actually reading it.) So, my high expectations for the Dark Life were worrying.

But Dark Life lived up to every expectation. It's science fiction only, instead of space, we've colonised the ocean. The book follows some sort of apocalyptic disaster - the opening of the novel has Ty swimming around what seemed to be the ruins of New York City. But, society had moved on, and the apparent overthrow of the modern world is old news.

Dark Life has action, cool underwater gadgets, a couple of quasi-paranormal abilities and a dash of romance. All the perfect ingredients for a brilliant YA novel. But what made me love it were the things that you aren't thrown at you. Dark Life deals with some pretty serious social, scientific and political issues without seeming preachy. In fact, they are so subtly handled, they can almost be overlooked in favour of the action.

I love, love, love that. Of course, books which wrap up with a take-away message can be great - but I adore the ones that make you stop and think, whilst gently nudging you in a particular direction. Dark Life is that kind of book.

Bottom line? Faaantastic! Read Dark Life if you are looking for something fun yet thought-provoking. Ooh, it also has a male narrator! Isn't it sad that that is rare enough to warrent excitement?

Review - TimeRiders by Alex Scarrow

TimeRiders by Alex Scarrow
Bookdepository / Amazon UK / Amazon US
Librarything / Goodreads

Rating: 3.5 stars
Pages: 384
Genre: Young Adult (Science Fiction/Time Travel/a couple of zombie-like creatures)
Received for review by Penguin UK

Summary: Liam O'Connor should have died at sea in 1912. Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010. Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2029. Yet moments before death, someone mysteriously appeared and said, 'Take my hand ...'

But Liam, Maddy and Sal aren't rescued. They are recruited by an agency that no one knows exists, with only one purpose - to fix broken history. Because time travel is here, and there are those who would go back in time and change the past. That's why the TimeRiders exist: to protect us. To stop time travel from destroying the world...

Thoughts: This book has two things that usually make me stop reading: short chapters and Nazis. They are serious pet peeves of mine because a) I am capable of an attention span greater than 5 minutes, thank you very much, and b) haven't you heard the war is friggin' over???

And yet... TimeRiders was awesome. Awesome in that kind of action-packed, bad-ass, yes-we-may-kill-off-your-favourite-character sort of way. This book felt like a blockbuster movie – but with a superior script. Alex Scarrow writes action scenes with handful of main characters and ten dozen extras zooming across the page without breaking a sweat – a talent I seriously admire.

Scarrow also created some fantastic villains. I read an interview of his where he described his desire to make 3D characters who – one could argue – were merely misguided. He lived up to his claim in TimeRiders, writing a villain with pure intentions that became twisted by circumstance and insanity. A villain who is trying to save the world, just in a somewhat psychopathic way.  It is a welcome relief from the typical twirling-moustache villain!

However, I found the main characters a bit flat. Although perfectly enjoyable, they were rather secondary to the plot. So much crap happened to them, but there is very little emotional payoff. I also found a couple of the time-travel sequences rather... convenient. The sequences that took place over two times – but appeared in the book simultaneously – felt somewhat contrived. Just one of the many dangers of time-travel, I guess!

 
Bottom line?  TimeRiders is a fun, action-packed, addictive book.  Will likely appeal to teenage boys as well as girls – just don’t expect too much emotional depth.  I think Scarrow is saving it all for the sequel.

Review – Grimspace by Ann Aguirre

Grimspace (Sirantha Jax #1) by Ann Aguirre
Bookdepository / Amazon UK / Amazon US
Librarything / Goodreads

Genre: Science Fiction / Sci-Fi Romance

Rating: 5 stars
Pages: 320

Summary: 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.

Thoughts: I loved Grimspace so damn much, which obviously made this review nearly damn impossible to write!

Let’s start with the lead character, Jax.  Jax is seriously kick-ass, but God, is she far from perfect. We meet her at her lowest: she’s grieving, vaguely suicidal and – unknowingly – a bit spoiled.  Jax is the corporate-gal who needed to lose everything to see what assholes her employers are.  So while she goes through some pretty horrific trauma in Grimspace, it helps her “grow up”.  She doesn’t doesn’t truly change, per say, it’s more like she grows into herself.

It is fabulous to read, because honestly, who doesn’t love some good old-fashioned character development in their fiction. 

Grimspace is filled with non-stop twist and turns – literally.  Space battles, crazy alien planets and new enemies at every port – kicking ass and running like hell.  I am in love with the verse.  I’m also in love with Aguirre’s writing style.  She managed to turn the whole tale around half a dozen times without making the book bi-polar.  In retrospect, it was one of the most coherent novels I’ve read – although it seemed out of control (in a “Dude, that’s crazy awesome” sort of way) while I was reading it. 

I also want to go on a fangirl rant about March, who was one of my all-time favourite male characters.  Ann Aguirre writes what I consider the ideal “bad boy”.  I use that term lightly, because what I actually mean is this:

Bastard. But I don’t mean it. […] I wouldn’t trade March for someone nice. Well, I don’t mean that like it sounds. March is a good man, just not a nice one. Does that even make sense?
Chapter 33 – Grimspace by Ann Aguirre

March is a good man but he can be cruel.  In fact, he is constantly struggling to keep from letting his cruelty take him over.  And that ever present instability?  It is exactly what makes him exactly the kind of hero you love to learn to love.  He isn’t easy and he isn’t kind, but he always has his heart in the right place.  There’s a fine line between a honest and cruel, and Aguirre straddles it perfectly.

Grimspace is labelled “Sci-Fi Romance” by some, and while it has a seriously epic romance… I think I’d keep it off the romance shelf.  Grimspace follows zero romance rules: it does not centre around a single relationship, has a heroine with more than one “tru wuv” and forgoes the whole dual-POV.  And considering the strong, mystery-filled, dangerous world Ann Aguirre creates in Grimspace – I think it would be a shame to read it solely for a romance.


Bottom line? READ THIS BOOK.  It has intergalactic global corporations and human trafficking, lesbian mechanics and scarred strippers, adorable bog aliens and unionised!bounty hunter aliens.  It’s brilliant.

Review - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Amazon UK / Bookdepository / Goodreads / Librarything

Rating: 5/5 stars
Pages: 169

Summary: It’s an ordinary Thursday lunchtime for Arthur Dent until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly afterwards to make way for a new hyperspace bypass and his best friend has just announced that he’s an alien. At this moment, they’re hurtling through space with nothing but their towels and an innocuous-looking book inscribed with the big, friendly words: DON’T PANIC.

The weekend has only just begun…

Thoughts: I had been meaning to read this book for a couple of years, but never got around to getting a copy.  So when a friend finally just gave me a copy for Christmas, I knew I had no reason to wait.

There are so many things about this book that make it a classic.  Besides the humour - which there is plenty of - the social commentary is extraordinarily insightful.  As with the case with a lot of science fiction, the universe provides a new venue for us to examine ourselves.  Adams did the same thing as most sci-fi writers - he just did it with a hell of a lot more wit.

There are so many quotes in this book that deserve a mention - and half of them you probably know without reading the book.  So I thought I would share instead a quote from the letter Adams wrote to his US editor.  It does an excellent job at demonstrating the quality of his humour, his ability to see straight through things to the truth, and also sets up the very British-ness of the book:

There are some changes in the script that simply don't make sense.  Arthur Dent is English, the setting is England, and has been in every single manifestation of HHGG ever. [...] So why suddenly "Newark" instead of "Rickmansworth"? And "Bloomingdales" instead of "Marks and Spencer"?  The fact that Rickmansworth is not within the continent United States doesn't mean that it doesn't exist!  American audiences do not need to feel disturbed by the notion that places do exist outside the US or that people might suddenly refer to them in works of fiction.  [...]  If you feel that referring to "Marks and Spencer" might seriously freak out Americans because they haven't heard of it [...] we could either put warning stickers on the cover ("The text of this book contains references to places and institutions outside the continental United States and may cause offence to people who haven't heard of them") or you could, I suppose, put "Harrods", which most people will have heard of.  Or we could even take the appalling risk of just recklessly mentioning things that people won't have heard of and see if they survive the experience.  They probably will - when people are born they haven't heard of anything or anywhere, but seem to get through the first few years of their lives without ill-effects.

Bottom Line? HHGG is absolutely hysterical.  And like the best humour, it has a very truthful ring to it.  Also, reading it will let you in on all sorts of jokes that you have been missing all these years!

DON'T PANIC about the boring cover! The new re-release is meant to be a DIY book cover.  It is really kinda awesome, as it has a bunch of HHGG stickers to decorate the book with - and whatever you have left over you can paste where you like.  Very very cool.  (Check out the video!)


Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Don't Panic DIY Covers from Crush Design on Vimeo.