Futuristic tale by Ann Aguirre, and sequel to Grimspace. Sirantha is broke, and has no job. So, she agrees to be the job of Ambassador to the world of Ithess-Tor, the homeworld of bounty hunter, Vel. But, there are factions that don't want an Alliance with a world of bug-like aliens. So, Sirantha is kept busy, trying to get to her destination in one peice, trying to find out why her health is poor, and doing a lot of self-examination. She is joined by her crew from "Grimspace," and some others. I enjoyed the book. Sirantha is kick-ass, but still insecure about who she is, and who she wants to be. The book leaves me wanting to go out and buy "Double Bind," right away. Good story.
Second in series about a "jumper"- who can take a spaceship through grimspace- a much faster way to travel. Sirantha Jax was freed from unjust imprisonment in book 1, and in book 2 is cleared and named ambassador to a planet which is vital to the federation of planets in preventing a takeover. This is like an adult Star Wars, with a likeable heroine, some romance and sex, lots of aliens and fighting. Good fun.
Jax as a weak, scared, little thing for most of this book is really annoying me. Couldn't she care for others and be concerned over their well beings like she wants to while still being the strong little spit fire she was in the first book? She isn't even sarcastic or humorous in her internal dialogue anymore. It's all self pity and fear. It seems like she spends a majority of the book allowing others to make decisions for her while she hides away from everyone else. This personality shift of hers also leads to all sorts of problems with her and March's relationship which made me sad.
It's also weird that this book seems to have nothing to do much with the proposed plot from the books description. The majority of the book is spent on Lanchion fighting the Clan war and dealing with the Syndicate instead of going on to Ithiss-Tor for her diplomatic mission. The action though was written extremely well with tons of suspense and assures the reader that no character is safe from injury like one would expect.
The secondary characters in this book are what I really adore. Doc, Dina, Vel, and Jael shine. They each have such interesting personalities, quirks, and actions that I can't wait for them to join a scene. Dina and Jax's back and forth conversations are the only thing assuring me that there is still something humorous in Jax's personality.
All in all I really enjoyed it for the crazy amounts of action and the twists in characters towards the end, and read it straight through in a day! I couldn't put it down and now can't wait to get my hands on the last book Doubleblind especially since this book has no real ending what so ever!
