Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre

Blue Diablo (Book one of the Corine Solomon Series)
Author: Ann Aguirre
Publisher: ROC (April 2009)
ISBN: 978-0451462640

Corine Solomon had built a nice life for herself in Mexico.  A simple life.  She owns her own shop and had plenty of customers to keep her pantry full and her days occupied.  It was tough getting to this point after what happened the last several years with Chance and she was ready for the slow pace this new life offered. She had covered her tracks well when she left but she had to constantly look over her shoulder, what with all the people that were looking for her and all.  She knew eventually they would find her so she was always ready to move on when they did, vanishing once again, leaving the dust of her past behind her and making a new life in a different place until it all happened again.

Corine has a gift you see, a gift that is coveted by even the most dangerous of people.  She can hold something in her hand and see the history of the object as if the owner had left a recording for her to find.  Her gift is a rare one at that and not given to her by birth either.  It was given to her by her mother on the eve of her death and because of this she is left with scars on her hands every time she “handles” an object.  Her scars run deeper then just what you can see on the palms of her hands though, her deepest scars come from her past, Chance, her manager, her lover.

She and Chance had one hell of a go, but he was no good for her and as their relationship approached it’s end it was more and more obvious just how much she had to go.  Out of all the people out looking for her she thought for sure that he would be the one sure to find her and she regretted the day he did.  After eighteen months of living at this slow pace that’s exactly what happened.

When Chance arrives at her shop and presents her with a small, pewter, Buddha figurine, a figurine she instantly recognizes as Yi-Min-Chin’s, Chance’s mother, her simple life comes to an abrupt end and what lies before her will test her will and determination unlike any case she and Chance had ever worked on in the past.  Although she has always felt she was nothing more then a tool for Chance to use at his own discretion, she has no choice but to accompany him on his quest to find his mother for she had grown quite fond of Min during her relationship with Chance. She cared for Min the way a daughter cares for her own mother and couldn’t bare to know that something happened and she did nothing to find her and prevent it, or at least find out what or who was responsible.

In Corine Solomon Ann has once again created a strong yet reluctant female character.  One that is constantly battling her own temptations, as well as the many obstacles Ann throws at her in her quest to find out what has happened to Min. Ann has developed a rich character pool in Blue Diablo and wisps the reader right along as each obstacle presents a new and more difficult one.

Written in first person Blue Diablo gives us a unique perspective on the events as they unfold for our characters.  We can actually feel the pain they experience as they over come each obstacle in search of the answers they so desperately need to find. We feel Corine’s battles with her own temptations and desires.  There is no sex in this book, but the book is rife with sexual tension as Corine battles her own lust for her ex and a particularly tasty Texas cop. Can’t believe I used that phrase to describe him but hey, those are Corine’s thoughts and Ann does a wonderful job of getting them across to the reader.

Other then some Simon R. Green and a few of his Nightside Series books, I don’t have much experience with the urban fantasy genre.  Once again though Ann has hooked me into a genre that I can’t seem to get enough of. Ann does a wonderful job in Blue Diablo and I for one look forward to Hell Fire, book two of the Corine Solomon Series.  Ann’s track record for developing strong female characters has made her a top notch author in my book and she can’t quite produce them quick enough for me.

Current books that reside on our nightstand and titles you will be seeing reviews of in the next few weeks are:

• The Choice by Nicholas Sparks (My wife and I’s book of the month for April)
• Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre (The signed copy I won through SciFiChick)
• The Family Trade by Charles Stross (Fantasy book by the great SciFi Author)
• Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre (Book two of the Sirantha Jax Series)

Anxiously awaiting in the mail:

• The Edge of the World by Kevin J Anderson (Book one of the Terra Incognita Series)

Working on the Front with the Robot Army:

• Moxyland by Lauren Buekes (Due out September 1st in the US-review up by mid August)
• Slights by Kaaron Warren (Due out September 1st in the US-review up by mid August)

Grimspace by Ann Aguirre

Author: Ann Aguirre
Publisher: Ace (February 2008)
ISBN: 978-0-441-015999-3

Sirantha Jax was a highly decorated navigator for the Farwan Corporation.  A Jumper.  A carrier of a rare gene known as the J-Gene that allows jumpers to navigate the vast expansion between worlds known as grimspace.  Jumpers have a limited amount of jumps in them, each one whittling away at their life expectancy and Jax has made more jumps and discovered more worlds then any one navigator in history.  She was a virtual celebrity, she was happy, in love and about to take a much needed leave when she was recruited to fly a passenger ship to deliver delegates from across the universe to a summit on Matins IV.  It should have been a quick out and back and she and her lover and pilot, Kai, could get back to their much needed R&R.

When she wakes up in a corp psychiatric facility on Perlas Station weeks later she discovers that she is the only survivor of the passenger ship, the Sargasso.  Having no memory of the events that caused the accident, only bearing the scars, both physical and mental she is tortured and undergoes dream therapy at the hands of Newel, a corp doctor.  When she is almost convinced that she herself is at fault for the crash, a small band of unlikely mercenaries break her out and set her and the crew of the cutter ship Svetlana’s Folly on a path that will change the entire universe.  As she confronts her fears of the tragedy and makes the jump that she fears might be her last, she sets in motion a chain of events that will force her to let go of the past and open herself up to a future she never thought she would have.

Ann Aguirre has created a richly diverse universe in Grimpspace.  The first of the Jax Series,  Grimspace is my first foray into Science Fiction Romance and I’m glad I was introduced to this sub genre by Ann.  The world creation is so beautifully written that you can smell the stench of the slums of New Terra, and experience what it must be like to stand beneath the sunless poison atmosphere of Gehenna.  The characters are magnificently thought out and the interactions between them flow effortlessly, especially the interactions between Jax and her new pilot March.  The societies, cast systems, and races  are beautifully laid out for the reader and not overdone, as many science fiction pieces in alternate verses can be.  The action is intense and flows quickly from one situation to the next.  The book is written in first person and the time you spend wrapped inside Sirantha’s head gives you a connection to her unlike any I have felt with characters in other books.  Grimspace is quick and fun to read.  The chapters are short which makes the book seem to fly by.  You keep turning page after page and reading chapter after chapter because each chapter leaves you hanging on for the next, and it wastes no time getting right to it.

I enjoyed reading Grimspace so much that immediately after I finished the last sentence I was on the phone with Barnes & Noble making sure they had a copy of Wanderlust, the second in the series.  I highly recommend this book, and I can’t wait to read about the further adventures of Jax, March and the rest of the gang.

Grimspace (Sirantha Jax, Book 1)