Grimspace

WARNING! There are a few spoilers here and there. I tried to keep it to a minimum.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, it was paced a bit oddly at times, but overall it was well-written with characters that piqued my interest throughout. Aguirre seems to have good hold of her characters, keeping their personalities well intact while tossing interesting twists into the story. I like that Jax was more than just a gutsy, headstrong woman - she was more than that and it kept you wondering where her story would lead.

Aguirre also did fantastically with the side characters, she made them characters who you loved and wanted to know more about. Doc Saul never ceased to be interesting, Dina is wonderfully gritty and March was a great example of a good male lead.

I found her way of individualizing each of the characters by making them have their own unique personalities and giving you reasons to like or dislike them in a more natural way was nice. For example, Loras seemed to be a bit of an enigma. You wanted to pity him and his existence given what was forced on his people. But then, Jax gave him a new reason to exist, she gave him a choice and he chose to be a white knight of sorts. He still made a sacrifice, but it was not simply to protect Jax - it was because he did what he wanted to do.

And then there are characters like Doc Saul. He's a pretty interesting guy, he comes off as all about the science. All about learning what he can learn. But under all that you can see he truly cares about everyone in the group. He is far more than he puts himself out there to be, and it makes me want to continue the story so I can discover more about him.

I loved how the sex scenes did not overpower the storyline, which can often happen with the genre of romantic novels. No matter if it's sci-fi, fantasy, etc. It did not appear at all to be the focal point of the story, which was refreshing. Yes it occurred, but it was never over done. It never overtook a moment in the story. You can go through most of the novel without encountering it and even when it comes about it feels far more naturally placed that a lot in it's genre.

I have all intents to continue with this book series, even if the first was simply for a book club. I am ever curious to know what lies ahead for Jax and the gang; as well as what is to come for the world Aguirre created with such a secret being revealed to the masses. What will the Farwan Corp do to save face? What can they do, really?

(After some thinking, I decided to add a little more to this review about my overall opinion of some of the characters and put forth some more detail. With as few spoiler-y comments as I can manage.)