Wanderlust (Sirantha Jax, Book 2)

Sirantha Jax no longer has a credit to her name. All her personal assets are tied up on the ongoing Farwan financial debacle. When Chancellor Suni Tarn presents Jax with the position of an ambassador, she accepts. The Conglomerate needs an alliance with Ithiss-Tor. It will be up to Ambassador Jax to persuade the Ithtorians to side with them in the coming war. But another faction, the Syndicate, does not want Jax to succeed. After all, war is good for the smuggler's bottom line. Yet Jax still finds herself surprised when her biological mother, Ramona, explains that the Syndicate will kill her if Jax succeeds with her diplomatic mission. Velith Il-Nok, an Ithtorian bounty hunter who has saved her life more than once, accompanies Jax as her cultural liaison. Jax and her crew end up make a few unscheduled stops. They must deal with an alien in labor, a space station overrun with the Morgut (think arachnid and humanoid with a taste for human flesh), and a world in the middle of a clan war...and that is just a sample. During this time Jax picks up a couple of new crew members. Good thing the newbies have some special talents because the crew will need to save themselves, business as usual. ***** This is the second title of the Sirantha Jax series. Once again the author delivers lots of pulse pounding action and a cast of very interesting characters that never let things get boring. Fast paced, nonstop action, this story is hard to put down for any length of time. ***** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Wanderlust is the second book in Ann Aguirre's mesmerizing futuristic series by ACE. Warning: this book is NOT the typical romance. This is because it has a grittiness and realism that makes you feel like you are part of the story. The author writes her characters with care and doesn't try to hide their flaws like most romances would. If you are a reader who enjoys Sci Fic novels with romance this book is a perfect fit for you. I deeply enjoyed this book and thought it well worth the wait and the price. This is because both main characters are deeply wounded. They love each other but the stressful conditions combined with their need to protect their vulnerabilities do not make their relationship cut and dried. So if you enjoy romances that are lighter or looking for a quick summer read, this book may be too dark and emotionally charged for your tastes . Especially since most of the romance simmers beneath the surface. But this book has it all: self-sacrifice, action and heartache. Sirantha is a strong woman with skills that could kill her if she keeps using them. Out of work she agrees to take a diplomatic mission with the man she cares for. But the diplomatic mission is not all that it seems and Sirantha begins to feel that she has been set up to be the `fall guy.' To make matters worse the man that she loves chooses duty over her love. Through this all Sirantha is able to keep her integrity and fight for what she believes in. This book had a lot of emotional upheaval and I found myself getting quite teary-eyed. (This also happened to me in the author's first book.) I really cared about Sirantha and rooted for her. This book has a lot of angst and drama that kept up well into the morning and feeling emotionally satisfied...but wanting more. The only thing is the author left the ending hanging a bit and now I will have to wait again to find out what's coming next! While I don't want the series to end, the suspense is killing me!

Grimspace, the first book in this series, introduces us to Sirantha Jax, nav-star for the Corp who finds herself in a very dangerous situation. Wanderlust picks up immediately where Grimspace left off, after Jax and her crew have brought down the corrupt Corp and exposed the company's dirty little secret: they crashed Jax's ship to prevent a diplomatic conference from succeeding. Unfortunately, Jax doesn't get a chance to rest and recover. After discovering that her horrible ex-husband had cleaned out her bank accounts, Jax takes the only route she can to get herself back on her feet; she takes up the post of ambassador to Ithiss-Tor, a planet unfriendly to the Conglomerate but that would be a necessary ally. And, as usual, Jax ends up embroiled in a much bigger conspiracy, one that threatens to take her life. One thing I love about Aguirre's writing is that it's gritty. Jax does not get an easy ride at all; nothing ever falls into her lap, and she constantly has to work for everything she needs. This could come off as incredibly grim, but thanks to Aguirre's masterful writing, Jax grows so much because of this adversity. A couple of times, I moaned, "oh no!" aloud while reading, but Jax and her crew always manage to think their way out of these situations. The love story between Jax and her pilot, March, steps more toward center stage in this book, and like everything else for poor Jax, it's not an easy ride. They are separated again and again, by bureaucracy, by warfare, by Jax's own fear that she's dying, and by March's violent past. I think they're a great couple in that they balance each other very well, but at the same time, I'm really hoping they'll get some R & R in the next book, because if anyone deserves it, it's these two. Aguirre introduces more fascinating support characters and expands upon Jax's existing crew in this book. Vel, the shapeshifting bounty hunter introduced in Grimspace, is one of my favorites, and I'm fascinating by Jael, the genetically altered mercenary. One thing I love about these books is that Jax obviously can't do everything by herself. She constantly needs the support of her crew, and despite their supporting-character status, Aguirre develops them in such a way that they are tantalizing. We don't know Vel's or Jael's histories, but we really want to know. I'm just as hooked on them as I am on Jax. I definitely recommending reading Wanderlust as soon as is humanly possible. This is some seriously fantastic science fiction.

The Farwan Corporation "Corp" s is dead after the revelation that it deliberately destroyed the ship the Sargasso carrying hundreds of passengers. The Conglomerate rushes in to fill the power vacuum and be in charge of controlling tariffs and jump-traveling voyagers. Sirantha Jax, who played a role in revealing the Corp treachery, is made ambassador to the Ithiss-Tor world where she is to convince the inhabitants known as the "Bugs" to join the Conglomerate. If they fail to do so,, they will be subject to "jumping" bans and a stiff tariff. Jax navigates through several conspiracies and jumps because she contains the J-gene. . She takes on two passengers one being pregnant and near giving birth, which she does in the spaceship. They travel to Emry Station to drop off the new family, but all are dead there; killed by Marguts. They escape the station only to land in the middle of a clan war on Lanchion. Jax and some of her crew escape again, but are kidnapped; her only hope for freedom lies with her and her crew's ingenuity. WANDERLUST is a great space opera starring a crew who looks human, talks human, behaves human; but Jax knows there is a breed on board ( a bio-experimental engineered intelligent being). The other non-human is a "Bug" who acts more human than humans do. The heroine remains brave though a little strapped for cash after losing her job by exposing the Corp's atrocity (the fate of whistleblowers has not changed). Sci fi fans will enjoy her roller coaster thrill ride as the turns, twists, and upside down spins make for an exhilarating outer space voyage. Harriet Klausner

I so wanted this book to rock - after reading initial reviews that talked of Wanderlust being a "tweener" or not as action packed as Grimspace, I was worried. I don't think they were, no disrespect intended, reading the same book. I loved it! Ann Aguirre has a way with her characters that, I can count on my fingers the number of authors who do this, make them "jump" off the page and into action with almost no down time. This story seriously goes from one "holy crap" situation to another. I was hoping this book would have more of the hunter who was sent after Jax to kill her in Grimspace - they ended up saving one another - and in Wanderlust it is no different. Vel is my favorite character. I would read a whole book devoted to him and his planet Ithiss-Tor or the "bugs" as they are sometimes called. I waited for this book hoping it would be as good as I thought it should be, considering who was writing it, and actually it was better then I imagined. So on one hand I am stoked, I wasn't disappointed, and on the other - well, crap, I have to wait for the next book. I don't do spoilers, but there is a relationship in this book that I hope is repaired or helped or something in the next. At least I hope so. Happy reading. JaimeK