Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre
Release date: 26 August 2008 : Preorder WANDERLUST!

The Fangirl’s Rating: A+

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 bastard 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.

Wanderlust will be released on August 26, a little over a week from now, and you can preorder it on Amazon now. I definitely recommending reading Wanderlust as soon as is humanly possible. This is some seriously fantastic science fiction.

Comics2Film has a deleted scene from Iron Man, featuring Tony’s first excuse for taking his suit on a jaunt to Afghanistan. Spoilers after the jump.

(more…)

Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
Buy It Now

The Fangirl’s Rating: A

If you haven’t picked up this book yet, go get it. Right now. Shut down your computer, grab your keys, and RUN to the nearest bookstore. I’ll wait.

…

Got it? Okay, let’s get started.

Sirantha Jax is a jumper, a human who possesses the J-gene which gives her the ability to navigate grimspace, an alternate dimension that can be used to travel enormous distances in a short span of time. She was the Corp’s star jumper until her ship crashed mysteriously, killing her pilot/lover and a whole lot of diplomats. The Corp, a galaxy-wide organization with its fingers in all aspects of trade and commerce, is determined to break Jax’s mind, and she finds herself taking the only avenue of escape available to her: being kidnapped. March, a hard-ass with unusual mental powers, and his crew have a purpose in mind for Jax, but they find themselves sucked into a much bigger conspiracy, one that will affect their whole civilization.

I won an ARC of Wanderlust, the sequel to this book, on Smart Bitches and since I couldn’t review a sequel without reading the first, I ran out and bought Grimspace. And it’s one of the best books I’ve read in ages. It’s written in first-person, present-tense, which is usually the bane of my reading existence, but Aguirre’s writing style and the fluidity of Jax’s narration were so masterfully handled that after a while, I completely stopped noticing the tense and got sucked into the story.

The characters, particularly Jax and March, are fleshed out and refreshingly flawed. I love that, at one point, Jax cuts and runs instead of playing the hero. That made her more realistic to me than anything else; she’s selfish and scared and more than a little screwed up, and she’s incredibly likable because of that. The story itself is reminiscent of Joss Whedon’s Serenity, with the ragtag bunch of reluctant heroes fighting the huge, faceless establishment. The plot is very well-developed and interesting, and the world… well, galaxy, really, is intricately constructed. I love a well-built world, and this one, with its roots in Old Terra, definitely satisfies.

I seriously can’t recommend this book enough, whether you’re a fan of futuristic romance or straight science fiction. The romance isn’t played too heavily, and the book easily jumps between the two genres. The sequel, Wanderlust, is scheduled to be released August 26, 2008. If you still haven’t run out and bought this book yet, go now. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Free e-books! YAY! Tor.com is giving away a bunch of e-books, but they’re only free through Sunday, July 27th. So crank up your download manager and go book shopping!

MAN, I’ve got to update this more often. This month is kicking my ass, though; I’m taking a really awesome class on ethnicity and race in comics/graphic novels, but the reading is intense and I’ve got to write three papers in five weeks. Urk. Time for a media dump!

I’ve been to the movies a bit lately. WALL-E is beautiful and sweet and charming without being cloying. Kung Fu Panda was hilarious and touching and gorgeously animated. I… er, saw Iron Man again. For the fifth time. I am a fangirl, what can I say? I’ll probably see The Dark Knight on Thursday, and I’m definitely seeing The X-Files: I Want To Believe (or as it should be titled, The X-Files: Incredibly Clunky Subtitle) on Friday. Hellboy is here from Netflix, waiting for me to watch it so I can eventually see Hellboy II: The Golden Army. I want to see Tropic Thunder mainly for Robert Downey, Jr.

The movie industry is out to torture my wallet this summer, seriously.

I’ve been reading lots of comics for class. If you’re looking for some good indie comics, try the Love & Rockets series by the Hernandez brothers. I read Human Diastrophism and Perla La Loca over the weekend, and both are very well-written with interesting artwork. Next up on the comics reading list is four volumes of Lucifer’s Garden of Verses by Lance Tooks and the rest of Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse. In non-class-related reading, I’m in the middle of The Hippopotamus Pool by Elizabeth Peters. Amelia Peabody = ♥

In video game news, I’m playing Dark Cloud 2 whenever I have a free minute. I love the combination of RPG, dungeon fighter, and worldbuilder, and the animation–particularly the environments–is gorgeous.

So… I’ve wasted enough time that should be used for paper-writing. Well, I’ve wasted enough time blogging. Now I should waste some more time making icons…

I love the Amelia Peabody mysteries. They play upon my love for strong female leads, Egyptology, romance, and a good mystery. I’ve had fun reading all of the books, but this one? Is probably my favorite since Crocodile on the Sandbank.

Yet another enemy is after the Peabody-Emersons, this time to discover the way to the hidden city they found in book 6, The Last Camel Died At Noon. Unfortunately, Emerson is kidnapped and subsequently loses his memory, and aside from trying to discover who is attempting to harm them, Amelia must now try to jog her husband’s memory, which conveniently disappeared back to the time just before they met.

While the amnesia plot device can be rather hackneyed, Peters uses it to revitalize the relationship between Amelia and Emerson. It is at the same time funny and frustrating, particularly for poor Amelia, who must put up with Emerson as he was before she… er, tamed him.

The mystery itself was a delight. I found myself jumping back and forth between suspects, and when all was revealed at the end, I gasped out loud.

Really, I can’t recommend this series highly enough. It’s become my mission in life to convert people to the Way of Amelia Peabody. In the last two weeks, I’ve converted three people. I’m building up good book karma, you see. Help me build up more karma? :D Seriously, if you get a chance, check out this series. You won’t regret it.

In a surprising bit of awesomeness, I WON SOMETHING! YAY! This is cool because I don’t think I’ve won anything awesome since those New Kids On The Block tickets when I was a kid. :D

I won a copy of Ann Aguirre’s Wanderlust, so keep your eyes peeled for a review!

Also keep your eyes peeled for a new feature here at The Discriminating Fangirl: The Poor Woman’s Book Review, for poor suckers like me who do most of their book buying at used bookstores. The first installment will be a review of Elizabeth Peters’s Amelia Peabody Mysteries, books 1 through 7.

There’s no better way to start the morning off right than with some good linkage.

First up: Paperback Writer posts Skiffy Ten, ten links about writing science fiction.

I’m somewhat of a stilted writer. I get ideas, I think about said ideas, and then sometimes I write them down, but I hardly ever bring them to fruition. This is a sucky writing habit, and it’s one I’m working at changing (I actually finished some poems this summer! Woo!). But, er, anyway, most of what I think about writing falls under the umbrella of speculative fiction, and PBW’s links are extremely helpful for anyone interested in dipping their toes (or diving headfirst into) the world of spec fic. My favorite links on this page are Bruce Sterling’s lexicon for SF writing workshops and China Miéville’s short essay on world building.

Which reminds me, I really should re-compile my list of world building resources and post it here.

Next! New promo image from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Pardon me for a moment, I need to drool over Hugh Jackman’s biceps and shoulders.

…Okay, I’m good. I’m digging all of the sexy shots of Wolvie, don’t get me wrong. I love the fangirl fanservice, but I keep hoping for official shots of the other characters. I want to see Liev Schrieber decked out as Sabretooth. That not-Native-American woman as Silver Fox. That kid from Friday Night Lights as Gambit. Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, for god’s sake!

C’mon, Fox, toss us a little more than just Jackman in a wifebeater. Though I in no way object to tossing us more Jackman in a wifebeater along the way.

And in very old news, Tom Cruise was approached a few years ago to play Tony Stark in a version of Iron Man that thankfully crashed and burned. Oh dear GOD, can you imagine how horrible that would have been? [clings to Robert Downey, Jr.]

I’m taking a summer class on multi-cultural comics, and that (along with a rather heated discussion in a children’s lit class last spring) got me thinking about labels for this particular form of media.

Do we call ‘em comics or graphic novels?

When I was first introduced to the concept of graphic novels, the term was used to refer to collected comics. Marvel takes six or so issues of X-Men, binds them together, and voilà! A graphic novel. Or a trade paperback. But it’s still comics.

So what the heck do we call this stuff?

Wikipedia defines a graphic novel as “a type of comic book, usually with a lengthy and complex storyline similar to those of novels, and often aimed at mature audiences.” The problem with this definition is that many comic books (single issue-based magazines with sequential art-based storylines) often have lengthy and complex plots. Hell, anyone who’s spent a year reading the X-Men comics can tell you that the plotlines are complex sometimes to the point of obscurity. Wikipedia acknowledges the mutability of the term “graphic novel” and also brings up a point that I think is incredibly important.

Some people use the term “graphic novel” to try to set apart certain titles on the basis of so-called artistic value. Now, this is a slippery slope on the best of days. Artistic value is incredibly subjective; each person is going to have a different view of what defines art. Remember that guy at the museum, bitching about Jackson Pollock? “My three-year-old could make that!” Or the woman who turns her nose up at anything that isn’t modern, because it’s passé?

Though I often use the term, it feels to me that many people do call ‘em graphic novels out of a sense of snobbery. “I don’t read comics. They’re for basement-dwelling fanboys. I read graphic novels.” Gee, you think that term might have been invented by publishers who were just dying to sell more comics, but wanted to paint on a veneer of respectability? Really, whatever the subject matter, it’s the same thing. It’s sequential art. Words and images juxtaposed to create a story. As with any storytelling form, there is an enormous variety of content, and each person is responsible for deciding what floats their boat, what’s valuable to them as a reader. Is it high art? Is it low art?

Who the hell cares? It’s all comics.

For further reading:

• Neil Gaiman’s thoughts on the matter. (scroll a bit to get to the question about comics v. graphic novels)
• Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud

Some recommended comics/graphic novels/whatever the heck you want to call them:

• Bill Willingham’s Fables series
• Maus by Art Spiegelman
• Wolverine: Weapon X by Barry Windsor Smith

Also check out my Comics/Graphic Narrative shelf on my GoodReads profile. Graphic narrative! Ooh, how wanky! ;)

Succubus On Top by Richelle Mead

Wow. I really liked the first book in this series, Succubus Blues, but I didn’t expect this one to exceed the first. Succubus On Top is great. It’s funny, it’s sexy, it’s a good mystery, the characters are very likable… I can’t praise this book enough.

We first met Georgina Kincaid, a succubus living in Seattle, in Succubus Blues. Aside from being a temptress employed by Hell, Georgie is an assistant manager at a local bookstore. In this book, she meets up with a very old friend, an incubus she tutored in the ways of seduction a few centuries ago, and she has to figure out what kind of strange drug that’s messing up her mortal friends’ lives.

I think it’s the cast of characters that keeps me hooked on Richelle Mead’s books. Georgina is beautifully created; she’s interesting, funny, and realistically flawed. Her fellow employees of the dark are fantastic supporting characters, from Cody and Peter, the cheerful vampires, to her archdemon boss, Jerome, who looks strangely like John Cusack. I’m really fascinated by Carter, the angel who is, strangely enough, Jerome’s best friend. Aside from the fact that he’s an angel who could double as a grunge kid, there’s just so much under the surface.

And then there’s Seth, Georgina’s mortal, novelist boyfriend. I’m really not fond of novel boyfriends who are just so perfect, but Seth… I want Seth for myself. He’s incredibly smart, creative, witty… I really love the tension that Mead sets up between Georgie and Seth. As a succubus, Georgina can’t have sex with or even kiss Seth deeply without sucking away his life energy. I get the feeling this series of books is going to deal a LOT with how they can maintain their relationship while resisting the urge to jump each other’s bones.

The mystery itself is pretty good, better than the first. The ending feels a bit rushed, but that’s forgivable. Now… to figure out how I’m going to make it to October 2008, when the next book comes out.