by Ann Aguirre
Part of Sirantha Jax
First published 2008
Sirantha Jax wakes up in a jail cell. There was a crash. Everyone else on the ship is dead. She has no memory of what happened. The Corp, the powerful organization that employed her as a navigator, is not inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. Jax carries a rare gene that lets her navigate grimspace, the strange dimension that makes faster-than-light travel possible. That gene makes her valuable. It also makes her a liability the Corp would rather lock away than explain. Before the Corp can decide her fate, a band of rogue fighters breaks her out. The rescue comes with conditions. They need her ability to jump ships through grimspace, and they need her to help them bring down the Corp entirely. Jax has no memory, no allies she chose, and no clear sense of whether she can trust the people who freed her. What she does have is the one thing nobody can take out of her DNA. She has to decide whether that is enough to survive what comes next, and whether the cause she has been handed is worth fighting for.
Genres: science-fiction, dystopia, adventure, action
Vibes: fast-paced, gritty, high-stakes, mysterious, suspenseful
Tropes: amnesia, forced-proximity, found-family, rescue-mission
Setting: grimspace
312 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Ace
Content warnings: death, violence