Doubleblind

Sirantha Jax is feeling the pressure - as a jumper, the urge to dive headlong into grimspace (yet again) is stronger than ever but here she is, traveling to Ithiss-Tor as an ambassador for the Conglomerate. In the wake of the Farwan Corporation's collapse, the Conglomerate is still struggling to keep citizens safe in the face of the mafia-esque Syndicate subtly flexing their muscles and the Morgut's increasingly frequent fatal attacks. Jax isn't necessarily ambassador material, but since she's probably the only human ever to become friends with an Ithorian-turned-bounty hunter, Vel, she's the best mankind has to offer. And how scary is that? As ambassador, she is charged with creating an alliance with the Ithorians 'bugs' since they are show more essentially the only civilization ever to have defeated the Morgut. The Ithorians however, distrust and loath humans: seeing them as inferior, weak beings. They even think Vel somewhat defective for leaving their planet to live among humans. Lucky for Jax however, he's got her back and is there to help her navigate the political doublespeak and intricate Ithorian customs.Not only is Jax having to tread lightly with the Ithorians - she's the kind to shoot first, blow up the planet, salt it, and then, ask questions later - she has to figure out a way to help her lover March come out of his permanent 'kill' mode. The least touch or perceived threat (real or imagined) results in him literally going berserk on anyone and everyone. Worst of all, even though he remembers loving Jax, he can't figure out why he ever did and can see no future whatsoever with the feisty jumper. But Jax isn't giving up on him and will try to do everything in her power to bring the old, uber-conscientious March back.Whoa.I'm still reeling over this series - Grimspace and Wanderlust have to be two of my best discoveries from the past year and Doubleblind did not disappoint. I'm the first to admit that there's plenty going on in these books but Ann Aguirre has this masterful ability of being able to connect multiple cultures and characters flawlessly that you have to just simply sit back and trust her to take you where you need to go. I cannot say how much I love Jax. And March. And Vel. Who wouldn't love somebody with a pack as bottomless as Mary Poppins' bag, that is, if Mary Poppins carried shock guns, all weather jackets, transmission scramblers, and sundry computer hacking materials. Handy to have when you're on an alien planet full of bugs wanting to kill you.Doubleblind distinctly departs from the non-stop action formula present in the previous two Jax books with spectacular results. Essentially a character-driven novel, we are truly able to see how much Jax has grown over time. Nothing is so satisfying as that. Two books ago there is no way she would have been able to complete a mission as ambassador, let alone one as delicate in nature as this one. Jax herself understands the irony of her situation and let's just say, she's feeling the strain. "I know; it's crazy for me to be the voice of reason, the prudent one, but that's the hat I'm wearing right now, and let me tell you, it's tight across the brim."After facing some rough make-or-break situations, Jax has learned the value of patience, listening to those around her, and not always going off half-cocked. Fun that, but not always effective. Much of this change has to be the direct result of her time spent primarily with March and secondly with Vel. Vel has that alien viewpoint which has caused Jax to look at the effect of her choices in a new light - she's still paranoid and a smart-mouth, but she's learned how to control it in her favor. Furthermore, March used to be the one who had to wait patiently for Jax and now she is the one making sure March knows she'll never give up on him - a monstrous task since we always knew the man was crazy but now, he's downright off his rocker. In Doubleblind, Jax proves she is more than capable of subtly as well as a respectable right hook and I'm just not sure I can wait until next year for her next adventures in the upcoming Killbox (promising title, don't you think?). show less

There is no better description for this series than 'addictive'.

Part of it comes from the habit the author has of ending each book in a cliffhanger, which makes me very happy to be in possession of all six volumes, so I will not have to endure the wait for the next installment as it must have happened for those poor souls who discovered the series as it was being written.

But the major attraction comes from the characters and the stories: both become more complex and layered with each new book, and so does the universe that acts as a backdrop. The stakes get higher and higher and Jax finds herself torn between public duties and responsibilities on one side and private concerns on the other, while her personality keeps evolving – not show more without many "growing pains".

An added bonus came from the descriptions of the Ithtorrian culture, that were done quite well and without info-dumps. Vel's character gained so many facets and so many shades that I felt myself falling in love with him - his is the best supporting role in the whole saga.

Jax is also changing so much, and doing it in small, incremental steps that nevertheless manage to transform her in a huge way, both publicly and personally and the overall situation with the Morgut threat is also moving forward in such a way that I can actually perceive the tense, suspenseful music in the background...

Hook, line and sinker – that's me. show less

*No spoilers. Just a lot of ranting.


It was with great elation that I started this book, as I had been slowly falling in love with the series. It was with great trepidation that I ended this book, as it was a huge departure from that which I had become accustomed to in the previous 2 installments. I feared the series had lost its “IT” factor and worried that what I had come to love, was over.

Here’s the thingy: in the first couple of books, Jax has been a badass with little to no regard for others (though we all know that bitch has a heart of gold). In this book, she was appointed as an ambassador and it required her to tone it all down, be respectful, and worst of all – act acquiescently (the horror). It went against all of my show more Jax grains! I hated her “bowing down” to everyone and everything, so to speak. I wanted her to say, “I’m Sirantha Jax and I have had enough”, then roundhouse kick someone in the face and blow the place to smithereens. I wanted that early in the book. Instead, there was a lot of politics, conversation, waiting around, (snoring, on my part), and prostrating. It was boring and infuriating. There were emotional developments, yes. There was character growth, yes. There were very touching scenes and the interaction with the Ithtorians had its moments, but overall, it was a snooze. It’s saving grace? Vel… Sweet, polite, endearing Vel. I’ll say no more on that.

I love me some Vel. LOOOVE me some Vel - shiny, hard, chitin and all. Thankfully, Doubleblind had a lot of Vel time. I liked it if only because it provided major growth between Jax and Vel. There were superbly poignant moments between them that left me achy in all the right places (my heart, you harlots).

I didn’t understand why there was so much reference to that one Ithtorian, hereby renamed “What’s-his-chitin?”, as I can’t remember his actual name. You know, the young “handsome” one that had a hard-on for Jax? Why beat that hard-on over the head so much if nothing was to ever come of it? It was just a whole lotta nothin.

Oh and how about the shitbomb that was the Jael twist? Total BS! How do you take an awesome character who provided a lot of the little bit of good in the book and make him into a humongo asshole who sells errrybody out? No fair!

Lastly, if ONE more person performed a frikkin WA, I woulda plucked my eyes out.


Moving on - am I the only who is SO over March and his issues? Somebody get this dude a Pretty Robotics Therapist stat. The melodramatic nonsense between Jax and March is suffocating. It is the one thing that I cannot stand about these books. I get that the author wants to create conflict between them, but it’s so frikkin annoying. I think Jax attributes way too many good qualities to March. I don’t think he’s all that great and he needs to get him some Xanax paste or somethin’ and tone it down. He’s painted as this great humanitarian who is brimming with unseen danger and truthfully, I don’t buy it. To me, he comes off as a whiny, immature adolescent. Shut up March and get it together!

So, with all of this being said, did I read the next book? You bet your ass I did. I love this world Aguirre has built and I wasn’t to be deterred by one mediocre book. Keep reading - it gets oh, so much better. =D show less

This is book three in the Sirantha Jax series. Sirantha Jax, a Jumper, is sent to Ithiss-Tor to broker an alliance between the Ithtorians and a human Conglomerate. The people-eating Morgut are attacking human outposts, and the Conglomerate thinks the Ithtorians can intimidate the Morgut out of attacking. However, not all Ithtorian leadership is on board. Meanwhile, the criminal Syndicate and the disgraced megacorp Farwan are trying to take advantage of the political situation. Jax also needs to win back her lover, March, who has detached himself from feeling anything.

For such vivid characters in earlier books, Doc Saul and Hit are given small roles that left me wondering if there could be more involvement with them.

I wasn't super stoked show more by the interludes from the press. Since we're cooped up on the planet, it's nice to know what's going on out there, but the articles felt a bit scattered to me. The end felt a bit cliffhanger and unexpected..

Jax, March, Constance, and especially Vel have come a long way since the first book. They have suffered and laughed together, and their trials have made their relationships deeper. Jax continues to process her grief regarding her lost love, Kai, and it�Ûªs good to see her less tangled up about it, even if she has to go through a lot of pain to do so. She also struggles to process her new responsibilities without going crazy or becoming someone she can‰Ûªt bear to be around. She has to make some choices she feels awful about in which she would have decided differently one book ago or at the beginning of the saga.

There‰Ûªs action with the politics, for those who would worry about a book about diplomacy dragging. We learn lots about the Ithtorian world, which feels richer than any other place we‰Ûªve been. The culture is sufficiently alien that I had to think about the customs, but civilized so I could keep track of secondary characters easily.

This is not a standalone book. Reading the previous books gave me a richer experience with the characters, not just the plot background. I'd advise reading Grimspace and Wanderlust first. show less

Man. I really... Man. One thing that sucks about my having worked on political campaigns is that I am annoyed even more than the average person by political shit that does not ring true. And this shit just absolutely does not ring true. Like, on a basic level. Book one of this series is like the original Star Wars movies, and this one is like the prequels. And Aguirre found a kind of silly way to replicate the romantic relationship in book one here, and in doing so kind of belittled the effects of PTSD.

There are also scenes that take place in, like, the comments on a message board, and while I get what Aguirre was going for, they really fell flat. Ditto the news interviews. Ditto the journal entries of the woman who owned Jax's AI show more assistant before her.

There is also a twist in this book re: the AI assistant that is so obvious to the reader it makes Jax and Vel, her brilliant alien best friend, seem dumb as fuck.

Oh. Man. Another thing. a big deal is made, twice early in the book, about how bad these aliens think humans smell. But at the end of the book, when several humans dress up as aliens (it wasn't as dumb as it sounds, but it came close to being), the smell thing does not come into play. And it should have done. I mean. First of all, three times makes a pattern. But also, why set that shit up if it's not going to come back into play later on? And that's a problem I've had with all of Aguirre's writing, including [b:Bronze Gods|15808271|Bronze Gods (Apparatus Infernum, #1)|A.A. Aguirre|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352856158s/15808271.jpg|18128401], which she co-wrote with her husband. She does not follow through on things she has promised her audience. I'm not sure how something like this can even happen. It seems so obvious.

Things I do like: There is a major black character (whose skin color is described in ways that include neither chocolate nor coffee with a specific amount of cream in it), and a lesbian couple is at the center of this story. The bad-ass mechanic is a lesbian princess whose entire family was killed in a coup. Fully half of the main cast is female. The big bad guy is a woman. And as I've said before, no one writes action better than Aguirre. The problem is that most writers write everything else better than her.

I will read the last three books in this series, but I will take a break before doing so, because I'm frustrated. show less

The premise: Sirantha Jax hasn't always been known for putting others before herself, but as an ambassador to the Ithorian people, she needs all the help she can get. The Conglomerate is falling apart thanks various criminal organizations, and that doesn't include the Morgut, who've started attacking human outposts in earnest and leaving no survivors. Jax needs to convince the Ithorians to join the Conglomerate, because the Ithorians are the only race the Morgut respects and fears. But it's not easy: Ithorians can't stand humans, and Jax's companions aren't making her job that much easier, especially her lover March, who's stuck in kill mode after returning from a very bloody war, a mode that could destroy Jax's mission, or even take show more her life.

My Rating

Must Have: if you're already a fan of this series, just camp outside of the bookstore the morning of 9/29 and get it. Read it. Be happy. I think it's the best book in the series so far, and that's saying something since the first book, Grimspace, was so damn amazing. For those of you who haven't checked out Aguirre's space opera/romance, here's who needs to pay attention: this series is a MUST for readers of science fiction romance, but if you're a fan of space opera and don't mind a little romance? This is a must. Aguirre's writing is smooth, enjoyable, and a really fast read without her prose being light. Does that make sense? The prose has no pretensions (which is impressive, as it's written in first-person-present tense) and Aguirre has no trouble giving the reader the details they needs. Its fulfilling on an emotional and story level, and the world-building really isn't too shabby either. Sure, the world-building of these books embraces the type of space opera we see in shows like Firefly and Farscape, but those are two great shows, and that smooth transition is what makes these books come to life. They could be a television show of that caliber, or if you prefer another description, Ann Aguirre is writing what Firefly and Farscape would've been if those tv shows had been a book series instead. The point? If such shows interest you, then it's criminal to miss Aguirre's books. Start with Grimspace, the read Wanderlust, and then pick up the latest, Doubleblind. You won't be disappointed. Those of you who're already on the wagon? Get this as soon as you can. You'll be thrilled to pieces and oh-so-very-sorry that you'll have to wait another year for the fourth book. I know I am.

Review style: I'll be nice. NO SPOILERS. Not for this book anyway. Expect spoilers for the first two books, Grimspace and Wanderlust, but for Doubleblind, I'll talk generalities, so no spoilers. Don't say I never didn't anything for you. ;)

If you're interested in the full review, you may find it in my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. :)

REVIEW: Ann Aguirre's DOUBLEBLIND

Happy Reading! show less

This is my second favorite in the series so far, after Grimspace. I like how Aguirre writes Jax, she creates a good balance between kick-ass and caring, and manages to grow emotionally without being too tormented about it. The characters have interesting, realistic relationships, and the world of the bugs is intriguingly described. The plot meanders a bit, but flows pretty steadily. The pacing is better than in Wanderlust.