Debbie's Spurts

This reader's personal opinion, ©2016, all rights reserved, not to be quoted, clipped or used in any way by Google Play, Penumbra Publishing, amazon.com or other commercial booksellers* 

This series still thrills me, a wild ride. From random find of first book in what's new in SF section of my local Barnes and Noble where I had no clue what I was reading to now continuing. Why only now for BINGO? Initially was deliberately spacing out to wait for more in series, a neighbor who kept saying wanted to buddy read ... next thing I know it was growing dusty in TBR pile until a Bookshelf BINGO group challenge resurrected for me.

And I'm glad. I loved this one. I still love being in Jax's head and seeing everything from her perspective (a good thing because it is a 1st person narrative where story unfolds only as she knows it).

Since the first book, we've known everything was headed to war. On a scale that even not-known-for-civic-duty or responsibility Jax can ignore. This one takes a slight turn away from just her and her team. The "bug" alien bounty hunter, Vel, stalking her in first book and now turned team member has made Jax, while the most wildly inappropriate person to be held responsible for diplomatic finesse, the bug expert and the first human envoy to be invited back to the bug world in centuries.

And it's not a good fit. But it is a damn good read and fun seeing her thrown into that situation. I love all the alien contact stories and humans trying to figure out alien cultures without anthropomorphizing them. This does a very good job (not the best) of keeping it alien even while understanding grows.

It lost a partial star for me, and really just nitpicking on an edge of seat read in one sitting book.  Just a bit from how dependent she initially was on Vel in his homeworld, how she was able to understand and respond to a culture with communication only partially verbal

), and a touch of "how special I am" in how some of the bugs felt about her. I did want more to be done with growing-sentient android, Constance, and for Jax to interact more with team members throughout the book instead of mostly at the finish.

Excellent for me balance of the wild ride action expected from series and beloved SF bits. Not a shocking ending, having some political parties for/against in both races and having a betrayal because someone was paid more by mom's syndicate but a helluva story. Unique work with an individual voice and orginally heroine—yet it really made me feel an air of Silent Running, Nor Crystal Tears, Firefly, Decision on Doona, Unholy Ghosts, Foreigner, ... heck, even a wee bit of Buck Rogers, Flandry, Bladerunner (the Nourse Sector General ones, not the android movie with Harrison Ford) and Terra Tarkington.

Forget the strange series description on goodreads calling it close ended and warning how to read it. Leafmarks puts it better:

"An intense science fiction series featuring Sirantha Jax. As the carrier of a rare gene, Sirantha Jax has the ability to jump ships through grimspace—a talent which makes her a highly prized navigator for the Corp.

From Q&A with author on publisher website:

Can you give us any hints of what’s coming for Sirantha Jax in the future?

Love. War. Possible heartbreak and despair. But she’ll reinvent herself because that’s what she does. And she’ll always, always be looking for a way to kick some ass."

From FAQs on author's website:

Why did you decide to end the Jax series? The Jax series was never meant to be open-ended. I had a finite storyarc in mind, so at the end of six books, Jax’s story was told, and she’s free to pursue her life off-page. I didn’t care to extend the books beyond their natural life, as that might have caused deterioration in quality and/or intensity

Did you sell a Jax spin-off? The Dred Chronicles (a trilogy) is set in the Jax universe, 30 to 40 years after Jax ends. The villain from Doubleblind, ..., will be the hero & love interest. The heroine? Well, you’ll just have to wait and see. But Dred is pretty awesome."

*©2016. All rights reserved except permission is granted to author or publisher (except Penumbra Publishing) to reprint/quote in whole or in part. I may also have posted on booklikes, goodreads, Leafmarks, and may have cross-posted to other book sites including kobo and Barnes and Noble. Posting on any site does not grant that site permission to share with any third parties.  

Ratings scale used in absence of a booklikes suggested rating scale:

★★★★★ = All Time Favorite 
★★★★½ = Extraordinary Book. Really Loved It.
★★★★☆ = Loved It.
★★★½☆ = Really Liked.
★★★☆☆ = Liked.
★★½☆☆ = Liked parts; parts only okay. Would read more by author.
★★☆☆☆ = Average.   Okay. 
★½☆☆☆ = Disliked or meh? but kept me reading in hopes would get better.
★☆☆☆☆ = Loathed It. Possibly DNF and a torturous read.
½☆☆☆☆ = So vile was a DNF or should have been. Cannot imagine anyone liking.  (Might also be just an "uploaded" word spew or collection that should not be dignified by calling itself a "published book." If author is going batshit crazy in the blogosphere over reviews -- I now know why they are getting bad reviews.  Or maybe author should take remedial classes for language written in until basic concepts like using sentences sink in. Is author even old enough to sign a publishing contract or do they need a legal guardian to sign for them?)