Grimspace - Opening Chapters

I've read eleven chapters of Grimspace by Ann Aguirre so far, and it looks like it will be a quick read. It didn't engage me at first, but with each chapter I got more and more into it until at this point, I'm committed.

Sirantha Jax is in trouble. She's wrecked her last spaceship and her pilot-partner is dead. She is deeply affected by his death, and the psychological counseling she is undergoing just seems to be making things worse. She is held in gentle imprisonment until it can be determined if she was at fault.

Or at least, she thinks it's gentle. When March breaks into her cell and gives her the choice to go with him or stay, he tells her that the counseling was intended to drive her insane, not help her. It makes sense to her, so off with him she goes. They bust out of the space station, encountering perhaps just a few plot stretches to make their escape easier.

Sometimes the problem with starting a book off with a bank and plunging right into the action is you don't have much of a reason to care for the character at first. You're just scrambling to catch up. For that reason, I didn't get to a point where I didn't want to put the book down until about fifty pages into it. Not that it was difficult to get into--not at all--but I also found it rather easy to set aside until this point. I also encountered a death that was rather convenient for Jax, but I won't go into detail for fear of spoilage.

However, things improve when Jax takes action to save a life that no one else seems inclined to save. Heroism will always work for me. So I'll keep reading.

Here is my original showcase on Grimspace, with all the usual links.