Cover comment: I love these covers. I love that she’s hot, and tough, and armed, and actiony. And I love that Jax’s hair is the length it is in the book (or at least the last third of the book — for the rest it’s even shorter: think Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta).
Setting: Future, space, ships, planets.
Series: Yes, the first book was Grimspace, which I also read and reviewed here. Doubleblind and Killbox to follow. You can read a prequel about March, the hero, here.
Main characters: The heroine, Sirantha Jax, genetically gifted with the coveted ability to travel through grimspace; Her boyfriend, March, hard bitten Psi pilot with a dark side and a hero complex. Other members of the Scooby Gang include: Dina, the “bark is worse than her bite” butch lesbian, Vel, the intelligent, unflappable, buglike former bounty hunter turned friend and ally, and Jael, the gorgeous blond mercenary turned Jax’s bodyguard.
Plot: Wanderlust picks up where Grimspace left off. The fall of the Farwan Corporation has left a power vacuum, and the once anemic but now potentially powerful Conglomerate is eager to use Jax, whose image has abruptly gone from murderess fugitive to hero, for their political ends. This entails making her an Ambassador and sending her off to Vel’s planet, Ithiss-Tor, to establish diplomatic ties. Her journey there is eventful, including a stop at a way station where things are not quite right, a stop at Lothian, where they abruptly get embroiled in messy situation, and a detour under duress to Venice Minor to answer to the mysterious Mr. Jewel, leader of the criminal Syndicate.
My take in brief: A lot less romance (which made it a bit less enjoyable for me — no reflection on the book, just my personal tastes), but engaging new characters and an exciting plot that never stops make this a lot of fun.
