Links: Website of Ann Aguirre / Show Article /

Following her adventure's in Ann Aguirre's debut novel Grimspace, hyperspace navigator, fallen society chick, overthrower of evil corporations, declared dead, then alive, but now without assets as a result, Sirantha Jax and her friends are back. The fall of the Corporation caused by her release of the information that they'd deliberately crashed a passenger ship has meant that the Conglomerate, an "impotent coalition of planetary representatives" has to actually attempt to bring order out of the power vacuum it left, lest something worse take its place.

From back of book: Sirantha Jax is a "jumper", a woman who possesses the unique genetic makeup needed to navigate faster-than-light ships through grimspace. Jax has worked for Farwan Corporation her entire career. But now word's out that the Corp deliberately crashed a passenger ship, and its stranglehold on intergalactic commerce has crumbled--which means that Jax is out of a job.

She's also broke due to being declared dead a little prematurely. So when the government asks her to head up a vital diplomatic mission, Jax agrees to do it. Her mandate: journey to the planet Ithiss-Tor and convince its inhabitants to join the Conglomerate. But Jax's payday is light-years away. First she'll have to contend with Syndicate criminals, a stormy relationship with her pilot, main-eating aliens, and her own grimspace-weakened body. She'll be lucky just to make it to Ithiss-Tor alive...

(Source: Ace)