Review: “Endgame,” Ann Aguirre

Pros: Fantastic climax to the series!
Cons: …
Rating: 5 out of 5

Here we are, in the final book of Ann Aguirre’s Sirantha Jax series, Endgame (A Sirantha Jax Novel). Jax, Loras, Zeeka, Constance, and Vel have settled in on La’heng to try to find a way to distribute the cure to the La’hengrin. Unfortunately, the Nicuan nobles in charge of the government not only have no incentive to allow the change–they have every incentive to disallow it. It will free the La’hengrin from being passive slaves, and allow them to defend themselves. So every legal route Jax tries is stymied by the government. Once they’ve tried everything, it’s time to resort to guerilla warfare. They built an underground base, and now they’re going to furtively start freeing outlying communities until they build up a sufficient army. They raid food and weapons caches to further their goals. Meanwhile, Vel and Sirantha take on a new missioin: to infiltrate the Nicuan nobility and obtain important intel. Jax will have to put on a new face to play this role.

Jax and March are still having troubles. March is caught up in caring for his telekinetic nephew Sasha, and Jax has no interest in settling down. I love the fact that when March points out that she’s unwilling to compromise to be with him, she says “it’s not selfish to make the right choices for me.” Of course I want the two of them to get to be together, but it’s practically tradition at this point for female romantic leads to have to make the compromises that allow them to be with their loved ones, so I like seeing it pointed out that she also needs to do what’s right for her. Her relationship with Vel is also still evolving, and is becoming more complex, which is also not sitting entirely well with March. She’s also found out that her nanites are slowing the aging process, and that there’s no way of telling how long she’ll live.

This is definitely an action-packed finale. There are shoot-outs, hand-to-hand combats, bombardments, and skullduggery. Jax has to learn to be an entirely different person for a while, and Vel has become even more of a chameleon. Loras has become the leader of the resistance on his world, and he’s turning into a hard man indeed.

I found this to be a totally satisfying conclusion to the six-book series. As much as I would love to see more, this was a wonderful place to stop!