Sunday 19 May 2013

Wesley Chu

Wesley Chu is the author of The Lives of Tao a novel on symbiotic aliens in human hosts. His second book, The Deaths of Tao, is supposed to be released October 29, 2013 but there may be some hiccup. I think we can trust to get the next installment by the end of the year. The write-up that is currently on goodreads says the events are five years after those of The Lives of Tao, but that could also be subject to change since not much is being let out of the bag by either Chu or the publishers, Angry Robot.

Website: http://www.chuforthought.com/

Saturday 11 May 2013

The Lives of Tao

The Lives of Tao written by Wesley Chu is the story of Roen, an overweight middle-age man who hates his job and himself and Tao, an alien who resides within host bodies. Tao's task is to stop the Genjix, aliens like himself who intend to take over the world and rule humans. Tao's host dies one night whilst fighting the Genjix, and Tao is forced to find a new host. The only one available: Roen.

The first third of the book is quite amusing, mainly Tao reprimanding Roen for being such a huge slob and trying to get him fit and combat trained. His trainer is Sonya, a very attractive woman who has a good alien (Prophus) with her. Roen's roommate is stunned when Roen starts eating right, working out and hanging out with pretty girls. The novelty is portrayed really well.
The next third is a little boring, mainly why me, this is too hard stuff. The last third I didn't like at all. Lots of high-action fighting but not a whole lot of plot, and the timeline was hard to follow. The ending, which is supposed to be really sad, wasn't written as well as it could have been, and once again timing was a little difficult to understand.

I did enjoy the symbiotic aliens, and thought the good aliens and bad aliens teams were believable, but the rest of the book just didn't live up to the first third, progressively getting worse as you read more.

2.4 stars

Astarte

Friday 10 May 2013

Ashley Parker Novels


The Ashley Parker Novels chronicle the adventures of... you guessed it, Ashley Parker. Ashley is a 29 year old liberal arts major at the university. Zombies attack her and her boyfriend on a picnic, when she discovers she is a wild card, immune to zombie bites and stronger than a normal human. She and the other wild cards have to fight the zombies to save humanity. A series by Dana Fredsti, it currently has 3 books in it:

Plague Town (1)
Plague Nation (2)
Plague World (3)

Happy zombie-filled reading,
Astarte

Friday 3 May 2013

Unravel Me

The sequel to Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi's new novel has all the characters we loved in the last book, and a few more we come to care for.
Juliette has been brought into Omega Point, where she can claim sanctuary and not be tested like an animal. Omega Point now has a girl who can kill just by touching someone. But that's not her only superpower. In this installment, we get to know more about that superstrength of hers, and why Adam can touch her. But when the truth comes out, will she still be with Adam? Or is her touch poison to him too?
Then, another twist is thrown upon us. Warner, the evil SOB who can also touch Juliette, is captured and taken to Omega Point as a prisoner. Juliette is chosen to interogate him to find out where their missing men (and Juliette's new friends) are. But as Juliette spends more time with Warner, she starts to see him more as a person, and no matter how hard she tries, she can't hate him. Further straining the relationship between Adam and Juliette, Warner loves her, and can touch her. When a shocking revelation about Warner's father is made known to the main characters, the hate between the two boys explodes, and Kenji is hurt.
With suspicion around Warner, and everyone thinking Juliette harmed Kenji, what will happen to Omega Point, and who will Juliette choose?

I liked the twists in this book, haing read the previous novel I definately could not see some of what happened. This one really made me dislike Juliette though. I felt sorry for her in Shatter Me, and the first few chapters, but after that she was just... boring. All boo-hoo my life sucks, which was really grating considering she got what she wanted and was a hell of a lot better than when she was Warner's prisoner or in the mental institution. After Kenji yelled at her, she toughened up a bit, but would still have the occasional pity party. Personally, I thought the best character was Kenji, but we didn't get to see much of what he felt, although he was often mentioned. Therefore, I was interested when we got to learn more of his past.

Giving it a 3.7. Juliette really let down the book from what it could have been.

Read safely (that means remember to eat occasionally - don't starve due to engrossment in your novel of the moment)
Astarte