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songwind's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyable, but not as good as I was expecting. Unlike most of McGuire's/Grant's other books, this one reads like the first installment of a longer story, rather than the first, complete in itself, book in a series.
The premise is interesting. Symbogen, a medical/genetics company, developed a custom parasite that lives in the body and bolsters its immune system without triggering allergies, autoimmune disorders, and other consequences of the sterilized modern lifestyle.
The main character is the ultimate expression of this when her parasite allows her to come back to consciousness after what should have been a fatal car accident and coma.
All isn't rosy, however. Sal suffers near-total amnesia from the brain damage, Symbogen pries into her private life, and her military epidemiologist father keeps a strict hold on her life. The only things she has that are really hers are her job taking care of animals in a no-kill shelter, and her boyfriend, a doctor and parasitologist.
When a strange illness starts affecting the people of the city, Sal's unique situation puts her right in the middle of everything.
The writing is good, and the characters are well developed. I enjoyed the story. As mentioned previously, this is the first book by her that didn't feel like it had a beginning and end of its own, which was a let down. The book ends with a cliffhanger and reveal, but the foreshadowing was very heavy-handed. I was certain of the fact that was revealed at the end by the end of the second chapter, meaning the book ended on an anticlimax.
I will be reading the follow up to see where the story goes, but as a standalone novel, this one ended up being a bit of a let down.
The premise is interesting. Symbogen, a medical/genetics company, developed a custom parasite that lives in the body and bolsters its immune system without triggering allergies, autoimmune disorders, and other consequences of the sterilized modern lifestyle.
The main character is the ultimate expression of this when her parasite allows her to come back to consciousness after what should have been a fatal car accident and coma.
All isn't rosy, however. Sal suffers near-total amnesia from the brain damage, Symbogen pries into her private life, and her military epidemiologist father keeps a strict hold on her life. The only things she has that are really hers are her job taking care of animals in a no-kill shelter, and her boyfriend, a doctor and parasitologist.
When a strange illness starts affecting the people of the city, Sal's unique situation puts her right in the middle of everything.
The writing is good, and the characters are well developed. I enjoyed the story. As mentioned previously, this is the first book by her that didn't feel like it had a beginning and end of its own, which was a let down. The book ends with a cliffhanger and reveal, but the foreshadowing was very heavy-handed. I was certain of the fact that was revealed at the end by the end of the second chapter, meaning the book ended on an anticlimax.
I will be reading the follow up to see where the story goes, but as a standalone novel, this one ended up being a bit of a let down.
sarahlreadseverything's review against another edition
2.0
The (fairly) believable science was fun, but the main character managed to be a strange mixture of far to intelligent (for someone who has only six years of memory) and far to dense (every single plot twist was inherently predictable, but she missed them all). I found myself yelling in frustration as things continually went over her head while I was all like 'yeah we know, we know, get to the details and explain why already!!' . . . which in the end never even really happened anyway. Mysterious plot is mysterious I guess (and yet surprisingly familiar? there were times where I felt I'd read this book before). The secondary characters were a lot more fun, but I'm still not sure I'll be going back for more.
lyriclorelei's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The whole rogue science lab felt very familiar and I felt like the twist at the end had already happened earlier? But I'm looking forward to the rest of this series.
meltingpages's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
The one thing I really love about Seanan McGuire writing as Mira Grant is that she's able to make these wild scenarios feel like they're something that could actually happen. There's always enough background and thought into the (fake) science to make it feel believable, although obviously it's still something that's totally made up, so you do still have to suspend your disbelief with some aspects of the story, like the fact that a parasite like this would be approved for human use so quickly. With this one I saw the twist coming from a mile away, but it didn't lessen my enjoyment. As much as I did enjoy this one though I'm not sure if I'll continue the series, only because I feel like I got what I wanted out of this story and I don't really need more, although never say never!
thriftylibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
Slow paced at first but gradually gets faster and faster. Yes, the end plot is somewhat predictable, but enough twists to make up for that. Also, the author uses humor surprisingly well for such a dark topic.
karleighreads's review against another edition
4.0
I am not sure if I would enjoy living in this world (obviously before all the issues started) or not. The idea of having a parasite in my small intestines is really offputting but I do like the idea of not having to maintain medication anymore and having no allergies.
There were a lot of really neat comments throughout this book that really made you think about real life. Here are a few that stood out for me.
"We weren't living in literal bubbles, but we were sterilizing our environments more every year, and we were starting to see the effects... The human race was being faced with a choice: find a way o keep our systems in equilibrium they had evolved to maintain, or accept a future of chronic illness, increasing biological and neurological disorders, and potentially, eventually, extinction." pg 13
"..man was locked in a constant fight to control an environment that didn't want to be controlled. First, we made the world as clean and non-allergenic as we possibly could and, when that just made things worse, we created artificial infections to make ourselves healthier." pg 199
I can't say I really liked Sally's character, she was jumpy and scared all the time but I REALLY liked Tansy. Her character was everything, if I had a full book of just Tansy I would just be giggling the entire time. She had some of the best lines in the entire book. I love how she calls her body a "meat car". This book was good, I really enjoyed it and can't wait to begin the second one.
There were a lot of really neat comments throughout this book that really made you think about real life. Here are a few that stood out for me.
"We weren't living in literal bubbles, but we were sterilizing our environments more every year, and we were starting to see the effects... The human race was being faced with a choice: find a way o keep our systems in equilibrium they had evolved to maintain, or accept a future of chronic illness, increasing biological and neurological disorders, and potentially, eventually, extinction." pg 13
"..man was locked in a constant fight to control an environment that didn't want to be controlled. First, we made the world as clean and non-allergenic as we possibly could and, when that just made things worse, we created artificial infections to make ourselves healthier." pg 199
I can't say I really liked Sally's character, she was jumpy and scared all the time but I REALLY liked Tansy. Her character was everything, if I had a full book of just Tansy I would just be giggling the entire time. She had some of the best lines in the entire book. I love how she calls her body a "meat car". This book was good, I really enjoyed it and can't wait to begin the second one.
loopingtangent's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
maxa_mill's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rallly's review against another edition
3.0
Read this book if you’re looking for something kind of silly and not that deep, enjoy body horror, and like zombie-types.
Don’t read this book if you get frustrated with a slow-on-the-uptake main character, are looking for a serious/hard medical thriller, and aren’t interested in engaging in some healthy suspension of disbelief.
I enjoyed the main character’s strained relationship with a family she doesn’t remember, as well as the love of dogs in the book (none of them are harmed).
The romantic relationship gets…questionable, but it’s a campy novel and not set up to please a creepy male audience so it isn’t a huge deal to me.
I read this book quickly in a few days because it was so absurd that I was interested in where it was going to go. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I won’t be finishing the series because I feel that I got what I wanted out of it.
Don’t read this book if you get frustrated with a slow-on-the-uptake main character, are looking for a serious/hard medical thriller, and aren’t interested in engaging in some healthy suspension of disbelief.
I enjoyed the main character’s strained relationship with a family she doesn’t remember, as well as the love of dogs in the book (none of them are harmed).
The romantic relationship gets…questionable, but it’s a campy novel and not set up to please a creepy male audience so it isn’t a huge deal to me.
I read this book quickly in a few days because it was so absurd that I was interested in where it was going to go. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I won’t be finishing the series because I feel that I got what I wanted out of it.
tricapra's review against another edition
2.0
A true disappointment. The book really did have potential. It could've been so much shorter. Unless there are some big ideas coming up, there was no need for this to be a trilogy. The characters were flat and predictable, and I just couldn't bring myself to care after a while. Everyone was so dumb. The pace was glacial, and when the action came it seemed out of place.