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jane_kelsey's review
3.0
I have enjoyed listening to this book, but I cannot say that it swept me in, but overall a good story.
el_viral's review against another edition
4.0
Great book - a fast, pretty compulsive read, though the 'twist' was quite predictable. Definitely recommended, especially if you enjoyed the Newsflesh books.
jazminrose's review
4.0
I wish this book was about 30% shorter. The beginning took too long to get where it was going, even though that direction was already obvious. Too much exposition. I did enjoy it once it finally got there though! Likewise, the ending was predictable, though satisfying.
Overall, this was a fun read. (Plus y’all KNOW I love anything even vaguely related to toxoplasma gondii.
Overall, this was a fun read. (Plus y’all KNOW I love anything even vaguely related to toxoplasma gondii.
michalice's review against another edition
5.0
Sally was in an horrific accident that almost killed her, she is kept alive on machines till her parents make the hard decision to turn them off, until she wakes and has no idea what has happened, who her family are, or who she is. Sally was saved thanks to her Intestinal Bodyguard, a parasite that lives inside her to keep her safe from infection.
When I read the synopsis of Parasite I was instantly intrigued and I had to know how this parasite helped. When I began reading I was hooked and I could not put the book down. Sally's memory is gone, she can't remember a single thing and had to relearn everything, speaking, reading, etc. As we learn more about Sally and see how she is coping with her accident and the after effects of it, we also get a look into SymboGen and how they are dealing with Sally and helping her recover.
Parasite is broken up with its chapters interspersed with snippets from interviews with people from SymboGen and from medical papers and reports talking about the Parasite. This gives us an insight into why this Parasite was made and also what peoples feelings are about it.
Parasite was an unputdownable read, everything about it just draws you in more and more. The twists and turns constantly left me guessing over what would happen next and when there were more cases of sleepers I found myself looking for symptoms in all the characters.
I want Parasite to be a surprise read for others, so I don't want to say too much about what happens. It felt like each new revelation was a surprise that I did not expect at all and I don't want to spoil that for others.
I loved all the characters in Parasite, or hated them respectively. There were moments I didn't like Joyce's attitude towards her sister Sally. Nathan is Sally's boyfriend and I love how he accepts her for who she is now, knowing that she still has a battle to face with getting over her accident, not knowing anything about herself before the accident. He is kind, patient and understanding, and being a parasitologist he is able to help Sally at various points in the story when outside help is needed.
Parasite was a gripping book and one that I didn't expect to love as much as I did, however there are still some questions left unanswered, like why things seemed to aim for Sally, I am hoping we get to see an explanation for this and also for the cliffhanger at the end of the book.
When I read the synopsis of Parasite I was instantly intrigued and I had to know how this parasite helped. When I began reading I was hooked and I could not put the book down. Sally's memory is gone, she can't remember a single thing and had to relearn everything, speaking, reading, etc. As we learn more about Sally and see how she is coping with her accident and the after effects of it, we also get a look into SymboGen and how they are dealing with Sally and helping her recover.
Parasite is broken up with its chapters interspersed with snippets from interviews with people from SymboGen and from medical papers and reports talking about the Parasite. This gives us an insight into why this Parasite was made and also what peoples feelings are about it.
Parasite was an unputdownable read, everything about it just draws you in more and more. The twists and turns constantly left me guessing over what would happen next and when there were more cases of sleepers I found myself looking for symptoms in all the characters.
I want Parasite to be a surprise read for others, so I don't want to say too much about what happens. It felt like each new revelation was a surprise that I did not expect at all and I don't want to spoil that for others.
I loved all the characters in Parasite, or hated them respectively. There were moments I didn't like Joyce's attitude towards her sister Sally. Nathan is Sally's boyfriend and I love how he accepts her for who she is now, knowing that she still has a battle to face with getting over her accident, not knowing anything about herself before the accident. He is kind, patient and understanding, and being a parasitologist he is able to help Sally at various points in the story when outside help is needed.
Parasite was a gripping book and one that I didn't expect to love as much as I did, however there are still some questions left unanswered, like why things seemed to aim for Sally, I am hoping we get to see an explanation for this and also for the cliffhanger at the end of the book.
thepamz's review
4.0
What? Mmm... Ok, lo positivo es que me mantuvo picada y que los personajes principales, Sally y Nathan, son muy fáciles de seguir. Luego luego te importan. Y Sally es buen punto de narración, creíble.
Lo de cómo funciona la invasión de parásitos me tiene un poco exceptica, siento que pasada la mitad del libro se cruzó la línea de mi suspensión of disbelief.
También me molesta un poco que todos menos Nathan y Sally parecen malos en esta historia. Quiero pensar que la doctora Kale al menos si va a ser consistentemente alguien que está de su lado a pesar de su ética dudosa.
Y me saca de onda eso de "es que no te dijimos porque no te queríamos asustar/confundir" ay bye! A la octava que le dicen eso a la Sally, creo que estoy más ofendida yo jajaja.
Creo que sí voy a seguir leyendo la saga para ver qué pasa en esta historia, aunque ya este medio jalada.
Lo de cómo funciona la invasión de parásitos me tiene un poco exceptica, siento que pasada la mitad del libro se cruzó la línea de mi suspensión of disbelief.
También me molesta un poco que todos menos Nathan y Sally parecen malos en esta historia. Quiero pensar que la doctora Kale al menos si va a ser consistentemente alguien que está de su lado a pesar de su ética dudosa.
Y me saca de onda eso de "es que no te dijimos porque no te queríamos asustar/confundir" ay bye! A la octava que le dicen eso a la Sally, creo que estoy más ofendida yo jajaja.
Creo que sí voy a seguir leyendo la saga para ver qué pasa en esta historia, aunque ya este medio jalada.
zarazahavah's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Really cool story line but it's matched with a writing style that is just not super compelling. Also this is COMPLETELY on me but I didn't realize it was a series until the last page and tbh I think this feels like a story that could have easily been told in one book (especially given that it is over 500 pages) so dragging it out into a series feels unnecessary
cathepsut's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Early on this reminded me a little of Lock In by Scalzi. Although this is not about a pandemic, but about a society that willingly infects itself with a parasite. And that tapeworm prevents people from getting sick, prevents allergies, maybe even helps them with hangovers.
Sally nearly dies in a car accidents, falls into a coma and eventually is diagnosed as brain dead. Just when her physician tries to convince her family to turn of the machines keeping her alive, she wakes up. But she‘s not Sally anymore. She has lost all of her memories, she can‘t talk or read and has to relearn her mother tongue. Sal makes her way back into a life controlled by her parents and SymboGen, the company that had developed the tapeworm. All seems more or less fine, until people start to sleepwalk…
It was pretty obvious for me what the reason for there sleepwalking was and also the meaning of Sal‘s dreams. Parasite was a fun novel, but very predictable, with a willfully ignorant main character. 🪱🪱🪱🪱
I might pick up the next one in the series…
Good audio narration.
patchworkbunny's review
5.0
Sally Mitchell is the first person to be saved by their SymboGen implant; a genetically modified tapeworm that has changed medical treatment worldwide. After a near-fatal car crash, she was pronounced brain dead only to reawaken moments before the plug was pulled. Six years later, Sal prefers not to be called Sally; she isn’t that girl any more. In fact she has no memory of the life she lived before.
Reading Parasite made me aware that I know a fair amount about parasites. What may seem like a far-fetched cautionary tale is rooted in science fact. Tapeworms have been known to have beneficial qualities as well as a whole bunch of unsavoury side effects. They can travel beyond the intestines in your body. There are plenty of parasites that actually exist that control their hosts in the most extraordinary ways; I have watched many a natural history documentary that screamed science fiction except that they are real.
And we are facing a world where our immune systems are back firing and excessive use of antibiotics are creating resistant strains. It’s not so hard to see science turning to living, symbiotic cures for all our ailments. Even Sal’s recovery put me in mind of one of the miracle survivors of rabies I read about in Rabid; having to learn to walk and talk from scratch as an adult is an arduous, but thankfully rare, task. It does make Sal an amazingly endearing characters and that is where the strength of this book lies beyond the science; in the amazing characterisation.
It’s refreshing to have a love interest that is already established. It makes it not about the romance but Nathan is a wonderful supporting presence and possibly the perfect boyfriend. His in depth knowledge of parasites is also handy in the circumstances. Sal is at times naïve and sometimes slow on the uptake but considering she is only mentally 6 years old, she’s doing pretty well and is full of character and self-awareness. She is kind to animals and she likes learning new slang but she’s also happy to admit when she doesn’t understand something. She also call in the experts instead of running straight into danger by herself. Smart girl.
There is also one of the best canine characters I’ve read. You can tell an animal loving author through the qualities of the animals in the pages and Beverly is wonderfully expressive. I think you’d be able to tell she was a Labrador even without being told; the full body tail wag is a dead giveaway. I worried about this dog more than some of the humans! Tansy was also a fantastic character who made me laugh; to say more about her would involve spoilers I’m afraid.
It’s a story with a lot of leads that will help you work out what is going on well before the characters. Well, before Sal, because I think there are many that know a lot more than they are letting on. Perhaps because the science and theory seemed right to me, and strangely familiar, I wasn’t distracted by it in the early stages and I instinctively guessed the big secret right away. However I loved the characters so much it didn’t matter that I felt the conclusion was inevitable but some may find it predictable. Then there’s always the chance that I could be wrong, especially with one or two things that, at the time, seemed to throw me off the scent.
There were parts of Parasite that reminded me of Feed and others of her writing under her own name, Seanan McGuire. I think she’s managed to meld the best of both worlds into this and I look forward to more. The ending is definitely an opening for a series.
Review copy provided by publisher.
Reading Parasite made me aware that I know a fair amount about parasites. What may seem like a far-fetched cautionary tale is rooted in science fact. Tapeworms have been known to have beneficial qualities as well as a whole bunch of unsavoury side effects. They can travel beyond the intestines in your body. There are plenty of parasites that actually exist that control their hosts in the most extraordinary ways; I have watched many a natural history documentary that screamed science fiction except that they are real.
And we are facing a world where our immune systems are back firing and excessive use of antibiotics are creating resistant strains. It’s not so hard to see science turning to living, symbiotic cures for all our ailments. Even Sal’s recovery put me in mind of one of the miracle survivors of rabies I read about in Rabid; having to learn to walk and talk from scratch as an adult is an arduous, but thankfully rare, task. It does make Sal an amazingly endearing characters and that is where the strength of this book lies beyond the science; in the amazing characterisation.
It’s refreshing to have a love interest that is already established. It makes it not about the romance but Nathan is a wonderful supporting presence and possibly the perfect boyfriend. His in depth knowledge of parasites is also handy in the circumstances. Sal is at times naïve and sometimes slow on the uptake but considering she is only mentally 6 years old, she’s doing pretty well and is full of character and self-awareness. She is kind to animals and she likes learning new slang but she’s also happy to admit when she doesn’t understand something. She also call in the experts instead of running straight into danger by herself. Smart girl.
There is also one of the best canine characters I’ve read. You can tell an animal loving author through the qualities of the animals in the pages and Beverly is wonderfully expressive. I think you’d be able to tell she was a Labrador even without being told; the full body tail wag is a dead giveaway. I worried about this dog more than some of the humans! Tansy was also a fantastic character who made me laugh; to say more about her would involve spoilers I’m afraid.
It’s a story with a lot of leads that will help you work out what is going on well before the characters. Well, before Sal, because I think there are many that know a lot more than they are letting on. Perhaps because the science and theory seemed right to me, and strangely familiar, I wasn’t distracted by it in the early stages and I instinctively guessed the big secret right away. However I loved the characters so much it didn’t matter that I felt the conclusion was inevitable but some may find it predictable. Then there’s always the chance that I could be wrong, especially with one or two things that, at the time, seemed to throw me off the scent.
There were parts of Parasite that reminded me of Feed and others of her writing under her own name, Seanan McGuire. I think she’s managed to meld the best of both worlds into this and I look forward to more. The ending is definitely an opening for a series.
Review copy provided by publisher.
harvestreads's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
Lowest possible number of stars (0.25 stars). I marked pace as slow. Please know that it is indeed slow. Extremely slow. Painfully slow. At the 30% mark in the audiobook I upped the audio speed to 200% because the pacing was just unbearable. This book should have been a single creepy short story and 0 more books should have been written—I’m not going to continue reading this 10-novel series because I don’t think this author is anywhere near clever enough to do anything interesting with their own premise. I correctly guessed the twist partway through chapter 1 yet the author insists on waiting until the final paragraph to tell us what we already knew the entire time. I can’t believe this book is like, 500 pages in print when it should have been 7 pages in a spec fic anthology, and not a particularly noteworthy spec fic anthology either.
cryptidenthusiast's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5