Review by Booklist Review
If you think about it, the zombie-apocalypse story (in some of its variations, at least) isn't all that far afield from a transhumanist novel. Grant obviously thought about the connection when she began her Parasitology series in 2013, in which, in the near future, genetic engineers devise a medical breakthrough: a tapeworm designed to dwell within a human host, where it will boost immune systems and even secrete treatments for any illness. But the worm's amazing ability to integrate with its human body proves to be too amazing when the basic instincts of a parasitic invertebrate begin to take over the billions of humans now living with the creatures. This brief description makes the book sound like a zombie novel, which it has no pretensions toward denying; but the author is much more interested in the underlying science than most books filled with shambling cannibals, especially when some of the implanted parasites integrate so successfully as to create a new symbiotic creature, greater than a basic human. The sometimes awkward dialogue is easily overcome by the descriptive first-person narration and an unusually fascinating angle on zombies.--Francis, Chris Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This cerebral and visceral sequel to Parasite pits the sentient tapeworm who has taken on the body and identity of dead Sally Mitchell against the rapacious profit motives of Dr. Steven Banks, founder of SymboGen, the organization that originally genetically modified the tapeworms. He keeps Sally's sister Tansy chained up for experimental purposes and pursues both Sally and his former ally, Dr. Shanti Cale, who now seeks to undo the results of their collaboration. Sally's boyfriend wants marriage despite her zombielike status; adversary tapeworm Dr. Sherman Lewis kidnaps Sally to enlist her in his plot for tapeworms to seize world supremacy from humans. Soon San Francisco is quarantined and society is collapsing nationwide. Cale's profession of love for all her children, regardless of their species, adds a piquancy that elevates this series above the standard zombie genre, as does the tension between love and duty felt by Col. Alfred Mitchell, Sally's father. Grant allows the moral debate to slow the story's movement following the meeting of Banks and Cale, but the richness of the plot sustains the reader's interest in how the characters will negotiate this strange new world. Agent: Diana Fox, Fox Literary. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Library Journal Review
Sal Mitchell's world changed at the end of the first book of the series, 2013's Parasite. She believed that the parasite that she and millions of others like her had implanted was helping her, but now she realizes that she is the parasite. Sal and love interest Nathan (and everyone else in San Francisco) are in grave danger from the hordes of humans whose implants have started attacking their hosts, and there are those who want the parasites to win. The chief villain, as with all good horror, is the human who created the monsters out of hubris and greed. VERDICT Pretty much nonstop action keeps the narrative moving, with only a few inconvenient stops for scientific exposition. Grant (author of the "Newsflesh" series and "October Daye" series under the name Seanan McGuire) sometimes has trouble striking the right tone for Sal, who is a challenging heroine and by turns horribly naive and maturely intuitive. Be warned, this one ends on another cliff-hanger. [See Eric Norton's sf/fantasy feature, "A Multiplicity of Realms," LJ 8/14.-Ed.] (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The second in Grant's new series (Parasite, 2013) featuring a society battling a tapeworm takeover picks up with the adventures of Sal Mitchell, a tapeworm that's overcome her host's body. The series premise is that a company called SymboGen developed a tapeworm implant to help humans regulate their health issues. But the tapeworms turn out to be sentient beings, and once they realize where they are, they claim their hosts. Most affected humans become zombielike creatures known as "sleepwalkers." As this book begins, it's the fall of 2027 in the San Francisco Bay area. Sal suffered brain damage in a car accident, after which her tapeworm chewed through her body into her brain and took over. Unlike the tapeworm/humans who became sleepwalkers, Sal developed a personality, found Nathan, her boyfriend, and helped him fight against the evil Dr. Steven Banks of SymboGen. Her sister Tansy, also a tapeworm, is missing, presumably held captive by SymboGen, and as Sal suffers through one fainting episode after another, sleepwalkers turn the area into a bloody battleground. Meanwhile, back at the lab, Sherman, another of Banks' creations, who does everything evil but twirl his handlebar mustache, works hard to bring the tapeworms to power. Grant stumbles in this volume: There's an oddly clumsy attempt to justify Sal's fear of riding in cars, and readers will find it hard to root for any character in this much-too-long novel. Sal, the tapeworm, is a creepily unsympathetic protagonist; Nathan the boyfriend is a human who, when he finds out his girlfriend is really a tapeworm, doesn't find it disturbing; and none of the other characters are particularly compelling. The upcoming tapeworm apocalypse will probably make most readers feel queasy rather than pique their interest. For those who've been pining for a human/tapeworm romance. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
