TITLE: Parasite (2013)
AUTHOR: Mira Grant
GENRE: Medical Fiction / SciFi
PAGE COUNT: 502
RATING OVERVIEW Overall: ★★★ (3.5)
Story: ★★★★
Writing: ★★★
Characters: ★★★
Appearance: ★★★★
AMAZON DESCRIPTION:
A decade in the future, humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease.
We owe our good health to a humble parasite — a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the Intestinal Bodyguard worm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system — even secretes designer drugs. It’s been successful beyond the scientists’ wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them.
But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives . . . and will do anything to get them.
Buy the book HERE!
MY 2 CENTS / THE CRITICAL POINTS:
Parasite is the first book in the three book Parasitology series by Mira Grant.
STORY (★★★★)
Overall, this was a pretty good read. The story moved along at a good pace, the characters were interesting enough, the concept – although not completely original – was fascinating. I think there was a lot of potential with this story, but there were some holes that I do hope the second and third books in the series clear up.
WRITING (★★★)
The book started out really good. I loved the idea of the story/plot. The characters were interesting. The world she was building was different enough that I wanted to learn more. Then, something happened… we discover a character who was supposed to be dead is really alive. That is when the plot went off course and the character development took a turn. That was the moment Mira lost me. Don’t get me wrong, I kept reading, but I didn’t really enjoy the book after that. Not as much as I could have – should have.
CHARACTERS (★★★)
Sal – Right from the beginning, I suspected that there was something different about her. I’m not going to lie, the big reveal wasn’t that big of a surprise, but I still enjoyed it.
Tansy and Adam – What?!?! I still don’t understand what the author was trying to do with these two. No, I do understand, but it was just so far fetched that it the concept (which I don’t really want to spoil) wasn’t believable.
Nathan – I liked him, right up until we meet his mother, who is supposed to be dead, and he is just ‘whatever’ about it. He acts as if this is the most normal thing in the world. WHAT?! No one – NO ONE – would react that way after finding out their parent was alive after 10 or 15 years. NO ONE!!! That moment changed my opinion of Nathan and the writing; for the rest of the book, I sort of checked out.
APPEARANCE (★★★★)
The cover is intriguing. It feels medical, which is appropriate. The 5 blue circles draw you in and the 6th circle… red and almost liquified makes you wonder what’s happened. I like it.
FAVORITE QUOTES:
“No one wants to set out to be a hero, and discover that they’ve been a villain all along.”
“Sometimes humanity is the reason we can’t have nice things.”
“Both my parents were Irish, and the Irish word for “suntan” is “burn.”
Mira Grant lives in California, sleeps with a machete under her bed, and highly suggests you do the same. Mira Grant is the pseudonym of Seanan McGuire – winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for best new writer. Find out more about the author at http://www.miragrant.com or follow her on twitter @seananmcguire.
Parasitology Series by Mira Grant
Nina Soden 