The Lives of Tao
Ratings36
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings36
Average rating3.7
Goodreads Choice 2013 Nominee - Science Fiction When out-of-shape IT technician Roen woke up and started hearing voices in his head, he naturally assumed he was losing it. He wasn’t. He now has a passenger in his brain – an ancient alien life-form called Tao, whose race crash-landed on Earth before the first fish crawled out of the oceans. Now split into two opposing factions – the peace-loving, but under-represented Prophus, and the savage, powerful Genjix – the aliens have been in a state of civil war for centuries. Both sides are searching for a way off-planet, and the Genjix will sacrifice the entire human race, if that’s what it takes. Meanwhile, Roen is having to train to be the ultimate secret agent. Like that’s going to end up well… File Under: Science Fiction [ The Tug of War | I Was Genghis | Diary of a Slob | Spy vs Spy ]
Series
3 primary books4 released booksTao is a 4-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2013 with contributions by Wesley Chu.
Reviews with the most likes.
The story was interesting enough, but I ended up getting frustrated with both the author's portrayal of women throughout the book (always using physical traits to describe them, like beautiful, or soft skin), and then there's an entire chapter dedicated to sexist undertones of “how women are past their prime by 30s”.
Then there was Toa himself. From what I understand from the book, he was the one who imprisoned his fellow kind in turtles and the like. So why he was surprised when Zoras (name might be wrong) was utterly pissed off and wanted revenge - is...confusing at best. From what I gathered, Toa started the war himself directly by starting to enslave the other alien beings that annoyed him. So ¯_(ツ)_/¯
A fun, fast-paced read although, as others have said, it could probably have done with a bit more attention from an editor. It also commits the cardinal sin, at one point, of appearing to equate Dublin and British. I'm also not sure I'd describe Monaco as being like Las Vegas. However, it's a good enough read that I am tempted by the sequel.
Action packed right from the get go. This is a really good book to read. I like the main character has some issues with what he's asked to do.
This is an odd book. It is a tale of alien possession, sort of. It is a story of self-discovery, sort of. But it is mostly a story of covert-ops and spy-vs-spy action.
I enjoyed it quite a lot.
.jpg&width=40&height=40&type=webp){kind=small}
