Parasite (Parasitology, #1)

by Mira Grant

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 tapeworm 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.

• ISBN10: 0356501922
• ISBN13: 9780356501925
• Publish Date: 29 October 2013 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Orbit
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 512
• Language: English

Reviews

[kimbacaffeinate]

4.5
Parasite is the first in the Parasitology duology and already I am drooling for book two. Grant created a vivid world in the future with medical advancements, but something is going terribly wrong. With fleshed out characters and a compelling storyline, Grant had me completely wrapped up in this tale. Mini review: brilliant, suspenseful and horrifying.

Grant takes us into the future where advances in the private medical field have virtually eliminated the common cold, and allergies. We no longer need to take our medications and illness such as diabetes no longer require insulin. All thanks to the SymboGen shield a genetically engineered tapeworm. It is so successful that almost every human on Earth has one, but the parasites are getting restless…. The tale that unfolds was suspenseful, horrifying and kept me on the edge of my seat! It offered elements of science-fiction, suspense, mystery and even horror.

Grant introduces us to several characters in Parasite. Sally, who prefers “Sal” and Nathan her boyfriend are our main characters. Sal suffered from amnesia after a car accident six years ago, and has had to relearn everything. She is witty, inquisitive and a perfect heroine for this tale. Nathan is her adorable and geeky boyfriend. (picture, tall, dark, lanky with tousled hair and geek glasses..yum) He is a microbiologist, and the two make a perfect investigative team. Sal craves answers and resents how protective her parents and SymboGen are with her. She has a strong sixth sense and unlike some heroines she listens to it, which made her kick-ass in my book. We read publications and are privy to scientist records from the creators of SymboGen. One is the face of the business and the other the scientist, I found them both to be a little disturbing, and it added to my enjoyment. Grant fleshed out the world through them using press releases and recordings. Other secondary characters really helped to bring the tale to life, and added humor. Tracey was one of my favorite; she was hilarious one moment and could totally freak me out the next. I love how Grant gives even the most mundane characters voice and makes them memorable.

The plot for Parasite is incredibly thought out, and Grant does an amazing job with world-building. She fed the geek in me with scientific details but delivered it in such a way that the non sci-fi fan could enjoy it. We learn a lot about the tapeworm and the current problems arising through Sal as she learns. This added to the suspense and allowed the tale to flow beautifully as Grant weaved in moments of discovery, tension, terror and life. What really freaked me out was how plausible she made the implants seem, and lord knows money hungry companies hide stuff from the public. All of it gave me the shivers, and through world-building she shows how people bought into the concept and why. It was bloody brilliant! I love how solid her world-building is, and how she can throw curve-balls and make me believe. Fans of the Newsflesh Trilogy will be thrilled at the ride Parasite has to offer. The tale ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, which is typical for Grant. She loves those last few sentences that make the reader scream, and truth be told it makes the anticipation for book two that much sweeter.

Parasite is a brilliant beginning to another creep-tastic duology by Mira Grant. This fangirl cannot wait for book two, and totally recommends it to fans of science-fiction, horror, suspense and dystopians. As one of my favorite authors Mira Grant is on my auto-buy list and is an author I will recommend over and over again. Full review on blog.

[Nessa Luna]

Read this review, and many more on my blog October Tune!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not changed my opinion on the book in any way.

I chose to read this book, because first of all the cover looked nice. And then I read the summary, and thought it might be a nice book to read. The only problem was that I would either have to read it on my computer, or my phone (because I don't own a Kindle, but I do have the app on my phone, or Adobe Digital Editions on my laptop). Eventually, I chose to read it on my phone, because that would mean that I could read it while I was traveling, and lying in bed, without having my heavy laptop with me.

The book starts off with a piece of text from somewhere in the middle of the book, which is something I sometimes like, and sometimes don’t. In this case, I liked it, though it made me think the book would be kinda action packed (or well, at least as thrilling as that piece was). It wasn’t really that action packed in my opinion, but it was still interesting.

The first half, we’re introduced to the main characters; Sal/Sally Mitchell, who miraculously survives a massive car-crash. Her family, mum, dad, and sister Joyce. Sal’s boyfriend Nathan Kim; the people Sal works with at the animal shelter, the people at the hospital where Nathan works, the people from SymboGen. Nothing much happens, except for some cases of ‘sleepwalking sickness’ as they call it.

Every chapter starts with either a quote from a book, an unpublished autobiography or an interview, which I liked at first, but I started to get a bit annoyed with it in the end, and though the information in those pieces would probably be of importance for the next chapter, I just quickly skimmed through it so I could read the story again. The passages from the book were all so alike, that I had the feeling I was reading the same part over and over again.

The whole tapeworm situation made me think of the Torchwood book ‘Slow Decay’, in which people take diet pills, which actually have a little alien inside; that alien eats everything the person eats, making the person able to lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time. But of course, the alien starts asking for more, and eventually the people start eating so much, that they even start eating animals, people, and themselves. That book made me feel very nauseous, because I just really do not like cannibalism.

In this book, the only part that actually made me feel sick was Tansy talking about blowing other people’s kneecaps off.

I had kind off predicted how the book would end somewhere in the middle of the story, but that didn’t keep me from getting surprised at some points, and I literally said ‘WHAT’ out loud a couple of times while reading. The many medical terms and hard words that were used made me confused sometimes, because even though some of them were explained the first time they were used, by the time I read the word a second time, I would have forgotten the meaning completely. But that’s just because I don’t remember words like that easily.

Out of all the characters, I think I liked Sal, Nathan, and Tansy (though sometimes she could be really violent), the most. I liked the relationship that Sal and Nathan have, and I just LOVED Beverly. Though I am not very fond of big dogs, I would have liked to have a Beverly at my side in a situation like this. Or just any other animal, but I would rather have a Beverly.

I really enjoyed this book, a lot, and I am certainly going to read the next one. Not just because this book kinda ends in a cliff-hanger (or well, it just ends with a ‘to be continued…’ which I really do not like), I just really liked the story! It was well written; no mistakes and no hard words that weren’t explained (as far as I remember). I am going to give a try to the other books the writer has written, though they are (also) about zombies (I don’t really call the sleepwalkers zombies though, but some people might). I am not overly fond of zombies, but I might just give it a try!