Symbiont (Parasitology, #2)

by Mira Grant

THE ENEMY IS INSIDE US.

The SymboGen-designed parasites were created to relieve humanity of disease and sickness. But the implants in the majority of the world's population began attacking their hosts, turning them into a ravenous horde.

Now those who do not appear to be afflicted are being gathered for quarantine as panic spreads, but Sal and her companions must discover how the parasites are taking over their hosts, what their eventual goal is and how they can be stopped.

• ISBN10: 0316219002
• ISBN13: 9780316219006
• Publish Date: 25 November 2014 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Orbit
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[ibeforem]

The secret is out, among those in the know -- the tapeworms are taking over!

Sal, newly revealed to be a tapeworm living in human skin with 6 years of "How to Be a Human" classes, has accepted her status as a chimera, but is struggling a bit with how to help the thousands of people with tapeworms who have eaten their brains beyond recognition. Her boyfriend, Dr. Nathan Kim and his mother, Dr. Shanti Cale, one of the creators of the tapeworms, are working non-stop on a solution. But that's difficult to do when Sal keeps getting herself kidnapped for various reasons, by various sides of the battle for the planet's future.

I still enjoyed this book, but it was a bit more of a slog and took me longer to read. I felt like there was a fair amount of dead time punctuated by brief periods of action. But overall I like the creativity of the story, especially how Grant imagines the ways survivors get by and hide themselves. In an unusual move, I will be jumping right into the third book in this trilogy!

[Quirky Cat]

Symbiont is the second novel in Mira Grant’s Parasitology series. It’s one part thriller and one part science fiction, but the end result is a tense and fascinating read that will make you question what truly makes us human.
The second novel picks up more or less where the first one left off. It has the same characters and the same dystopian world. The more thriller elements border towards cronenberg levels of disturbing, but it makes for an interesting tale nonetheless.
Mira Grant is the pen name of Seanan McGuire. She uses Mira Grant more for her science fiction, thriller, and horror novels and her real name more for fantasy and graphic novels. At least it’s easy to remember which name is on which series this way!



Warnings: If you’re read Parasite then you already have an idea of what you’re in for, with a few exceptions. This novel may not be great for people who have a fear of losing control over their own bodies, or those that don’t want to hear a lot of medical talk. There are also several dissection scenes – on a living specimen, mind you – that feels like torture. As in, the person getting cut is being tortured. They were pretty rough. Admittedly I think it had more to do with the implications than what was actually said…
One more thing, before I start my review. I promise you that the dogs are fine. I think I mentioned that at the beginning of my review for Parasite, and honestly I was even more anxious during a couple of points during Symbiont, so it feels important to mention.
Symbiont was just as spine-tingling as its predecessor. I don’t think I could have read this book more quickly if I tried – I just had to see what was going to happen next. It became impossible to put this novel down. Not without worrying about what was going to happen to Sal or Tanzie or dozens of other characters.
Speaking of other characters, I feel like a few of the secondary characters in the first novel really got a chance to shine here. I really enjoyed learning about them. Some were humans working on the side of Dr. Kale. Others I had merely suspected the existence of, like Sherman’s Chimeras. It was fascinating seeing the different personalities and ways of handling the situation. The situation, of course, is that the world is more or less collapsing down among them.
I especially loved reading about Fishy and Rodney. I feel like both had especially compelling narratives, and while they may not have been the sanest people around (can I call both of them people?), they were certainly unique. They added a little flair to the series.
Looking back on it, it’s actually almost hard to believe that everything that happened fit inside one book. It feels more like I just finished reading two or three books. So yeah, it probably goes without saying that Sal goes through a lot in this novel, as does all of humanity, for that matter.
I loved reading about Sal’s growing acceptance of who and what she is. It was fascinating watching her go through that process. And that fascination was doubled when I got to see how others reacted to her status as well. Everyone has picked a side by now, and it seems like the side they chose more or less foretold how they’d feel about Sal and the other Chimeras.
I feel like Symbiont was even more complex than the first novel. Not necessarily the writing or anything like that – just that everyone seemed to have a complicated goal, plan, and so on. Most of the key players were ones that were introduced in the first novel, which helped.
I’m feeling anxious to start reading Chimera now. While this novel didn’t exactly end in a cliffhanger…it was close enough where I’m willing to count it in the category. I wouldn’t say that I know that all of the main characters are safe, though I don’t think they’re in immediate danger either…so that’s something. Thankfully Chimera is already out and waiting to be read.


For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[Melanie]

Review originally posted at RabidReads.ca.

I’m a huge fan of Mira Grant’s Newsflesh series. So, I decided to give her Parasitology series a try. This is a very interesting series. In this world, scientists have genetically modified tapeworms and made them help to medicine, instead of a hindrance. They can be tailored to an individual and help them with issues like epilepsy, like our main character Sally Mitchell. However, you know what happens with you play with Mother Nature.

In this story, we continue to learn more about what is going on with Sal and the others in this world. The government is starting to employ military tactics to protect Americans. People are starting to be rounded up and secured while the sleepwalkers are being disposed of.

We learn more about what is going on, but at the same time, more questions are coming up. Things happen leaving some characters in peril. Not sure where things are going to go from here. Luckily, I was able to jump into third book not long after finishing this one.

While, I really enjoyed this series, it doesn’t compare to the Newsflesh series, in my opinion (that is not a putdown for this series, just shows my love of Newsflesh). What does make this story great is Mira Grant’s ability to write characters that you truly care about. Not only was I highly invested in the main character of Sal, but also in many of the secondary characters. Tansy is a character that is a little off kilter, but an amazing character. She is extremely loyal to those she has as her family, but she really doesn’t have a conscience outside of them. She has no problem killing you if you try to hurt her family. Adam is childlike, but also much smarter than a child in other ways. Very smart, but emotionally a young child. Fishy, who thinks he’s living in a videogame, is fearless. I mean, if he gets killed, he can just use another life from the game. He is someone I would like to have at my back anyday. Dr. Cale is a real interesting character. She was instrumental in creating these worms, but she also saw what was going on well before anyone else. Her partner, Dr. Banks, chose greed over caution, so she left and been underground ever since. But, at the same time, Dr. Cale will do just about anything to learn more. She is all about knowledge. Sherman is one of the scariest guys, though he doesn’t always seem that way. He’s able to charm his way into anything. If you’re a character driven reader, like me, I can’t recommend Mira Grant enough.

Narration
Christine Lakin was a new-to-me narrator before starting this series. She did an amazing job with the narration of this series. Her voices and tone were perfect for each of the characters. She really brought out Sherman’s charm, Fishy’s crazy, Adam’s childishness. I loved her voice for Tansy and her crazy. I really enjoyed her narration and will be looking for her in the future.

[Artemis]

I often have a hard time enjoying middle volumes in trilogies. Middle novels often feel like a dead zone for characters and plot development, lacking in overall excitement and action. Symbiont exceeds where other middle-trilogy novels have failed. It’s interesting and complex at times, characters are tested in situations that allow for stronger character development, and the premise remains plausible. However, I did feel at times the length of the novel was what took the most out of me. As a train commuter for work, I can finish 400+ books in about four or five 55-minute train rides. Symbiont took 11. I felt exhausted. It was later that I discovered the series was originally a duology that had transformed into a trilogy.

More here:
https://artemisreads.wordpress.com/2016/02/04/review-symbiont-by-marissa-meyer/

[wyvernfriend]

It's all so plausible, there are a lot of hunts for panaceas for all ills going on, and the idea of a tapeworm that could deal with the niggles is simple, however the "and then it grows and takes over your brain part"? Not so much of a fan. The first one was intense and I couldn't put it down, this one I read a few books over.

I started it some time last year and just finished it and have no real hunger to read the end. I do want to no, no revulsion to finish but when I discovered none of the libraries have it yet I wasn't upset, it was ho-hum and on with my day.

Sal is discovering what it means to be her, being kidnapped and being experimented on and she really, really just wants to live a peaceful life, but no-one is letting her, least of all her fellow parasites.

Interesting but a bit meh.

[empressbrooke]

At first I thought this book had an especially bad case of middle-book-treading-water syndrome, and then I learned from other reviews (and it seems to be confirmed in press releases from Orbit when the first book was announced) that this wasn't even supposed to be a trilogy in the first place. And all I can say is that if you look at a duology and think, "What this really needs is an extra 500 pages of absolutely nothing happening so we can sell more copies," then you really deserve nothing more than some highly critical and disappointed reviews.

Most of the time, the middle book in a trilogy serves as a bridge and connects the action between the first and last book. Skilled writers will at least make the middle book worth reading. The middle book of Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy was especially worth reading, so I know she's capable of it. But literally nothing happened in this book that moved the narrative forward. Nothing new was revealed, nothing happened that could set up action further down the road. There was no interesting character development or world building. The main character goes from running for her life to being held captive to running for her life to being held captive. Somehow she does this with pluck even after two back-to-back brain surgeries. Other characters make bizarre decisions like saving potted plants when they're trying to narrowly escape from being eaten by tapeworm zombies.

I still plan on reading the final book in the trilogy in hopes that the author and publisher shoved all the unnecessary crap into this one and moved on to where the story was supposed to go in the first place. Plus, I like Mira Grant and it pains me that this stinker is out there with her name on it.

[celinenyx]

Symbiont is the long-awaited sequel to Parasite, and the second book of the Parasitology trilogy. After the revelations in Parasite, things get increasingly worse in this world where parasitic implants protect people from diseases. This reviews probably contains spoilers if you haven't read Parasite yet, although I beat around the bush quite a bit.

Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire is a fabulous author, and the fact that I love her Parasitology series just as much as I enjoyed her Newsflesh ones, cements her into the position of one of my favourite authors. What makes her stand out from the crowd is that her books are well-research and thoroughly built on a steady scientific foundation, while staying readable and accessible for the public. There is no condescending author voice telling the poor little reader how his awesome inventions work. It's us and the characters, and we are drawn into their world together with them.

Sal is different in Symbiont. After the revelations at the end of Parasite she has a hard time identifying herself, and in a way this also changes her actions and interactions. She comes to terms with what she is pretty quickly, but on the other hand, it doesn't sit well with her. Gone is the innocent young woman we met in Parasite - instead we have new Sal, who has to re-evaluate her beliefs about the world.

There is one element which I personally loved, that other readers disliked. Sal has a long-term relationship with scientist Nathan. Even after the happenings at the end of Parasite, Nathan continues to love Sal without restriction. Now, logically, this makes complete sense. But for many people this was incredibly icky and weird and they didn't like it at all. I applaud the author for taking this direction. This relationship is about love and dedication, and how nothing will stand in their way. It's not about drama and will-they won't-they. No, they stay together, no matter what. Even the discovery that the person you loved isn't exactly what you thought she was doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

My only criticism of the story is that it could have been edited just a tad more, so the narrative would have been tighter. Repetition of certain themes and sentences is a Mira Grant staple, but a few of them were superfluous and the book could have done without them. Some readers have also commented on the weakness of the plot. I don't have much to say about this - I was so invested in the characters that I couldn't tear my eyes from the page.

The Parasitology series is fabulous, and Symbiont a fantastic addition. It won't work well for many readers, but I'm still completely in love with this series.

[kimbacaffeinate]

If you have not yet read Parasite I suggest you swallow the red pill and slip down the rabbit-hole that is Grant’s brilliant mind and join the rest of us in this frighteningly real apocalyptic future.

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill -- the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill -- you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.- Morpheus, The Matrix, 1999

Grant allows us to effortlessly slip back into this multiple perspective tale, complete with journal and audio-recorded journals from characters trapped in this world. In Parasite we opened the doors wide, were both horrified, and fascinated by the world Grant had created beyond those doors. In this second novel, we begin to see the cracks as we gain insider information into the plans of several key characters and leaders in this chaotic zombie infested world. Unaffected folks are quarantined, a new species walks among us and sides are being drawn. The tale that unfolds kept me riveted with none of the symptoms of second book syndrome in sight.

One of the things I love about Grant (Seanan McGuire) is her ability to create fleshed out characters. Sal is such a curious character and we see character growth as she continues to define herself. Nathan, our geeky hero has moments where he shines, but I want more from him. Adam has such a childlike curiosity but we glimpse something more. Dr. Cole and Dr. Banks are ever present and while one shows more compassion than the other you cannot help but ask yourself, “How much sacrifice justifies knowing?” Sherman is perhaps the character whom I fear the most, and Ronnie is one I am eager to learn more about. Fishy, is a secondary character who I adore. The man is fearless, and downright hilarious. I have his six at all times. Grant, do not let anything happen to him. Tansy oh Gads! *tries to swallow* I cannot talk about it. I need more answers.

In Symbiont, we gain some answers but they are quickly replaced with larger questions that are more pressing and I cannot wait to see how it unfolds in Chimera, the final book set to release sometime in 2015. The world is in chaos as implants turn folks into flesh-eating mindless zombies. We see some glimpse of intelligence from some of them, and as always, I cannot wait to see how that develops. Their link to Sal is fascinating, and hints at untapped potential.  Grant continues to raise questions for the reader, as each revelation and man’s interaction make you ponder the implications. You cannot help but question what our society’s future holds. The brilliant aspect of this post-apocalyptic horror is how realistic it all sounds. Just turn on the television, open up a science or discovery magazine. Man craves the answers, the cures and perfection. *shivers*

Copy received from publisher, full review on blog.This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer