The Rise of Io (Io, #1)

by Wesley Chu

[Beth C.]

Ella - a girl who lives in the slums of India and gets by as a thief and con artist. Io - an alien who must inhabit the body of a human in order to survive on our planet. One with a smart mouth and street skills with no family, the other with knowledge and a plan. When they end up together, things may never be the same...for either of them.

The Rise of Io is an interesting take on the whole "aliens" concept. Typically, the aliens have come to Earth specifically for a purpose, raise hell (or not), and that is what keeps the story moving. However, this book is more about what happens when the aliens themselves end up splitting into factions and causing war and chaos on the planet they are trying to anxiously to leave. There are no special powers, no space weapons - just the ability to inhabit the bodies and minds of humans, and turn it into a partnership.

The characters are pretty well developed. Ella is a tough-talking orphan that lost her mother during the war and has no idea what became of her father. As the main character, the majority of the story revolves around her and her dealing with the unexpected gain of Io, the alien that unexpectedly decided to join with her when the prior host was killed. Io fails a bit as a character until the last 1/3 or so of the book, being more the voice in Ella's head without much background given. The remainder of the characters were interested, if occasionally a little bit one-dimensional. However, since this is the first book in a trilogy, there is reason to believe that there will be more character development to come in the remaining two books.

The main setting in the book is the slum, Crate Town, that Ella has grown up in. The descriptions of Crate Town, and its surrounding environs, were excellent - to the point that it almost felt familiar while reading. The descriptions of the Quasing planet (where Io came from) however, left some to be desired. Again, it's possible that there will be more information forthcoming, and since the majority of the story takes place in India, it's not too terrible for the story to have little description of Io's home planet. It just sort of feels...incomplete.

Overall, The Rise of Io was a fairly engrossing book, and one that was enjoyable to read. The back-and-forth dialogue between Ella and Io, or...well...Ella and just about *anyone* was entertaining. It did seem to take a bit too long to get to the point at times, but once it started moving, it kept a quick pace. Book #2 will certainly be on the radar when it releases, and Ella has quite a choice ahead of her - as does Io (no spoilers).