Parasite (Parasitology, #1)

by Mira Grant

[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 book, we meet Sal. She was born Sally Mitchell. That is until she gets into a car wreck and goes into a coma for a long while. When she wakes up, she is completely different. She asks to be called Sal and has to go through a lot of occupational therapy, learning the basics of walking, talking and dressing herself.

By the end of this book, things have already started to take a turn for the worse. People are turning into “Sleepwalkers”. They act exactly what it sounds like. They walk around like they are asleep, but they also have a fierce appetite. They try to eat you. So, in a way this is almost like a zombie story, but yet not.

Sal and her boyfriend, Nathan, go on a search to learn more. Sal gets a note that quotes a book from Nathan’s childhood. This is a story that is mentioned throughout the series. It talks about going through the broken doors and not being able to unlearn what you’ve learned.

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.