Symbiont by Mira Grant

Symbiont by Mira Grant is the sequel to Parasite, which I reviewed in late 2013, and the second book in the Parasitology trilogy (well, I assume it's a trilogy). This review (and also the blurb) contains spoilers for the first book.

The SymboGen designed tapeworms 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 tapeworms are taking over their hosts, what their eventual goal is, and how they can be stopped.

Honestly, that's not a great blurb. I've read worse, but it does skip over a lot of relevant nuance in the story. The parasite-induced zombie apocalypse was getting starting in the first book, but now it's in full swing. One thing I found both refreshing and interesting is how different this apocalypse is to Mira Grant's other series, Newsflesh.

Sal, the main character, came to the realisation at the end of Parasite that she was not entirely the human person she thought she was. In Symbiont, she starts off still coming to terms with what that means. The book is told mainly in first person and to show us what's going on outside of Dr Cale's lab, Sal gets into a lot of trouble that takes her to a variety of places. It's more plausible in context than I may have just made it sound, and does get around the need to provide the same background information solely in quotes and journal entries.

Symbiont introduces some new characters, two of whom particularly caught my attention. There was Ronnie, a human-tapeworm chimaera that Sal encounters at one point. The tapeworm part of Ronnie has been transplanted several times and is now residing in an adolescent black girl. But Ronnie started life as an implant for a male trucker and the worm part of him remembers this and feels entirely not at home in the girl's body. Basically, it's an interesting representation of a trans chimaera. Since the tapeworms themselves are hermaphroditic, chimaera gender comes from the interplay between the tapeworm and human elements of the person. Which I found interesting.

The other new character that caught my attention was Fishy, a lab tech recruited by Dr Cale. His backstory is that when the apocalypse struck, his wife went zombie and tried to kill him. Since then he's suffered a break from reality and thinks he's dreaming a very realistic video game. On the one hand, it's a plausible coping mechanism, and on the other hand, he provides sort of "fourth wall" commentary on events. (What's the book equivalent of breaking the fourth wall?) My favourite line was about the zombies having been "conceived by a creative team with an obsession for body horror". And the bits where he was talking about boss fights.

So, if you enjoyed Parasite, I definitely recommend reading Symbiont. It does suffer a little bit from middle book syndrome, but if you're invested in the story already, it's a nice volume that pushes the plot along. I am looking forward to book three coming out late this year (and I just saw the awesome cover for it; I really like the design aesthetic they've gone with for this series). I don't recommend starting with Symbiont, but I do recommend the series to fans of medical, apocalyptic and mild horror science fiction.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: November 2014, Orbit
Series: Parasitology book 2 of 3
Format read: ePub
Source: Purchased from Google Play

Parasite by Mira Grant

Parasite by Mira Grant is the first book in a new series by the author of the Newsflesh trilogy. It's set in a different world with a completely different threat but it many ways it's similarly written. I expect fans of the Newsflesh books will enjoy it. Also, how freaking awesome is the cover?

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.

The story in Parasite is about Sal, who had a car accident six years ago, was declared brain dead and then woke up from her coma just when her parents had agreed to turn off the life support. But Sal doesn't remember anything about her life before the accident and had to learn how to live (talk, walk, be a functioning member of society) from scratch. The good news was that because it was her SymboGen implant that miraculously saved her, SymboGen has been footing the bill for all her medical treatment and rehabilitation (not an insignificant boon, given the US health system, heh).

So Sal is happy with her life working in an animal shelter and (slightly less happy with) having regular tests and shrink appointments. But then an epidemic breaks out. People start contracting the "sleeping sickness" and acting like sleepwalkers or zombies (I think Grant is fond of zombies...). No one knows what's causing the sleeping sickness and, more worryingly, the news isn't reporting anything about it either. Sal and her boyfriend (who is also a parasitologist) get caught up in trying to work out what's going on with the sleeping sickness and why it's being hushed up.

I really enjoyed Parasite. Sal is an interesting character with lots of little quirks that were well thought through, for example her anxiety around cars. There was one aspect of the plot (which I can't be specific about because spoilers) that was a bit too coincidental, but the characters in the story were quick to comment on the coincidence, making it more believable.

One really interesting aspect (and this paragraph is going to contain a really minor spoiler) is that about half way through Sal (and the reader) learns something very shocking, so shocking that she blocks it out. It was interesting how different characters reacted to her denial and how her own thought-processes worked around it.

Overall, Parasite was an enjoyable read that was difficult to put down (and can be blamed for keeping me awake reading). I'd call it a medical thriller and similar to the Newsflesh books, but not as violent and bloody (a bit gory and there was more vomiting than I would've liked but one must expect these sorts of things in this sort of book). For those readers wondering whether it's for the faint of heart, I'd say it's borderline. The characters (and the dogs) were the real highlights which made Parasite a pleasure to return to. I am very eagerly awaiting the next book in the series (oh, and although the story isn't finished in Parasite, it also isn't a cliffhanger, which I'm sure will make some readers happy). I strongly recommend Parasite to fans of Mira Grant and medical thrillers.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: November 2013, Orbit
Series: Yes. Parasitology book 1 of ? (probably a trilogy, I would guess)
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley