Book Review: The Lives of Tao

The Lives of Tao
The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the Lives and thought the premise, of long-lived non-corporeal beings which could survive long-term on Earth only by inhabiting human host bodies, intriguing and presented in a way which is as believable as it can get. I appreciated the way Wesley worked in limitations of these beings: they need to retain their new host-bodies, they can last only so long outside, if the host’s death is under certain circumstances, the parasite/superbeing passes. His action and pace was generally good, though at time I felt it flagged a little, or there were periods which I felt were not as well fleshed out as they could be. I had trouble identifying with some of the characters at times – most likely there is more backstory to this which could have deepened the conflict and brought the reader into the story with more conviction. Overall, a very good airplane book – a bit like a supernatural James Bond adventure at times, light enough yet intriguing enough you can do it in distracting circumstances.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Author: H.W. MacNaughton

Technologist and communicator. Into technology, jazz, Formula One, sci-fi and any good writing about real stuff.

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