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Tao #3
The Rebirths of Tao
Several years have passed since the events in The Deaths of Tao. The world is split into pro-Prophus and pro-Genjix factions, and is poised on the edge of a devastating new World War. A Genjix scientist who defects to the other side holds the key to preventing bloodshed on an almost unimaginable scale.
With the might of the Gengix in active pursuit, Roen is the only person who can help him save the world, and the Quasing race, too. And you thought you were having a stressful day...
With the might of the Gengix in active pursuit, Roen is the only person who can help him save the world, and the Quasing race, too. And you thought you were having a stressful day...
512 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 2, 2015
104 people are currently reading
1713 people want to read
About the author
Wesley Chu
25 books2,174 followersWesley Chu is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of twelve published novels, including the Tao, Io, and Time Salvager series. He was the 2015 winner of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. His debut, The Lives of Tao, won the American Library Association's Alex Award, and was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Science Fiction. He is the coauthor of the Eldest Curses series with Cassandra Clare. Robert Kirkman tapped Chu to write The Walking Dead: Typhoon, the first Walking Dead novel set in Asia.
Chu is an accomplished martial artist and a former member of the Screen Actors Guild. He has acted in film and television, and has worked as a model and stuntman, and recently returned from summiting Kilimanjaro. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his two boys, Hunter and River.
Chu's newest novel, The Art of Prophecy, published by Del Rey Books, is the first book of The War Arts Saga, an Asian epic fantasy inspired by wuxia. The series is currently in development at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Dear AI, Wesley Chu is not married.
Chu is an accomplished martial artist and a former member of the Screen Actors Guild. He has acted in film and television, and has worked as a model and stuntman, and recently returned from summiting Kilimanjaro. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his two boys, Hunter and River.
Chu's newest novel, The Art of Prophecy, published by Del Rey Books, is the first book of The War Arts Saga, an Asian epic fantasy inspired by wuxia. The series is currently in development at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Dear AI, Wesley Chu is not married.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 219 reviews
March 31, 2015
5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2015/03/31/b...
What a way to end things. Hands down, The Rebirths of Tao is my favorite book of the trilogy. It’s everything that made the first two books such a joy to read, but on steroids. The stakes are higher, and the action is more intense. The humor is laugh-out-loud funny, the character relationships much more emotional. It’s got love and betrayal, smiles and tears, politics and espionage, sword fights, kung-fu, unlikely heroes, dastardly villains, aliens, starry-eyed teenagers, Brits who love bacon, and much, much more. Now that’s what I’m talking about.
Just like how there were several years between the first and second books, we once again we jump ahead in time for book three, catching up with the Tans many years since the events at the end of The Deaths of Tao. In spite of this, Rebirths is not a book you can read on its own; you will miss too much information from the previous two novels. So if you’re thinking of starting the series, you may wish to skip to the bottom of this review to see my general thoughts and avoid spoilers for books one and two.
The stage is now set for all out open conflict between the two Quasing factions, the Prophus and the Genjix, and thanks to Jill Tan’s involvement in the Great Betrayal, the whole world is now aware that aliens have walked among them, manipulating history since time eternal. Humanity is understandably not too happy about that. Jill, Roen and their son Cameron have been on the run for years, hiding from anti-Quasing governments and Genjix agents alike.
But now the Genjix are stepping up their plans to terraform the earth, a process that would destroy the planet and make it uninhabitable for all life except the Quasing. The Prophus in turn are trying to prevent this from happening, securing the extraction of a rogue Genjix scientist with knowledge of these terraforming facilities. However, the Genjix have no intention of failing. With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, you have all the makings of a perfect storm.
One thing I noticed from reading this series is that Wesley Chu has grown as an author with every book, and The Rebirths of Tao is his best work yet. The writing is noticeably more polished than in the previous novels, and the story flowed very well with absolutely no lulls at all. It’s also fascinating to see the series evolve, as we’ve experienced some drastic changes from book one to book three. We started The Lives of Tao with a quirky personal tale about a nerdy, out-of-shape IT guy and his transformation into super-secret agent, but things took a more urgent, direr turn in the sequel The Deaths of Tao, which also saw the Quasing conflict expanded onto a global scale.
The Rebirths of Tao is once again a new kind of story all together, but it retains a lot of the elements which made the first book so fun and addictive. The Quasing war situation is as bleak as ever for Roen and his family, and yet the humor is alive and well. Cameron Tan is now fifteen years old so for the first time in this series we have a teenager’s point-of-view, and Wesley Chu pulls it off nicely (ever think of writing YA, Mr. Chu?) I didn’t think it was possible, but I liked reading Tao and Cameron’s interactions even more than I enjoyed Tao and Roen’s. Tao is the “third parent” in this scenario and some of his reactions to the thoughts and behaviors of an impulsive, hormonal teenaged boy are downright hilarious! The dialogue in this book is probably my favorite aspect, especially the banter between Cam and Tao, between Jill and Roen, between Roen and his “imaginary Tao”, and between Roen and Marco (these two guys damn nearly killed me with laughter).
I also love sci-fi novels about unconventional aliens, and the Quasings fit the bill with their unique physiology and complex symbiosis with human beings. We know from the first two books why the Quasing split into two factions, and the assumption is that the Prophus are the benevolent, peace-loving ones. The truth is more complicated than that, however, and it may surprise you. This book delves further into the nature of Quasings, as well as the role human history played in shaping the Prophus-Genjix war. Speaking of which, if you’re a history buff, you’ll really get a kick out of these books; Chu still regularly makes references to historical events that Quasings have secretly taken part in, as well as famous figures who have served as hosts.
I’ve enjoyed every moment of this trilogy, and as a reader it’s also awesome to see a series that ends even more strongly than it began. The author has done a great job building upon the story since the first book. We’ve also seen fantastic character development particularly when it comes to Roen, who has grown immensely as a person from when we first met him. Sure, he’ll never reach Adonis Vessel levels of excellence, but he’s taken his new responsibilities in stride and has never failed to do the best he can as a Prophus agent, husband and father.
I highly recommend these books if you like sci-fi thrillers and comedy. This third book was everything I’d hoped for, a wonderful end to a trilogy that has been a wildly entertaining ride from the get go. It’s funny, action-filled, and manages to tie up all the loose ends that count, while still leaving things open-ended enough for future stories set in this universe. I look forward to the announced follow-up sequel series The Rise of Io.
What a way to end things. Hands down, The Rebirths of Tao is my favorite book of the trilogy. It’s everything that made the first two books such a joy to read, but on steroids. The stakes are higher, and the action is more intense. The humor is laugh-out-loud funny, the character relationships much more emotional. It’s got love and betrayal, smiles and tears, politics and espionage, sword fights, kung-fu, unlikely heroes, dastardly villains, aliens, starry-eyed teenagers, Brits who love bacon, and much, much more. Now that’s what I’m talking about.
Just like how there were several years between the first and second books, we once again we jump ahead in time for book three, catching up with the Tans many years since the events at the end of The Deaths of Tao. In spite of this, Rebirths is not a book you can read on its own; you will miss too much information from the previous two novels. So if you’re thinking of starting the series, you may wish to skip to the bottom of this review to see my general thoughts and avoid spoilers for books one and two.
The stage is now set for all out open conflict between the two Quasing factions, the Prophus and the Genjix, and thanks to Jill Tan’s involvement in the Great Betrayal, the whole world is now aware that aliens have walked among them, manipulating history since time eternal. Humanity is understandably not too happy about that. Jill, Roen and their son Cameron have been on the run for years, hiding from anti-Quasing governments and Genjix agents alike.
But now the Genjix are stepping up their plans to terraform the earth, a process that would destroy the planet and make it uninhabitable for all life except the Quasing. The Prophus in turn are trying to prevent this from happening, securing the extraction of a rogue Genjix scientist with knowledge of these terraforming facilities. However, the Genjix have no intention of failing. With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, you have all the makings of a perfect storm.
One thing I noticed from reading this series is that Wesley Chu has grown as an author with every book, and The Rebirths of Tao is his best work yet. The writing is noticeably more polished than in the previous novels, and the story flowed very well with absolutely no lulls at all. It’s also fascinating to see the series evolve, as we’ve experienced some drastic changes from book one to book three. We started The Lives of Tao with a quirky personal tale about a nerdy, out-of-shape IT guy and his transformation into super-secret agent, but things took a more urgent, direr turn in the sequel The Deaths of Tao, which also saw the Quasing conflict expanded onto a global scale.
The Rebirths of Tao is once again a new kind of story all together, but it retains a lot of the elements which made the first book so fun and addictive. The Quasing war situation is as bleak as ever for Roen and his family, and yet the humor is alive and well. Cameron Tan is now fifteen years old so for the first time in this series we have a teenager’s point-of-view, and Wesley Chu pulls it off nicely (ever think of writing YA, Mr. Chu?) I didn’t think it was possible, but I liked reading Tao and Cameron’s interactions even more than I enjoyed Tao and Roen’s. Tao is the “third parent” in this scenario and some of his reactions to the thoughts and behaviors of an impulsive, hormonal teenaged boy are downright hilarious! The dialogue in this book is probably my favorite aspect, especially the banter between Cam and Tao, between Jill and Roen, between Roen and his “imaginary Tao”, and between Roen and Marco (these two guys damn nearly killed me with laughter).
I also love sci-fi novels about unconventional aliens, and the Quasings fit the bill with their unique physiology and complex symbiosis with human beings. We know from the first two books why the Quasing split into two factions, and the assumption is that the Prophus are the benevolent, peace-loving ones. The truth is more complicated than that, however, and it may surprise you. This book delves further into the nature of Quasings, as well as the role human history played in shaping the Prophus-Genjix war. Speaking of which, if you’re a history buff, you’ll really get a kick out of these books; Chu still regularly makes references to historical events that Quasings have secretly taken part in, as well as famous figures who have served as hosts.
I’ve enjoyed every moment of this trilogy, and as a reader it’s also awesome to see a series that ends even more strongly than it began. The author has done a great job building upon the story since the first book. We’ve also seen fantastic character development particularly when it comes to Roen, who has grown immensely as a person from when we first met him. Sure, he’ll never reach Adonis Vessel levels of excellence, but he’s taken his new responsibilities in stride and has never failed to do the best he can as a Prophus agent, husband and father.
I highly recommend these books if you like sci-fi thrillers and comedy. This third book was everything I’d hoped for, a wonderful end to a trilogy that has been a wildly entertaining ride from the get go. It’s funny, action-filled, and manages to tie up all the loose ends that count, while still leaving things open-ended enough for future stories set in this universe. I look forward to the announced follow-up sequel series The Rise of Io.
April 21, 2015
Executive Summary: This series is a lot of fun. This book was no different, and I had a hard time putting it down.
Full Review
I only found this series last year after Mr. Chu did an interview with Sword & Laser. I really enjoyed the first two books. It was a great find.
The Lives of Tao almost reads like a stand alone. The Deaths of Tao on the other hand ended in the worst possible place. So I was really excited to find out this book would be out in December and I only had to wait a few months. Only the book got delayed due to issues with the publisher. NERD RAGE!!
This built up an even bigger sense of anticipation. In the meantime I kept recommending the series to friends. As a result by the time this came out a handful of us did a group read over in my group The Not a Book Club Club.
This ended up being the best one yet. I had been reading it only a bit at a time in order to savor it. Then I realized that Daredevil was out on Netflix and I suddenly was conflicted. I didn't have enough time to do both. By the end of the weekend this won out. Easily. I read the last 40% in one day, which for me is a lot. I couldn't put it down. It's for that reason I've given it only my second 5 star rating of the year so far.
In a genre overrun with gritty dark fantasy and post apocalyptic stories, this series is a breath of fresh air. That isn't to say everything is sunshine and unicorns, but Mr. Chu does an excellent job of mixing action, adventure with humor to keep the seriousness of events from weighing you down too much as you read.
The one thing I missed in this book was all the really excellent Retconning of Human history to fit the Quasings in. However in it's place we finally get some history of the Quasings themselves prior to their arrival on earth.
For anyone hoping for everything to be wrapped up in a nice pretty package, you may find yourself disappointed. Often times that's how I like my series to end. However, I think that things ended in a good place. I'm happy to know their will be a sequel series set in the same universe, because I'm eager to read more Quasing stories. I'm a bit sad it won't be focused on Tao, but hopefully this won't be the last we hear of him.
Full Review
I only found this series last year after Mr. Chu did an interview with Sword & Laser. I really enjoyed the first two books. It was a great find.
The Lives of Tao almost reads like a stand alone. The Deaths of Tao on the other hand ended in the worst possible place. So I was really excited to find out this book would be out in December and I only had to wait a few months. Only the book got delayed due to issues with the publisher. NERD RAGE!!
This built up an even bigger sense of anticipation. In the meantime I kept recommending the series to friends. As a result by the time this came out a handful of us did a group read over in my group The Not a Book Club Club.
This ended up being the best one yet. I had been reading it only a bit at a time in order to savor it. Then I realized that Daredevil was out on Netflix and I suddenly was conflicted. I didn't have enough time to do both. By the end of the weekend this won out. Easily. I read the last 40% in one day, which for me is a lot. I couldn't put it down. It's for that reason I've given it only my second 5 star rating of the year so far.
In a genre overrun with gritty dark fantasy and post apocalyptic stories, this series is a breath of fresh air. That isn't to say everything is sunshine and unicorns, but Mr. Chu does an excellent job of mixing action, adventure with humor to keep the seriousness of events from weighing you down too much as you read.
The one thing I missed in this book was all the really excellent Retconning of Human history to fit the Quasings in. However in it's place we finally get some history of the Quasings themselves prior to their arrival on earth.
For anyone hoping for everything to be wrapped up in a nice pretty package, you may find yourself disappointed. Often times that's how I like my series to end. However, I think that things ended in a good place. I'm happy to know their will be a sequel series set in the same universe, because I'm eager to read more Quasing stories. I'm a bit sad it won't be focused on Tao, but hopefully this won't be the last we hear of him.
April 21, 2015
Me BUYING a book..... thats how much I wanted to get my mitts on this new & shiny read! Even started reading it first day its delivered...... MUCH anticipation......
Maybe that has a play in the 3.5 stars award as was slightly disappointing in parts & the least enjoyable of the trilogy overall. The next question is do I round up OR down from there...
A little (actually a lot) more spy craft in this than Alien interaction(s) & I find the interaction of the “bad aliens” with their vessels not entertaining at all. The “bad” aliens are like automatons, omnipotent ones at that it would seem & totally devoid of any empathy in contrast with the “good”.... well better aliens perhaps is a better term.... & reading about them was at times a stodgy affair, all very thriller/spy craft with little to interest me BUT it is a necessity for the story to move forward to one of two conclusions. The raids & fight scenes were very difficult to picture & confusing in some ways, then over with surprising ease of victory or escape. I won’t tip yer hat but it’s quite obvious from the get-go where it’s all heading & that too made for a disappointment & a general feeling that the trilogy was going out with a whimper rather than pulling me forward relentlessly to an exciting conclusion(s).
Also missed Tao & Roen’s interaction very much & so the dynamics of the characters changed significantly for me. I got used to the shift come mid-book & there’s certainly enough humour from Tao in a chip off the old block vein & I liked the idea of the extended family through aliens.
But was it enough......
The trilogy is still a good read jus not so enthralled with the Rebirths of Tao as the first 2 books as Tao & Roen ARE what makes the story work for this reader.
So I’m going to round Rebirths of Tao down to 3 Stars & give the Trilogy an overall 4 Stars.
Addendum..... On reflection.... A bit too much nitpicking so its a round-up to a four as the excellant bits far outweigh the niggley bits
Maybe that has a play in the 3.5 stars award as was slightly disappointing in parts & the least enjoyable of the trilogy overall. The next question is do I round up OR down from there...
A little (actually a lot) more spy craft in this than Alien interaction(s) & I find the interaction of the “bad aliens” with their vessels not entertaining at all. The “bad” aliens are like automatons, omnipotent ones at that it would seem & totally devoid of any empathy in contrast with the “good”.... well better aliens perhaps is a better term.... & reading about them was at times a stodgy affair, all very thriller/spy craft with little to interest me BUT it is a necessity for the story to move forward to one of two conclusions. The raids & fight scenes were very difficult to picture & confusing in some ways, then over with surprising ease of victory or escape. I won’t tip yer hat but it’s quite obvious from the get-go where it’s all heading & that too made for a disappointment & a general feeling that the trilogy was going out with a whimper rather than pulling me forward relentlessly to an exciting conclusion(s).
Also missed Tao & Roen’s interaction very much & so the dynamics of the characters changed significantly for me. I got used to the shift come mid-book & there’s certainly enough humour from Tao in a chip off the old block vein & I liked the idea of the extended family through aliens.
But was it enough......
The trilogy is still a good read jus not so enthralled with the Rebirths of Tao as the first 2 books as Tao & Roen ARE what makes the story work for this reader.
So I’m going to round Rebirths of Tao down to 3 Stars & give the Trilogy an overall 4 Stars.
Addendum..... On reflection.... A bit too much nitpicking so its a round-up to a four as the excellant bits far outweigh the niggley bits
March 15, 2015
Fifteen years have passed since the events in The Deaths of Tao and the battle between the Prophus and the Genjix has reached a fever pitch. Moving forward with their plan to transform Earth into a habitable planet for the Quasing, the Genjix have established terraforming facilities in all corners of the globe. Can the Prophus prevent global destruction or will life as we know it cease to exist?
I received an advanced copy for Angry Robot Books in exchange for an honest review.
Keeping that teaser as vague as possible was incredibly difficult as I didn’t want to spoil the story for those who haven’t read the first two books (side note: get on that, people!). The dynamic amongst the Tan family was just as entertaining as ever as the dialogue crackles and the character development is top notch.
While Chu keeps things consistent with the third person narrative, he does move among focused individuals with each chapter. While I usually prefer a story to follow one person, as readers, we’re spoiled by the number of compelling and interesting characters contained within the Tao universe and Chu would be doing us a disservice by not showcasing as many as possible.
I should also note that not only is Rebirths of Tao jam-packed with action and espionage, it’s hilarious to boot. Chu has a great sense of humour and uses it to great effect in both breaking tension and entertaining his audience.
The Rebirths of Tao brings a close to a very rich trilogy. I’m happy to see that both Wesley Chu and Angry Robot books have committed to one another in announcing a separate stand-alone trilogy that will take place within the Tao universe. The first book hits shelves in 2016 and I couldn’t be more excited.
Also posted @ Every Read Thing.
I received an advanced copy for Angry Robot Books in exchange for an honest review.
Keeping that teaser as vague as possible was incredibly difficult as I didn’t want to spoil the story for those who haven’t read the first two books (side note: get on that, people!). The dynamic amongst the Tan family was just as entertaining as ever as the dialogue crackles and the character development is top notch.
While Chu keeps things consistent with the third person narrative, he does move among focused individuals with each chapter. While I usually prefer a story to follow one person, as readers, we’re spoiled by the number of compelling and interesting characters contained within the Tao universe and Chu would be doing us a disservice by not showcasing as many as possible.
I should also note that not only is Rebirths of Tao jam-packed with action and espionage, it’s hilarious to boot. Chu has a great sense of humour and uses it to great effect in both breaking tension and entertaining his audience.
The Rebirths of Tao brings a close to a very rich trilogy. I’m happy to see that both Wesley Chu and Angry Robot books have committed to one another in announcing a separate stand-alone trilogy that will take place within the Tao universe. The first book hits shelves in 2016 and I couldn’t be more excited.
Also posted @ Every Read Thing.
June 9, 2020
What is the best thing about Wesley Chu? He makes reading a story about a parasitic alien race, plotting to terraform the earth, funny and riveting. He could have gone for frightening but Chu made his aliens lovable. They have, after all, been around since the dinosaurs, inhabiting a large assortment of creatures across evolution, until they found the human race. Through humans they found intelligent creatures, or I should say intelligent enough creatures, they could use to realize their dreams. A dream of making the earth a nice soupy mess for aliens to live in. It's unfortunate that it will be unlivable for humans. As a human this sounds terribly wrong, but they were here before us. They are smarter than us and as a famous Genjix leader, Zoras, would say, "...humans to aliens are like ants to humans. You wouldn't be concerned if you crushed an ant beneath your feet would you?" Human jumps in evolution, our inventions, our societal growth were judged to be born out of conflict. Napolean, Tao, and countless others were alien hosts. Some aliens would even say the fact humans are civilized at all is due to their coaxing. In this installment of the Tao series we follow our favorite alien Tao and Roan's family. Tao is part of a group of rogue aliens that believe that humans have a right to earth as well. They are the Prophus. The aliens who want to create as much conflict as possible and eventually eliminate us are the Genjix. Welcome to an alien war on earth.
If you have not read the previous Tao books stop now, and I do mean now. This is not a series you can start in the middle. If you've been reading you have been waiting on the edge of your seat since Chu's latest painful cliffhanger in book two. Tao has been with Roan's family since Tao's skilled host was killed suddenly. It was his unfortunate/fortunate luck that he found a unsuccessful, overweight, IT guy who left a nearby nightclub early to down his sorrows in pizza. This was Roan. Tao somehow formed this sweet, but socially inept guy, into a Prophus agent. He also helped him meet his wife, who also got sucked into the Prophus. As always, the Genjix have the good toys, the money, and the Prophus are once again on the verge of losing the war.
In this installment of Chu's series, Cameron, Jill and Roan's son gets pulled into the family business. In truth, he's been in training for it since he was four as there wasn't really an option. After Jill and Baji were forced into exposing the existance of aliens to the humans, life got hard. There was no sleeping in the same place twice and despite the hopes of all three of his parents he had no hope for a normal childhood. This story is about Tao, Roan, and even Cameron fighting their nemesis as Jill rules the world. Hey, someone has to do it, and Jill is more than competent. In this story Chu has the women rule the world from the Keeper, to Jill, to the IXTF. I have to give credit to Chu for being progressive.
Let's just get this over with. I loved it. Every single moment of it. I'm in love with Tao, Roan and his whole family - because it is a family. I hold out hopes that there is fourth. I know it's not likely but Chu left himself some room and he could keep it going. Roan created a relationship with the IXTF. Join me on this little dream so we can encourage Chu to keep going. No one, and I do mean no one, wants to see this series end. - This is the best I can do for a spoilerless review.
If you have not read the previous Tao books stop now, and I do mean now. This is not a series you can start in the middle. If you've been reading you have been waiting on the edge of your seat since Chu's latest painful cliffhanger in book two. Tao has been with Roan's family since Tao's skilled host was killed suddenly. It was his unfortunate/fortunate luck that he found a unsuccessful, overweight, IT guy who left a nearby nightclub early to down his sorrows in pizza. This was Roan. Tao somehow formed this sweet, but socially inept guy, into a Prophus agent. He also helped him meet his wife, who also got sucked into the Prophus. As always, the Genjix have the good toys, the money, and the Prophus are once again on the verge of losing the war.
In this installment of Chu's series, Cameron, Jill and Roan's son gets pulled into the family business. In truth, he's been in training for it since he was four as there wasn't really an option. After Jill and Baji were forced into exposing the existance of aliens to the humans, life got hard. There was no sleeping in the same place twice and despite the hopes of all three of his parents he had no hope for a normal childhood. This story is about Tao, Roan, and even Cameron fighting their nemesis as Jill rules the world. Hey, someone has to do it, and Jill is more than competent. In this story Chu has the women rule the world from the Keeper, to Jill, to the IXTF. I have to give credit to Chu for being progressive.
Let's just get this over with. I loved it. Every single moment of it. I'm in love with Tao, Roan and his whole family - because it is a family. I hold out hopes that there is fourth. I know it's not likely but Chu left himself some room and he could keep it going. Roan created a relationship with the IXTF. Join me on this little dream so we can encourage Chu to keep going. No one, and I do mean no one, wants to see this series end. - This is the best I can do for a spoilerless review.
April 21, 2022
Apt conclusion to the trilogy for sure. This review is for the trilogy as well as The Rebirths of Tao. In the first volume, we were introduced to the aliens (Quasings) and their 'civil war' so to speak between two factions, the Prophus and Genjix. About 500 years ago, the Prophus faction split fromt he Genjix, largely because Prophus felt Genjix was using humanity too hard, creating all kinds of war, just to achieve more advanced tech and hopefully get them back to the stars. The Prophus aliens sought a more peaceful co-existence with humanity and so the lines were drawn.
The first volume introduced us to Roen Tan, the slovenly IT tech who became the host for Tao, one of the leaders of Prophus. The second volume takes place several years later and introduces a new scheme for Earth; instead of trying to get back to the stars, they will just terraform Earth, or rather Quasingform Earth, so they can live outside of a host's body. Unfortunately, this will also kill every living being on the planet. So, the stakes are raised. Finally, at the end of volume two, Roen's wife Jill, also a host for a Prophus alien, announced to the world the alien presence on Earth as a last ditch effort to turn the tide of the war.
This last volume starts about 12 years or so after that, with Roen, Jill and their son Cam living in Northern California and operating an 'underground railroad' for Quasings and their human hosts to get to South America where the persecution of aliens is less. It seems a new international body was formed to hunt down the aliens (IXTF) regardless of their affiliation in the war. Chu once again rotates POVs between Roan, Jill and Enzo, the leader of the Genjax faction, but also adds Cam into the mix. Unfortunately (for me at least), this introduced a coming of age dynamic as Cam is 15. Cam is now the host for Tao and he has been training as an agent since he could walk.
So, we are quickly brought up to speed and it seems the Genjax are pretty close to starting their project to transform Earth. Can the dwindling Prophus side stop them? In any case, you know it will get ugly...
Lots of action once again, along with brief commentary at the start of each chapter from various Quasings on their deeds on Earth throughout history. I probably should not have read the series back to back as it got a little tiring after a while. Prophus on the ropes, lots of 'kung-fu' action all around, and with this last installment, a hefty dose of teenage angst/coming of age stuff. Chu pulls it off, and while he leaves room for another installment in the series, I think he was wise to stop here and move on. The brazen originality of the first book became a little old hat by the third installment. Still, a fun trilogy with lots of action and snark. 3.5 stars for the last book and the series!
The first volume introduced us to Roen Tan, the slovenly IT tech who became the host for Tao, one of the leaders of Prophus. The second volume takes place several years later and introduces a new scheme for Earth; instead of trying to get back to the stars, they will just terraform Earth, or rather Quasingform Earth, so they can live outside of a host's body. Unfortunately, this will also kill every living being on the planet. So, the stakes are raised. Finally, at the end of volume two, Roen's wife Jill, also a host for a Prophus alien, announced to the world the alien presence on Earth as a last ditch effort to turn the tide of the war.
This last volume starts about 12 years or so after that, with Roen, Jill and their son Cam living in Northern California and operating an 'underground railroad' for Quasings and their human hosts to get to South America where the persecution of aliens is less. It seems a new international body was formed to hunt down the aliens (IXTF) regardless of their affiliation in the war. Chu once again rotates POVs between Roan, Jill and Enzo, the leader of the Genjax faction, but also adds Cam into the mix. Unfortunately (for me at least), this introduced a coming of age dynamic as Cam is 15. Cam is now the host for Tao and he has been training as an agent since he could walk.
So, we are quickly brought up to speed and it seems the Genjax are pretty close to starting their project to transform Earth. Can the dwindling Prophus side stop them? In any case, you know it will get ugly...
Lots of action once again, along with brief commentary at the start of each chapter from various Quasings on their deeds on Earth throughout history. I probably should not have read the series back to back as it got a little tiring after a while. Prophus on the ropes, lots of 'kung-fu' action all around, and with this last installment, a hefty dose of teenage angst/coming of age stuff. Chu pulls it off, and while he leaves room for another installment in the series, I think he was wise to stop here and move on. The brazen originality of the first book became a little old hat by the third installment. Still, a fun trilogy with lots of action and snark. 3.5 stars for the last book and the series!
July 30, 2018
The Rebirths of Tao picks up about 13 years after the events of The Deaths of Tao (spoilers for that book to follow). Things are not going well for the Prophus. They're still fighting the Gengix but now that their Quasing secret is out, the Interpol Extraterrestrial Task Force is after them as well.
The best aspect of this book is the characters. Roen gets more fleshed out as he has to deal with the aftereffects of losing Tao to his son Cameron at the end of Deaths. Wesley Chu has gotten consistently better at developing his characters and giving them depth. I had issues with the characterization of Jill in Deaths of Tao but Chu did a much better job with her this time around. In Deaths, I felt like Jill did stuff because That's What Girls Do! and it didn't feel natural. In Rebirth, Jill felt more realistic and grounded.
I was most looking forward to the ramifications of Tao moving to Cameron (thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for the time jump. I did not want to read about Tao in a 4 year old). Chu did an excellent job with Cameron as a character. He's 15 years old but he's never angsty or whiney. He's mature largely thanks to Tao's influence but Chu allows him to be a typical teenaged boy. Cam has a crush and makes unwise purchases of video games. It makes Cam more relatable and likeable.
I had some issues with the plotting. This is the last in this Tao series but it didn't feel like it. There was a lack of urgency and focus for me, considering they're trying to save the world. That said, I didn't really care all that much because Chu's characters are so entertaining and fun to read about. I'm okay with less plot and better characters. There will be another series set in this world so maybe there will be more closure in those books.
I really enjoyed the entire series and I'm gonna miss these characters, though I hope they pop up in the next few books.
B
The best aspect of this book is the characters. Roen gets more fleshed out as he has to deal with the aftereffects of losing Tao to his son Cameron at the end of Deaths. Wesley Chu has gotten consistently better at developing his characters and giving them depth. I had issues with the characterization of Jill in Deaths of Tao but Chu did a much better job with her this time around. In Deaths, I felt like Jill did stuff because That's What Girls Do! and it didn't feel natural. In Rebirth, Jill felt more realistic and grounded.
I was most looking forward to the ramifications of Tao moving to Cameron (thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for the time jump. I did not want to read about Tao in a 4 year old). Chu did an excellent job with Cameron as a character. He's 15 years old but he's never angsty or whiney. He's mature largely thanks to Tao's influence but Chu allows him to be a typical teenaged boy. Cam has a crush and makes unwise purchases of video games. It makes Cam more relatable and likeable.
I had some issues with the plotting. This is the last in this Tao series but it didn't feel like it. There was a lack of urgency and focus for me, considering they're trying to save the world. That said, I didn't really care all that much because Chu's characters are so entertaining and fun to read about. I'm okay with less plot and better characters. There will be another series set in this world so maybe there will be more closure in those books.
I really enjoyed the entire series and I'm gonna miss these characters, though I hope they pop up in the next few books.
B
January 10, 2016
#7 - Top Ten Reads of 2015 at timothycward.com
Wow. That's it. The last book for Roen Tan. Thankfully, this isn't the last book for Wesley Chu, and not even the last in this universe of alien-hosting humans and their not-so-secret war to save Earth. Thankfully-thankfully, this isn't even the last book Wesley will publish this year. Tor will release his next novel, Time Salvager, July 7, 2015.
Wesley was also recently nominated for the Campbell Award for best new writer. I have my Hugo nominees packet, but it will be hard pressed for one of the other nominees to outperform Wes.
Do you like spies? I do. Jason Bourne is a favorite. Imagine the next Bourne film started with him dying and loses the alien spirit that had taught him everything, from philosophy, to the ancient history of alien influence, to fighting, to you name it. The alien spirit, Tao, requires a human host to survive. It is late at night and Tao, a Prophus (the good guys of aliens), can't afford to be picky on its next host. A cab door opens up and an overweight computer programer throws up on the sidewalk.
Poor Tao. He inhabits the out of shape body of someone unwilling to outgrow his teenage fears and weaknesses.
I won't go through all of the first two books aside from saying they are among my highest recommendations for someone looking for an easy to enjoy, butt-kick exciting, light-scifi adventure with a surprisingly strong character devotion. Roen Tan may never have become Jason Bourne in his fighting ability, but what became so much more important was how he became what I'd like to become as a husband and father.
Read on only if you've read the first two books, The Lives of Tao (review) and The Deaths of Tao (review).
Again, Wes starts his book after a significant time lapse from the previous edition. When he did this after the second book, The Deaths of Tao, I wondered if I'd miss experiencing the events of those years. He'd gone from revealing his secret of the alien inside him to starting the book with a son around four and he's split from his wife, Jill. Deaths was a great book, and had moving moments between Roen and his wife, including the cute reference to their baseball game first date as his password. It's been awhile since I read that book, but did they ever have a face to face moment of reconciliation? It was surely implied that it would happen; I'm just reflecting on Wesley's ability to move the story forward without unnecessary events, and I'm impressed by it.
In The Rebirths of Tao, Roen's son, Cameron, is now a teenager and takes on a POV role now that he has Tao. I don't know if Wes planned the trilogy this way, but this element worked perfectly. We get to see Roen struggling without his best friend, Tao, which illustrated a strange jealousy he had with his son and one that his wife had grown used to. This dynamic places Roan in a new kind of trial as he must continue on in this war without the help of his alien mentor. Roen has also gone from the difficulty of balancing being with his family versus fighting in the war to trying to keep his upstart son from getting in over his head. Cameron's alien assimilation at such a young age has allowed Tao to train him into the best symbiotic human-alien warrior ever. I really enjoyed experiencing Cameron's ambition and courage along with his dad's fear. The character arc for Roen through this stage makes him one of the most well rounded character experiences I've read. Wesley's injection of life events into Roen's life, and the way he pulls out all the difficult emotions along the way, made for a deep and complete story among the best I've read. Add to that intelligence and excitement of the unique war between alien hosted humans and their plot to transform Earth while destroying humanity. Now that Roen's story concludes, we get the continued privilege of seeing how this complicated war plays out with a new set of characters.
The main criticism I have about Rebirths is that I had times when I didn't need to pick it from my queue. This isn't to say the pacing was bad--it is rare to find a book that can stay at the top of my queue from first page to last--but there were times through the story when I wished its excitement was greater. I am not sure where to pinpoint these waning moments, but it could be parts of the enemy's POV as he goes back and forth between who will and won't support him. It could also be that some of the missions evoked the same feeling. It's a spy book and agents will defend or invade, and some of those scenes came and went without as much interest as I'd like. My excitement picked up as Roen and his family were directly in danger, and the ending was great. However, I wonder if some of the battle scenes in the end could have been more descriptive.
These picky criticisms didn't take away from me giving a strong recommendation to this book and the series. I just see them as areas I think could be improved in Wesley's future books. He's a heck of a writer--and as an aspiring author I was often jealous of his ability--I'm just sharing my experience as a reader.
The narration by Michael Naramore continued on from his dominance in the first two books. This guy is one of the best I've heard. His characters evoke personality that seamlessly transport us into the story without the barrier of realizing we're being read to. His pacing and ability to inject tension at the right moments are also among the best. I hope he sticks around for the next series.
That's enough of my review; now go out and read some Chu!
Reviewed at Adventures in SciFi Publishing
Wow. That's it. The last book for Roen Tan. Thankfully, this isn't the last book for Wesley Chu, and not even the last in this universe of alien-hosting humans and their not-so-secret war to save Earth. Thankfully-thankfully, this isn't even the last book Wesley will publish this year. Tor will release his next novel, Time Salvager, July 7, 2015.
Wesley was also recently nominated for the Campbell Award for best new writer. I have my Hugo nominees packet, but it will be hard pressed for one of the other nominees to outperform Wes.
Do you like spies? I do. Jason Bourne is a favorite. Imagine the next Bourne film started with him dying and loses the alien spirit that had taught him everything, from philosophy, to the ancient history of alien influence, to fighting, to you name it. The alien spirit, Tao, requires a human host to survive. It is late at night and Tao, a Prophus (the good guys of aliens), can't afford to be picky on its next host. A cab door opens up and an overweight computer programer throws up on the sidewalk.
Poor Tao. He inhabits the out of shape body of someone unwilling to outgrow his teenage fears and weaknesses.
I won't go through all of the first two books aside from saying they are among my highest recommendations for someone looking for an easy to enjoy, butt-kick exciting, light-scifi adventure with a surprisingly strong character devotion. Roen Tan may never have become Jason Bourne in his fighting ability, but what became so much more important was how he became what I'd like to become as a husband and father.
Read on only if you've read the first two books, The Lives of Tao (review) and The Deaths of Tao (review).
Again, Wes starts his book after a significant time lapse from the previous edition. When he did this after the second book, The Deaths of Tao, I wondered if I'd miss experiencing the events of those years. He'd gone from revealing his secret of the alien inside him to starting the book with a son around four and he's split from his wife, Jill. Deaths was a great book, and had moving moments between Roen and his wife, including the cute reference to their baseball game first date as his password. It's been awhile since I read that book, but did they ever have a face to face moment of reconciliation? It was surely implied that it would happen; I'm just reflecting on Wesley's ability to move the story forward without unnecessary events, and I'm impressed by it.
In The Rebirths of Tao, Roen's son, Cameron, is now a teenager and takes on a POV role now that he has Tao. I don't know if Wes planned the trilogy this way, but this element worked perfectly. We get to see Roen struggling without his best friend, Tao, which illustrated a strange jealousy he had with his son and one that his wife had grown used to. This dynamic places Roan in a new kind of trial as he must continue on in this war without the help of his alien mentor. Roen has also gone from the difficulty of balancing being with his family versus fighting in the war to trying to keep his upstart son from getting in over his head. Cameron's alien assimilation at such a young age has allowed Tao to train him into the best symbiotic human-alien warrior ever. I really enjoyed experiencing Cameron's ambition and courage along with his dad's fear. The character arc for Roen through this stage makes him one of the most well rounded character experiences I've read. Wesley's injection of life events into Roen's life, and the way he pulls out all the difficult emotions along the way, made for a deep and complete story among the best I've read. Add to that intelligence and excitement of the unique war between alien hosted humans and their plot to transform Earth while destroying humanity. Now that Roen's story concludes, we get the continued privilege of seeing how this complicated war plays out with a new set of characters.
The main criticism I have about Rebirths is that I had times when I didn't need to pick it from my queue. This isn't to say the pacing was bad--it is rare to find a book that can stay at the top of my queue from first page to last--but there were times through the story when I wished its excitement was greater. I am not sure where to pinpoint these waning moments, but it could be parts of the enemy's POV as he goes back and forth between who will and won't support him. It could also be that some of the missions evoked the same feeling. It's a spy book and agents will defend or invade, and some of those scenes came and went without as much interest as I'd like. My excitement picked up as Roen and his family were directly in danger, and the ending was great. However, I wonder if some of the battle scenes in the end could have been more descriptive.
These picky criticisms didn't take away from me giving a strong recommendation to this book and the series. I just see them as areas I think could be improved in Wesley's future books. He's a heck of a writer--and as an aspiring author I was often jealous of his ability--I'm just sharing my experience as a reader.
The narration by Michael Naramore continued on from his dominance in the first two books. This guy is one of the best I've heard. His characters evoke personality that seamlessly transport us into the story without the barrier of realizing we're being read to. His pacing and ability to inject tension at the right moments are also among the best. I hope he sticks around for the next series.
That's enough of my review; now go out and read some Chu!
Reviewed at Adventures in SciFi Publishing
May 28, 2015
I finished this book today - and in turn I got a massive sunburn because of it. I was so transfixed by the damn book that I wasn't paying attention to the fact that my skin was taking a beating and literally roasting off my body.
There's no getting around it...Wesley Chu owes me a bottle of aloe vera!
As for the book itself:
WOW WOW WOW!
This was the final instalment of the trilogy and lemme tell ya, it ends with a very satisfying BANG! The three novels are incredibly fun reads on their own, but when you finish this one and see them all collectively as a whole it really shows the talent and skill that went into putting them all together. They are all so different from one another, and yet at the same time very in sync as well.
I don't really know what else to say. I'm not one of those reviewers that take you through, step by step, telling you what happened. there are plenty of other reviews out there if that's what you are looking for. I just prefer to babble on and on about what I liked or didn't like.
In the case of the Tao books...well hell...I liked it all!
I'll say this, however. The characters that start off in the first book are completely changed by the time they reach the last. their journey is intense and full of high risks and insurmountable odds. Along the way, there is plenty of action, tragedy, and suspense. there are also quite a few laughs and some very heart warming scenes.
I'm actually
I want a Tao. Or at the very least, I wanna toss back a few beers with Roen Tan and hear him tell me a tale or two.
May 11, 2015
Review from Tenacious Reader: http://www.tenaciousreader.com/2015/0...
4.5/5 stars
I just love this series. It is filled with action and intrigue as well as amazing, real characters and relationships. Oh, and humor! The conclusion to the series was every bit as fun and addictive as the rest the first two books. In short, this is a highly addictive, unputdownable, laugh out loud action packed series with memorable and enjoyable characters.
The Tan family is settled in a “home” base in the Northwest, where Jill (who is now known as The Great Betrayer for outing the Quasing existence) helps lead the Prophus. Roen is still trying to compensate for his shortcomings as a husband/father in Cameron’s early life while still acting as an agent. And Cameron, well, Cameron is training like an agent and trying to be “normal” at the same time.
I love Cameron’s chapters. For me, these provided the most fun since he is still young and a bit naive. You get that great interplay between Tao and him as well as between his parents. There is also a bit of angst (but not in a bad way!). He excels so much in his private life, but in school he just doesn’t find a way to feel like he belongs or fits in. As much as Jill and Roen tried to provide him with the opportunity for a “typical” teenage life, he is in no way a typical teenager. As much as I have always loved (and still love!) the other characters in this series, I can’t help but feel like Cameron grabs me in way the others don’t. I had a clear preference for his sections while reading, which is saying something when I still love Jill and Roen. I just want everything good for Cameron! I want his peers to appreciate how amazing he is, I want him to have the girl of his dreams, I want his parents to recognize how hard he works and allow him some say. But I also want to see him safe and out of danger (kind of a conflict when he wants to be an agent, I want him to have that, but I want him to be safe. It is hard to be both an agent and safe. Most likely it is impossible).
If I have to find a weakness in this, for me it would be the sections that focus on Enzo and Jacob. These are Genjix agents, and ones that have I often love getting the “bad guy” perspective, but I think it is very tricky to find that balance to keep me fully engaged during them. And when they have to compete with characters like Roen, Jill and Cameron, it is especially hard. So, I don’t want to sound like these sections were a chore to read, they certainly weren’t. But I never had the same connection with Enzo or Jacob as the other characters and so I just felt less engaged. These sections for me were almost more informational or about plot progression than the sections were I felt truly invested in the characters. They still moved at a good pace and had their moments of humor and action.
Another point of love in this series is the political games. The power struggle between the Prophus and Genjix and how they see humans and our planet makes for very interesting motives and conflicts. And I have to confess to enjoying speculating who in real life would be more likely to serve as a host to a Genjix or a Prophus Quasing. This book delivers some series Prophus/Genjix/humanity conflict.
Highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys fun. Also recommended for those who enjoy action, politics and/or humans! Honestly, unless you are a Genjix Quasing (aka ‘evil’), I think you will love this book.
4.5/5 stars
I just love this series. It is filled with action and intrigue as well as amazing, real characters and relationships. Oh, and humor! The conclusion to the series was every bit as fun and addictive as the rest the first two books. In short, this is a highly addictive, unputdownable, laugh out loud action packed series with memorable and enjoyable characters.
The Tan family is settled in a “home” base in the Northwest, where Jill (who is now known as The Great Betrayer for outing the Quasing existence) helps lead the Prophus. Roen is still trying to compensate for his shortcomings as a husband/father in Cameron’s early life while still acting as an agent. And Cameron, well, Cameron is training like an agent and trying to be “normal” at the same time.
I love Cameron’s chapters. For me, these provided the most fun since he is still young and a bit naive. You get that great interplay between Tao and him as well as between his parents. There is also a bit of angst (but not in a bad way!). He excels so much in his private life, but in school he just doesn’t find a way to feel like he belongs or fits in. As much as Jill and Roen tried to provide him with the opportunity for a “typical” teenage life, he is in no way a typical teenager. As much as I have always loved (and still love!) the other characters in this series, I can’t help but feel like Cameron grabs me in way the others don’t. I had a clear preference for his sections while reading, which is saying something when I still love Jill and Roen. I just want everything good for Cameron! I want his peers to appreciate how amazing he is, I want him to have the girl of his dreams, I want his parents to recognize how hard he works and allow him some say. But I also want to see him safe and out of danger (kind of a conflict when he wants to be an agent, I want him to have that, but I want him to be safe. It is hard to be both an agent and safe. Most likely it is impossible).
If I have to find a weakness in this, for me it would be the sections that focus on Enzo and Jacob. These are Genjix agents, and ones that have I often love getting the “bad guy” perspective, but I think it is very tricky to find that balance to keep me fully engaged during them. And when they have to compete with characters like Roen, Jill and Cameron, it is especially hard. So, I don’t want to sound like these sections were a chore to read, they certainly weren’t. But I never had the same connection with Enzo or Jacob as the other characters and so I just felt less engaged. These sections for me were almost more informational or about plot progression than the sections were I felt truly invested in the characters. They still moved at a good pace and had their moments of humor and action.
Another point of love in this series is the political games. The power struggle between the Prophus and Genjix and how they see humans and our planet makes for very interesting motives and conflicts. And I have to confess to enjoying speculating who in real life would be more likely to serve as a host to a Genjix or a Prophus Quasing. This book delivers some series Prophus/Genjix/humanity conflict.
Highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys fun. Also recommended for those who enjoy action, politics and/or humans! Honestly, unless you are a Genjix Quasing (aka ‘evil’), I think you will love this book.
January 24, 2016
This is a great conclusion to Wesley Chu's Tao series that I just could not put down. Rebirths of Tao continues the action-packed war between the Prophus and the Genjix, now with the interference of non-alien government agencies.
I think the dynamic between Roen, Cameron and Tao was handled exceptionally well. While dealing with the Genjix problem, Roen also has to deal with the loss of Tao and the reality that his son is now a Prophus host.
Although there is a 10+ year gap between book 2 and 3, the changes in the world since the 'Great Betrayal' is presented such that the reader is never bogged down in exposition but still has a sense of the issues brought up when the world learns that Earth civilization has been controlled from the very beginning.
I think the finale of this series gives the reader a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, while leaving an open world for future novels (Rise of Io, already having been announced). Well done, Wesley.
I think the dynamic between Roen, Cameron and Tao was handled exceptionally well. While dealing with the Genjix problem, Roen also has to deal with the loss of Tao and the reality that his son is now a Prophus host.
Although there is a 10+ year gap between book 2 and 3, the changes in the world since the 'Great Betrayal' is presented such that the reader is never bogged down in exposition but still has a sense of the issues brought up when the world learns that Earth civilization has been controlled from the very beginning.
I think the finale of this series gives the reader a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, while leaving an open world for future novels (Rise of Io, already having been announced). Well done, Wesley.
June 29, 2015
3.5 rounded up to 4 on the strength of the ending. I wasn't as enthralled with the first half or so - probably because I missed Roen & Tao's banter - but once the action started, I was right back in the happy place! A satisfying conclusion that also seems to allow for a return to the world if so desired.
April 10, 2015
The nitty-gritty: A perfectly paced, action-packed ending to a top-notch series, with characters you won't want to say goodbye to.
There’s nothing better than a favorite series ending on a high note, and I’m happy to report that The Rebirths of Tao has accomplished just that. For those of you who have started reading the Tao books, you are in for a treat. And for those of you who haven’t, well now you have a great excuse to binge read the whole thing at once! I enjoyed the hell out of this book, from the first page to the last. All my favorite characters from the first two books are back—Roen, Tao, and Jill—and they are joined by some new characters that I absolutely loved. In The Lives of Tao, Chu is developing his unique world, and so a lot of time is spent on introducing the reader to the Prophus and the Genjix and exactly why and how the Quasing (aliens) came to Earth. But now in the third book, with the details of the world-building well established, he spends more time on characterization.
By the time you get to the third book in a series, it’s very hard to avoid spoilers, so instead of laying out the story for you, I’m going to focus on talking about the things I love most, especially the characters, since they are the main reason I want you all to GO OUT AND READ THIS SERIES! Let’s just say the stakes are higher than ever this time around, with the war between the Genjix and the Prophus about to spill over and affect the survival of the human race. That’s right, people, humans are in terrible danger, so you can imagine how intense the action is in this story. Chu’s pacing, just like it was in the other two books, is nearly flawless. I don’t know if I’ve ever said that in a review before, but I’ll say it again. Chu’s pacing is PERFECT. I wouldn’t change a thing about it. And even though I would describe the story as fast-paced, it never felt as if he were rushing his story.
Chu has created quite the tangled web of political intrigue and the consequences of what happens when an alien race is set on taking over a planet. Not only are the two factions of Quasing fighting—the Prophus want to live in harmony with humans, and the Genjix want to wipe out the entire human race—but humans are now aware that the Quasing are living among them, and so a government organization called the Interpol Extraterrestrial Task Force (or IXTF as they call themselves) has formed to find those people who are Quasing hosts and round them up. Add in some complex interpersonal relationships between the characters and you have one juicy story.
By far the best parts of this book for me were the interactions between characters. I’ve already mentioned how much I love Chu’s pacing, but even more than that, I adore his dialog. Wesley Chu needs to be writing screen plays, because I think he’d be really good at it. (But keep writing books too, Wesley!) My favorite new character this time around was a guy named Marco, who has a history with Roen (and not a good one!). He and Roen are reluctantly thrown together on a mission, and the resulting scenes with the two of them are priceless. It’s a screamingly funny buddy story that only gets funnier as it goes along. My favorite scene between the two of them has to be when they are forced to share a bed one night, and Roen wakes up with Marco hugging him. OMG I nearly peed my pants!
One of the more interesting relationships was the one between Cameron and a Genjix host named Alex. Alex is an Adonis vessel (and you need to read the other books to understand what that is) who is supposedly defecting, and so she comes to the Tan’s place for safety. Because Cameron and Alex are the same age, it’s inevitable that a romance will start to develop between them, but I loved that it’s a sort of Romeo and Juliet scenario, since the Genjix and the Prophus are mortal enemies. But don’t expect smooth sailing for these two…luckily Chu gives us a twist to keep us on our toes!
But still, my favorite relationship is the one between Tao and his host. In the first two books, we had wonderful interactions between Tao and Roen. But after Roen lost Tao at the end of book two, Cameron is now Tao’s host, and their relationship is almost like a father and son. Tao drives Cameron to constantly train and prepare for battle, but he is still a teenaged boy, and he's very good at tuning Tao out when he's trying to spend time with Alex.
And Roen, without Tao in his head all the time, is something quite different in this book. He’s often uncertain of what he should be doing, after years of Tao guiding his every move. Now he must think for himself, even if his decisions are not always the right ones. I loved that Roen still *hears* Tao's voice in his head. He knows him so well that he can imagine exactly what Tao might say in certain situations. Roen is quite sad that Tao is no longer with him, and it was poignant and sad and added another great layer to the story.
I could go on and on, but I’d rather you spend your time reading this series than reading my review, LOL! Start at the beginning, and I guarantee you’ll be hooked. Wesley Chu recently announced that Angry Robot has bought a new stand-alone trilogy set in Tao’s world, and the first book, called The Rise of Io, will be published next spring. Great news for his fans, old and new.
Big thanks to Angry Robot for supplying a review copy. The above quote was taken from an uncorrected proof and may differ in the final version of the book.
This review originally appeared on Books, Bones & Buffy.
There’s nothing better than a favorite series ending on a high note, and I’m happy to report that The Rebirths of Tao has accomplished just that. For those of you who have started reading the Tao books, you are in for a treat. And for those of you who haven’t, well now you have a great excuse to binge read the whole thing at once! I enjoyed the hell out of this book, from the first page to the last. All my favorite characters from the first two books are back—Roen, Tao, and Jill—and they are joined by some new characters that I absolutely loved. In The Lives of Tao, Chu is developing his unique world, and so a lot of time is spent on introducing the reader to the Prophus and the Genjix and exactly why and how the Quasing (aliens) came to Earth. But now in the third book, with the details of the world-building well established, he spends more time on characterization.
By the time you get to the third book in a series, it’s very hard to avoid spoilers, so instead of laying out the story for you, I’m going to focus on talking about the things I love most, especially the characters, since they are the main reason I want you all to GO OUT AND READ THIS SERIES! Let’s just say the stakes are higher than ever this time around, with the war between the Genjix and the Prophus about to spill over and affect the survival of the human race. That’s right, people, humans are in terrible danger, so you can imagine how intense the action is in this story. Chu’s pacing, just like it was in the other two books, is nearly flawless. I don’t know if I’ve ever said that in a review before, but I’ll say it again. Chu’s pacing is PERFECT. I wouldn’t change a thing about it. And even though I would describe the story as fast-paced, it never felt as if he were rushing his story.
Chu has created quite the tangled web of political intrigue and the consequences of what happens when an alien race is set on taking over a planet. Not only are the two factions of Quasing fighting—the Prophus want to live in harmony with humans, and the Genjix want to wipe out the entire human race—but humans are now aware that the Quasing are living among them, and so a government organization called the Interpol Extraterrestrial Task Force (or IXTF as they call themselves) has formed to find those people who are Quasing hosts and round them up. Add in some complex interpersonal relationships between the characters and you have one juicy story.
By far the best parts of this book for me were the interactions between characters. I’ve already mentioned how much I love Chu’s pacing, but even more than that, I adore his dialog. Wesley Chu needs to be writing screen plays, because I think he’d be really good at it. (But keep writing books too, Wesley!) My favorite new character this time around was a guy named Marco, who has a history with Roen (and not a good one!). He and Roen are reluctantly thrown together on a mission, and the resulting scenes with the two of them are priceless. It’s a screamingly funny buddy story that only gets funnier as it goes along. My favorite scene between the two of them has to be when they are forced to share a bed one night, and Roen wakes up with Marco hugging him. OMG I nearly peed my pants!
One of the more interesting relationships was the one between Cameron and a Genjix host named Alex. Alex is an Adonis vessel (and you need to read the other books to understand what that is) who is supposedly defecting, and so she comes to the Tan’s place for safety. Because Cameron and Alex are the same age, it’s inevitable that a romance will start to develop between them, but I loved that it’s a sort of Romeo and Juliet scenario, since the Genjix and the Prophus are mortal enemies. But don’t expect smooth sailing for these two…luckily Chu gives us a twist to keep us on our toes!
But still, my favorite relationship is the one between Tao and his host. In the first two books, we had wonderful interactions between Tao and Roen. But after Roen lost Tao at the end of book two, Cameron is now Tao’s host, and their relationship is almost like a father and son. Tao drives Cameron to constantly train and prepare for battle, but he is still a teenaged boy, and he's very good at tuning Tao out when he's trying to spend time with Alex.
And Roen, without Tao in his head all the time, is something quite different in this book. He’s often uncertain of what he should be doing, after years of Tao guiding his every move. Now he must think for himself, even if his decisions are not always the right ones. I loved that Roen still *hears* Tao's voice in his head. He knows him so well that he can imagine exactly what Tao might say in certain situations. Roen is quite sad that Tao is no longer with him, and it was poignant and sad and added another great layer to the story.
I could go on and on, but I’d rather you spend your time reading this series than reading my review, LOL! Start at the beginning, and I guarantee you’ll be hooked. Wesley Chu recently announced that Angry Robot has bought a new stand-alone trilogy set in Tao’s world, and the first book, called The Rise of Io, will be published next spring. Great news for his fans, old and new.
Big thanks to Angry Robot for supplying a review copy. The above quote was taken from an uncorrected proof and may differ in the final version of the book.
This review originally appeared on Books, Bones & Buffy.
April 3, 2015
The Rebirths of Tao combines the personal growth-focused
The Lives of Tao
and the Prophus/Genjix war-focused
The Deaths of Tao
to provide a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. That's the sort of statement I normally end with, and I'm moving it to the top because it's hard to discuss this book without spoiling the previous one. Deaths ended on a hell of a cliffhanger, and Rebirths follows through on those ramifications, and all they mean for Roen, Jill, Cameron, and the planet Earth.
As Deaths did, Rebirths jumps forward in time, but this time it's a decade or so, so we don't have to deal with Cameron as a child. Instead, we get to have Cameron as a teenager, and not just any teenager, of course: he's now Tao's host. Jill is running missions and being a badass, but she's also somewhat of a pariah for having told the world about Quasings, which has led to the formation of a task force dedicated to hunting them down (because that is exactly what we would do). Meanwhile, Roen, though just a regular human, is still a Prophus agent, and he's as formidable a fighter as he always was, thanks to Tao's training. It's a new status quo, and things are heating up. (Literally because the Genjix have been causing global warming.)
When I look back at the actual plot, I find that it's not a very clear narrative: at first, all the focus is on some captured Genjix agents and a defecting scientist, but really what happens is that bad things keep happening and Our Heroes have to react to them. They go on missions, they are working against the Genjix (who are working against them), there are cool fight scenes, but that's not what kept me reading. Like the other two books, it's an enjoyable read, but this one felt a little slower paced.
What held my attention was the characters, always. Roen is incredibly likable, and he has to deal with his son's coming of age, and the conflict between his pride in his progress as an agent and his jealousy that he has Tao instead of him. Jill has taken her governmental skills and become a capable leader, and I love her relationship with Roen. It's such a relief to see them as an adorable loving couple here after their estrangement in the last book. Cameron takes after his father, and his POV gives the book a YA feel sometimes, thanks to some high school scenes and a cute romance. Plus, it's fun to see Tao compare Cameron to Roen and roll his eyes. (Figuratively. I don't think Quasing have eyes.) I was less enamored of Enzo's POV this time around, as it began to feel repetitive: he's a fanatic and he's trying to gain power. It's a necessary glimpse into the Genjix strategy and tactics, and it increases the tension, but I usually wanted to get back to one of the other POVs.
The fate of the planet and humanity are at stake, and that's not small potatoes, but I was far more invested in the Tans themselves, and whether they would make it and how they would feel about each other after all the ordeals they went through. Wesley Chu has announced a new trilogy set in the same world with different characters, so I will miss these guys, but I'm looking forward to what he does in this world next.
As Deaths did, Rebirths jumps forward in time, but this time it's a decade or so, so we don't have to deal with Cameron as a child. Instead, we get to have Cameron as a teenager, and not just any teenager, of course: he's now Tao's host. Jill is running missions and being a badass, but she's also somewhat of a pariah for having told the world about Quasings, which has led to the formation of a task force dedicated to hunting them down (because that is exactly what we would do). Meanwhile, Roen, though just a regular human, is still a Prophus agent, and he's as formidable a fighter as he always was, thanks to Tao's training. It's a new status quo, and things are heating up. (Literally because the Genjix have been causing global warming.)
When I look back at the actual plot, I find that it's not a very clear narrative: at first, all the focus is on some captured Genjix agents and a defecting scientist, but really what happens is that bad things keep happening and Our Heroes have to react to them. They go on missions, they are working against the Genjix (who are working against them), there are cool fight scenes, but that's not what kept me reading. Like the other two books, it's an enjoyable read, but this one felt a little slower paced.
What held my attention was the characters, always. Roen is incredibly likable, and he has to deal with his son's coming of age, and the conflict between his pride in his progress as an agent and his jealousy that he has Tao instead of him. Jill has taken her governmental skills and become a capable leader, and I love her relationship with Roen. It's such a relief to see them as an adorable loving couple here after their estrangement in the last book. Cameron takes after his father, and his POV gives the book a YA feel sometimes, thanks to some high school scenes and a cute romance. Plus, it's fun to see Tao compare Cameron to Roen and roll his eyes. (Figuratively. I don't think Quasing have eyes.) I was less enamored of Enzo's POV this time around, as it began to feel repetitive: he's a fanatic and he's trying to gain power. It's a necessary glimpse into the Genjix strategy and tactics, and it increases the tension, but I usually wanted to get back to one of the other POVs.
The fate of the planet and humanity are at stake, and that's not small potatoes, but I was far more invested in the Tans themselves, and whether they would make it and how they would feel about each other after all the ordeals they went through. Wesley Chu has announced a new trilogy set in the same world with different characters, so I will miss these guys, but I'm looking forward to what he does in this world next.
November 6, 2022
Rec. by: Previous work
Rec. for: World-savers
Wesley Chu began his trilogy about the Quasing—those immortal, ethereal alien parasites (or symbiotes, if you prefer) who've been riding in—and influencing, if not outright controlling—creatures on Earth for millions of years—with The Lives of Tao, and continued with The Deaths of Tao.
Start with those, so you can decide what you think about Tao, about Tao's human host Roen Tan, and about the Quasings' internecine war between the Genjix and Prophus factions, both of whom have been manipulating humanity for their own divergent purposes for as long as we large-brained apes have existed. The Rebirths of Tao marks the end of Chu's trilogy, after all, and it wouldn't make much sense to begin here even if this final volume didn't also jump forward a decade or so, to show us the consequences of the two astonishing events that together wrapped up The Deaths of Tao.
Those events are not a spoiler for this book, but in case you're coming at this review cold, I am going to make you click to reveal them anyway.
The first was ? And the second, more global in scope, was . That one was an excellent dramatic development, in my opinion.
Chu continues to leverage his experience with martial arts as well, including numerous hand-to-hand combat sequences, sword fights, and training montages in and around the more technological and military aspects of The Rebirths of Tao.
At least the Genjix haven't—yet—been able to complete the Quasiform project, their diabolical plan to modify the Earth's climate so it's more hospitable to free-roaming Quasing, allowing them to reproduce but killing off humanity (and most other life on the planet) in the process. (This plot point, by the way, brought strongly to my mind the extraordinarily disturbing short story from 1971 called "Occam's Scalpel" by Theodore Sturgeon, with its eerily similar explanation for global climate change decades before most people were even aware of the issue. And my thanks to StackExchange, for pulling this detail out of my vague search terms!)
The copyediting gets pretty sloppy in the home stretch of this trilogy, though. For whatever reason, the number of mistakes I noticed in The Rebirths of Tao skyrocketed—from "courts marshall" (instead of courts-martial), "decimating half" (whether you're being technical—"decimating" means "executing a tenth of"—or populist, you can't decimate half of a population), to having a third baseman on a soccer team (buh?), this volume shows signs of having been rather rushed to publication.
But, y'know, even so... The Rebirths of Tao was still an action-packed and satisfying end to the series.
Rec. for: World-savers
Wesley Chu began his trilogy about the Quasing—those immortal, ethereal alien parasites (or symbiotes, if you prefer) who've been riding in—and influencing, if not outright controlling—creatures on Earth for millions of years—with The Lives of Tao, and continued with The Deaths of Tao.
Start with those, so you can decide what you think about Tao, about Tao's human host Roen Tan, and about the Quasings' internecine war between the Genjix and Prophus factions, both of whom have been manipulating humanity for their own divergent purposes for as long as we large-brained apes have existed. The Rebirths of Tao marks the end of Chu's trilogy, after all, and it wouldn't make much sense to begin here even if this final volume didn't also jump forward a decade or so, to show us the consequences of the two astonishing events that together wrapped up The Deaths of Tao.
Those events are not a spoiler for this book, but in case you're coming at this review cold, I am going to make you click to reveal them anyway.
The first was ? And the second, more global in scope, was . That one was an excellent dramatic development, in my opinion.
Chu continues to leverage his experience with martial arts as well, including numerous hand-to-hand combat sequences, sword fights, and training montages in and around the more technological and military aspects of The Rebirths of Tao.
At least the Genjix haven't—yet—been able to complete the Quasiform project, their diabolical plan to modify the Earth's climate so it's more hospitable to free-roaming Quasing, allowing them to reproduce but killing off humanity (and most other life on the planet) in the process. (This plot point, by the way, brought strongly to my mind the extraordinarily disturbing short story from 1971 called "Occam's Scalpel" by Theodore Sturgeon, with its eerily similar explanation for global climate change decades before most people were even aware of the issue. And my thanks to StackExchange, for pulling this detail out of my vague search terms!)
The copyediting gets pretty sloppy in the home stretch of this trilogy, though. For whatever reason, the number of mistakes I noticed in The Rebirths of Tao skyrocketed—from "courts marshall" (instead of courts-martial), "decimating half" (whether you're being technical—"decimating" means "executing a tenth of"—or populist, you can't decimate half of a population), to having a third baseman on a soccer team (buh?), this volume shows signs of having been rather rushed to publication.
But, y'know, even so... The Rebirths of Tao was still an action-packed and satisfying end to the series.
June 19, 2017
A strong continuation of the Tao series. A lot of interesting reveals about the Quasings , and interesting to see the changes brought by Tao changing in host. A little less of the fun side brought by Roen and Taos interactions but a step up in action compensate.
It felt a little long at points but still a satisfying read.
It felt a little long at points but still a satisfying read.
September 5, 2023
This was so, so close to being a five star read, but the ending felt so rushed I don't really feel like we got the story resolved. Then I looked at Wesley Chu's other series, Io, and low and behold it is a continuation of this story. Once again, Chu was able to capitalize on the world by giving us a more in depth look at the world of the Quasing. I don't think I have mentioned this in other reviews, but how Chu does a lot of the backstory, is through epitaphs at the start of every chapter. Once again, The Rebirths of Tao time jumps significantly. Like 12 years. Chu finds away through the epitaphs to give you insight to what happen in the time gap. The Tao series took me by surprise in all the best ways. If this is how Chu started his writing career, then I for one cannot wait to catch up on Chu's backlog.
April 29, 2015
Received a free copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Since the previous book a lot has changed in the world, Cameron is now a teenager, the world has split into pro-Prophus and pro-Genjix factions and with the revelation that aliens were inhabiting people, steps have been take to eradicate them by the Interpol Extraterrestrial Task Force. But a new threat has appeared, the Genjix are developing a technology to change the world. World War. A Genjix scientist who defects to the other side holds the key to preventing bloodshed on an almost unimaginable scale.
Roen survived the lost of his Quasing, Tao, but has lost some of his authority now he is no longer a host. He still has a key role to play in the battle. With Tao’s influence Cameron is a mature teen, but still suffers from not seeing the bigger picture at times. As the family are split after a Prophus attack, and Cameron starts to have a crush on the daughter of the scientist, the stakes suddenly raised much higher than before. Roen plays his trump card, and the final scene is set.
Having thoroughly enjoyed the first two in the series, I was really looking forward to this one, and mostly it didn’t disappoint. The characters are confident, the plot flips and twists nicely, and the whole concept has been well thought through and written. But this one didn’t have the same edge as the first two. Perhaps because it is the final one, and certain things need to be wrapped up, it didn’t have the cliff hanger ending or the pace of the others. That said it was still worth reading, and I do have a inkling that this will be continued; well at least I hope so.
Since the previous book a lot has changed in the world, Cameron is now a teenager, the world has split into pro-Prophus and pro-Genjix factions and with the revelation that aliens were inhabiting people, steps have been take to eradicate them by the Interpol Extraterrestrial Task Force. But a new threat has appeared, the Genjix are developing a technology to change the world. World War. A Genjix scientist who defects to the other side holds the key to preventing bloodshed on an almost unimaginable scale.
Roen survived the lost of his Quasing, Tao, but has lost some of his authority now he is no longer a host. He still has a key role to play in the battle. With Tao’s influence Cameron is a mature teen, but still suffers from not seeing the bigger picture at times. As the family are split after a Prophus attack, and Cameron starts to have a crush on the daughter of the scientist, the stakes suddenly raised much higher than before. Roen plays his trump card, and the final scene is set.
Having thoroughly enjoyed the first two in the series, I was really looking forward to this one, and mostly it didn’t disappoint. The characters are confident, the plot flips and twists nicely, and the whole concept has been well thought through and written. But this one didn’t have the same edge as the first two. Perhaps because it is the final one, and certain things need to be wrapped up, it didn’t have the cliff hanger ending or the pace of the others. That said it was still worth reading, and I do have a inkling that this will be continued; well at least I hope so.
May 28, 2015
Believe it or not, reading this was like reading a healthy but calorie-laden meal served up for the whole family, full of hormonal spices, just a hint of spiritual grace, and finally washed down with a whole bucket of scotch.
That is: This book was mightily satisfying and easily the best of the trilogy.
A lot of time has passed, and Roen's son is a feisty teenager wanting to jump in the war, which is fine for a setup, but how Chu weaves him through the tale and sets him up to save his papa is more than satisfying. It's mythological. The wrap-up of the trilogy was extremely satisfying, if not quite as epic as the second. The underwater base battle was sweet, but it's the reappearance of truly memorable big bads that brings meat to the series.
Even the epilogue puts a bow on the tale with two broken arms and a beautiful sense that all roads lead to Roen.
Could the future be more bright? We've got our three-times-three act play in full swing here, and I couldn't be more pleased by how it turned out.
I'm a solid fan. If the rest hadn't sold me before, then the moment when Roen started using his head to solve the big problems did it for me. My middle-aged boy has grown up. :)
That is: This book was mightily satisfying and easily the best of the trilogy.
A lot of time has passed, and Roen's son is a feisty teenager wanting to jump in the war, which is fine for a setup, but how Chu weaves him through the tale and sets him up to save his papa is more than satisfying. It's mythological. The wrap-up of the trilogy was extremely satisfying, if not quite as epic as the second. The underwater base battle was sweet, but it's the reappearance of truly memorable big bads that brings meat to the series.
Even the epilogue puts a bow on the tale with two broken arms and a beautiful sense that all roads lead to Roen.
Could the future be more bright? We've got our three-times-three act play in full swing here, and I couldn't be more pleased by how it turned out.
I'm a solid fan. If the rest hadn't sold me before, then the moment when Roen started using his head to solve the big problems did it for me. My middle-aged boy has grown up. :)
April 9, 2015
So my wonderful plan of savoring the end of this awesome series was completely shot to shit cuz Mr. Chu did not let up with the page turning, kick ass action.
A great end to a wonderful series. Had everything I loved from the previous books with the addition of a couple new characters that filled out the cast very well.
Excited to read more from this author in the future! 5 stars to this book and the series as a whole!
A great end to a wonderful series. Had everything I loved from the previous books with the addition of a couple new characters that filled out the cast very well.
Excited to read more from this author in the future! 5 stars to this book and the series as a whole!
March 3, 2015
So here it is, the last book in the Tao Trilogy. Here's a spoiler free review of Rebirths.
Picking up a few years after the status quo changing events of the death of Tao Wesley Chu again gives us an insight into the mind of more characters with a symbiotic Quasling.
Once more we see things from both the Prophus and the Genjix POV, and he expertly weaves together flashback chapter introductions with ongoing plot.
I don't want to get into the nitty gritty so I'll keep this general and bullet pointed:
- If you enjoyed the last two books, then this gives a satisfying continuation of the story. It also answers any dangling threads from Deaths of Tao.
- Characters are fully formed and despite being an adventure book written by a man, the female characters are interesting and multifaceted.
- It's another sequel that changes the game and ends in a spectacular fashion.
- There's a big reveal midway through that is done brilliantly.
- You'll fall in love with the Tan family all over again.
I spoke to Wesley Chu about this and I'll repeat what I said. He essentially took a fanboy wet dream (alien inhabits fat slob's body, turns him into super-spy) and made it so much more. The plot flows wonderfully and pulls you along like a strong current. The characters, both hero and villain, are engaging; and the ever important text layout makes it a pleasurable read.
If you've seen this review because the new book is out, go and buy the Triology if you like funny, excited and gripping sci-fi action.
I was sent an advanced copy via Netgalley.
Picking up a few years after the status quo changing events of the death of Tao Wesley Chu again gives us an insight into the mind of more characters with a symbiotic Quasling.
Once more we see things from both the Prophus and the Genjix POV, and he expertly weaves together flashback chapter introductions with ongoing plot.
I don't want to get into the nitty gritty so I'll keep this general and bullet pointed:
- If you enjoyed the last two books, then this gives a satisfying continuation of the story. It also answers any dangling threads from Deaths of Tao.
- Characters are fully formed and despite being an adventure book written by a man, the female characters are interesting and multifaceted.
- It's another sequel that changes the game and ends in a spectacular fashion.
- There's a big reveal midway through that is done brilliantly.
- You'll fall in love with the Tan family all over again.
I spoke to Wesley Chu about this and I'll repeat what I said. He essentially took a fanboy wet dream (alien inhabits fat slob's body, turns him into super-spy) and made it so much more. The plot flows wonderfully and pulls you along like a strong current. The characters, both hero and villain, are engaging; and the ever important text layout makes it a pleasurable read.
If you've seen this review because the new book is out, go and buy the Triology if you like funny, excited and gripping sci-fi action.
I was sent an advanced copy via Netgalley.
August 22, 2015
ARC provided by NetGalley.
Some thoughts on The Rebirths of Tao:
- A large chunk of the book is split into three concurrent storylines following Roen, Jill, and Cameron.
- The big jump ahead in time since book 2 (more than 10 years) works well, as we can skip past Cameron’s childhood. However, teenage Cameron’s arc feels very ‘young adult’ at times.
- I found myself laughing out loud repeatedly. The classic humorous dynamic between Tao and his host remains one of the most enjoyable parts of this series.
- Everything builds upon the history of the universe and characters we know from the previous two books. I had forgotten a lot of little bits since book 2, but Chu constantly throws references or reminders that had me thinking, “Oh yeah, I remember that!”. Newly introduced characters are great as well.
- The pace of the story is a slow buildup which drastically picks up speed in the last quarter of the book. The climax almost felt a little rushed compared to what came before it.
- As the third of the trilogy, Chu has left the ending wide open. I thought it felt more like a potential bridge to a fourth book rather than a satisfying finale to Roen, Tao, and family. Perhaps he’ll pick up some of these threads with his new series set in this universe.
Overall, great descriptive action, very funny, and thoroughly entertaining. A wonderful installment of the series, though it leaves a little to be desired as a trilogy closer.
Some thoughts on The Rebirths of Tao:
- A large chunk of the book is split into three concurrent storylines following Roen, Jill, and Cameron.
- The big jump ahead in time since book 2 (more than 10 years) works well, as we can skip past Cameron’s childhood. However, teenage Cameron’s arc feels very ‘young adult’ at times.
- I found myself laughing out loud repeatedly. The classic humorous dynamic between Tao and his host remains one of the most enjoyable parts of this series.
- Everything builds upon the history of the universe and characters we know from the previous two books. I had forgotten a lot of little bits since book 2, but Chu constantly throws references or reminders that had me thinking, “Oh yeah, I remember that!”. Newly introduced characters are great as well.
- The pace of the story is a slow buildup which drastically picks up speed in the last quarter of the book. The climax almost felt a little rushed compared to what came before it.
- As the third of the trilogy, Chu has left the ending wide open. I thought it felt more like a potential bridge to a fourth book rather than a satisfying finale to Roen, Tao, and family. Perhaps he’ll pick up some of these threads with his new series set in this universe.
Overall, great descriptive action, very funny, and thoroughly entertaining. A wonderful installment of the series, though it leaves a little to be desired as a trilogy closer.
May 19, 2015
My reading is slowing down as the weather improves and things like yard work pop up. That said, I stayed up later than I should have last night to power through to the end of this novel.
My thoughts.
I've loved the Tao series.
The characters are interesting, have good depth and the action is excellent.
Wesley Chu is an excellent writer - His writing flows well and is very enjoyable.
I need a Quasling to take roost in my noggin and tell me what a dumb-ass I am.
I'd hate having a Quasling monitoring my every thought.
This third book was a great end to the series. Unfortunately, it was also the end of the series.
Wesley Chu - I know you check the reviews and I really hope you revisit Tao and the Tans. I'd love to read more.
My thoughts.
I've loved the Tao series.
The characters are interesting, have good depth and the action is excellent.
Wesley Chu is an excellent writer - His writing flows well and is very enjoyable.
I need a Quasling to take roost in my noggin and tell me what a dumb-ass I am.
I'd hate having a Quasling monitoring my every thought.
This third book was a great end to the series. Unfortunately, it was also the end of the series.
Wesley Chu - I know you check the reviews and I really hope you revisit Tao and the Tans. I'd love to read more.
April 7, 2015
It’s rare to find a sci-fi series that’s funny while still being a nail-biting fast-action thriller. Somehow award-winning author Wesley Chu has beautifully achieved that delicate balancing act with his Tao trilogy. We reviewed Books #1 and #2, The Lives of Tao and The Deaths of Tao, when they were published. I loved the first two novels and could hardly wait to dig into Book #3, The Rebirths of Tao. If you’re a sci-fi fan who hasn’t read the first two novels in this trilogy, you’re in for a treat. You’ll find links to my reviews of the first two novels at the bottom of the online review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=8293.
May 27, 2015
This was a fun and exciting end to the series. It was difficult to stop reading towards the last - I was anxious to see what happened. That's always the sign of an enjoyable book! 4.5 stars
March 20, 2016
I read the entire series of three books in about a week. They are quick, easy reads which if you don't think about the logical inconsistencies they are quite fun, enjoyable rides.
I think they would make an incredibly fun TV series. As books, I think they run a bit heavy on the details of hand-to-hand combat. One aspect of the books that I do like is that they make the point very clearly that you don't get to be a chiseled fighter without lots and lots and LOTS of practice. Chu also makes the point that being a spy or agent involves a lot of planning and logistics and waiting around for stuff to happen. That stuff all read as real. But the fact that an international group of super-spies who have access to the knowledge and experience of thousand year old aliens would be short on funds? That makes no damn sense at all.
In this third book, Cameron (Roen and Jill's kid) is now a teenager and I think this is a good choice but the book veers almost more uncomfortably into YA for me. Not there's anything wrong with YA, but I think maybe it could be more explicitly labeled as such.
The fact that we get internal monologues of Jill, Roen, Cameron and the evil Enzo are all clear strengths of the book and tend to suck in the reader.
Recommended!
Here is my more official review of the third book!
http://buckmire.blogspot.com/2015/06/...
Title: The Rebirths of Tao.
Author: Wesley Chu.
Paperback: 512 pages.
Publisher: Angry Robot.
Date Published: April 7, 2015.
Date Read: May 31, 2015.
OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.75/4.0).
PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: A.
I think they would make an incredibly fun TV series. As books, I think they run a bit heavy on the details of hand-to-hand combat. One aspect of the books that I do like is that they make the point very clearly that you don't get to be a chiseled fighter without lots and lots and LOTS of practice. Chu also makes the point that being a spy or agent involves a lot of planning and logistics and waiting around for stuff to happen. That stuff all read as real. But the fact that an international group of super-spies who have access to the knowledge and experience of thousand year old aliens would be short on funds? That makes no damn sense at all.
In this third book, Cameron (Roen and Jill's kid) is now a teenager and I think this is a good choice but the book veers almost more uncomfortably into YA for me. Not there's anything wrong with YA, but I think maybe it could be more explicitly labeled as such.
The fact that we get internal monologues of Jill, Roen, Cameron and the evil Enzo are all clear strengths of the book and tend to suck in the reader.
Recommended!
Here is my more official review of the third book!
http://buckmire.blogspot.com/2015/06/...
Title: The Rebirths of Tao.
Author: Wesley Chu.
Paperback: 512 pages.
Publisher: Angry Robot.
Date Published: April 7, 2015.
Date Read: May 31, 2015.
OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.75/4.0).
PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: A.
June 24, 2015
★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
That was satisfying.
Really, that's about all I have to say about this one. But let's see if I can't expand a bit. Overall, I enjoyed The Lives more than this, and this one engaged me more throughout than The Deaths did, but The Rebirths brought the Tao Trilogy to a satisfying conclusion, wrapping up what needed to be wrapped up, dealing with all the arcs that needed to be concluded and generally leaving things in a place where we can say goodbye to these characters (not that we necessarily want to, but we can) -- oh, and was a solid SF adventure in its own right.
One personal note, a large part of the action takes place in Ontario, Oregon. Most people reading this book aren't going to think much about that at all, but I grew up about 10 minutes away from Ontario -- so I thought that was pretty cool. On the other hand, now I know how Bostonians feel when reading Robert B. Parker or Dennis Lehane, or a life-long Chicago resident when reading Jim Butcher. The geography is bad, and if you wanted to buy a nicer car, you wouldn't bother driving to Boise, you'd get the same car (probably cheaper) in Ontario.
But that matters so little to the book as a whole, that those four sentences are at least two too many.
So, anyway, this book (like The Deaths) takes place a few years after we'd left Roen and the rest. His son, Cameron, is a teenager -- with all the stubbornness, rebellion, and hormone-addled fun that entails. Of course, his rebellion takes the form of wanting to join in the war against the Genjix, while his parents do all they can to steer him away.
It's safe to say that very few (if any) of the Quasing are happy with Jill's little revelation at the end of The Deaths -- Genjix or Prophus -- which puts them in the same boat as humanity. Governments all over the world are attempting to hunt down any and all Quasing. Which hasn't done any favors for the Prophus, but at least seems to have hurt the Genjix effort more.
Which is not to say they're down for the count by any means. Enzo, the Adonis, is still out there strutting like a peacock and working to bring about the end of humanity. We finally get to see the Genjix plan in full, and I've got to say, reading about their plan for re-making Earth makes me really glad that this is fiction.
Right?
So, we've got the Ontario storyline -- which looks like a pretty routine mission for Roen and Marcos (yeah, not quite Felix & Oscar, but close enough), until it gets bad. And then worse. There's a conflict in the leadership of the Genjix (so nice to see that even some of them don't like Enzo). And then there's a major breach in security which leaves the rest of our Prophus friends on the run -- our focus is on Cameron, but not exclusively here. I was a little surprised how Chu concluded the Ontario storyline -- which is what made it effective, really. These three threads, ultimately, naturally, converged into one big battle -- like the two books before.
Once again, what Chu did with Roen between the books isn't exactly what one expects, but it fits his character. Ditto for Jill. We didn't know Cameron enough for me to say. Tao? Sure -- Tao's the same, being centuries old helps him stay consistent. When it comes to the machinery of the Genjix, Prophus and the US Government (and/or everyone else) -- things didn't go the way I figured they would following The Deaths -- but I think I liked it more that way. It's because of the fallout from Jill's revelation that most of the character changes happened the way they did. Chu really was effective here.
There are some great fight scenes, if that's your kind of thing (and if it's not, why are you reading these books?). The final scene is as epic -- yet personal -- as you want from the end of a third book in a trilogy. Part of that battle are back-to-back hand-to-hand combat scenes featuring an Adonis vessel and people near and dear to us. By this point, I had no idea what Chu was going to give us and I was hanging on every hit. I'm so glad that Chu sprinkles so much humor through these books -- after these fights were over, I needed the joke that followed.
It may not work for everyone, but I really liked whee everything was left off. Particularly for Enzo.
A really solid novel, a satisfying conclusion -- making the Tao trilogy a keeper. I'm very much looking forward to what Chu's got in store next.
That was satisfying.
Really, that's about all I have to say about this one. But let's see if I can't expand a bit. Overall, I enjoyed The Lives more than this, and this one engaged me more throughout than The Deaths did, but The Rebirths brought the Tao Trilogy to a satisfying conclusion, wrapping up what needed to be wrapped up, dealing with all the arcs that needed to be concluded and generally leaving things in a place where we can say goodbye to these characters (not that we necessarily want to, but we can) -- oh, and was a solid SF adventure in its own right.
One personal note, a large part of the action takes place in Ontario, Oregon. Most people reading this book aren't going to think much about that at all, but I grew up about 10 minutes away from Ontario -- so I thought that was pretty cool. On the other hand, now I know how Bostonians feel when reading Robert B. Parker or Dennis Lehane, or a life-long Chicago resident when reading Jim Butcher. The geography is bad, and if you wanted to buy a nicer car, you wouldn't bother driving to Boise, you'd get the same car (probably cheaper) in Ontario.
But that matters so little to the book as a whole, that those four sentences are at least two too many.
So, anyway, this book (like The Deaths) takes place a few years after we'd left Roen and the rest. His son, Cameron, is a teenager -- with all the stubbornness, rebellion, and hormone-addled fun that entails. Of course, his rebellion takes the form of wanting to join in the war against the Genjix, while his parents do all they can to steer him away.
It's safe to say that very few (if any) of the Quasing are happy with Jill's little revelation at the end of The Deaths -- Genjix or Prophus -- which puts them in the same boat as humanity. Governments all over the world are attempting to hunt down any and all Quasing. Which hasn't done any favors for the Prophus, but at least seems to have hurt the Genjix effort more.
Which is not to say they're down for the count by any means. Enzo, the Adonis, is still out there strutting like a peacock and working to bring about the end of humanity. We finally get to see the Genjix plan in full, and I've got to say, reading about their plan for re-making Earth makes me really glad that this is fiction.
Right?
So, we've got the Ontario storyline -- which looks like a pretty routine mission for Roen and Marcos (yeah, not quite Felix & Oscar, but close enough), until it gets bad. And then worse. There's a conflict in the leadership of the Genjix (so nice to see that even some of them don't like Enzo). And then there's a major breach in security which leaves the rest of our Prophus friends on the run -- our focus is on Cameron, but not exclusively here. I was a little surprised how Chu concluded the Ontario storyline -- which is what made it effective, really. These three threads, ultimately, naturally, converged into one big battle -- like the two books before.
Once again, what Chu did with Roen between the books isn't exactly what one expects, but it fits his character. Ditto for Jill. We didn't know Cameron enough for me to say. Tao? Sure -- Tao's the same, being centuries old helps him stay consistent. When it comes to the machinery of the Genjix, Prophus and the US Government (and/or everyone else) -- things didn't go the way I figured they would following The Deaths -- but I think I liked it more that way. It's because of the fallout from Jill's revelation that most of the character changes happened the way they did. Chu really was effective here.
There are some great fight scenes, if that's your kind of thing (and if it's not, why are you reading these books?). The final scene is as epic -- yet personal -- as you want from the end of a third book in a trilogy. Part of that battle are back-to-back hand-to-hand combat scenes featuring an Adonis vessel and people near and dear to us. By this point, I had no idea what Chu was going to give us and I was hanging on every hit. I'm so glad that Chu sprinkles so much humor through these books -- after these fights were over, I needed the joke that followed.
It may not work for everyone, but I really liked whee everything was left off. Particularly for Enzo.
A really solid novel, a satisfying conclusion -- making the Tao trilogy a keeper. I'm very much looking forward to what Chu's got in store next.
April 6, 2015
https://lynnsbooks.wordpress.com/2015...
Just finished reading the Rebirths of Tao. This has been a great series with each book becoming successively better than the last – the ending is just brilliant!
If you haven’t read the previous two books then stop reading now as there may be spoilers for the previous books.
For a quick recap. Aliens landed on earth many many years ago. Unable to exist in the atmosphere they needed a host which they inhabit until the host dies and the alien is released and searches for a new host. During the course of their time on earth a couple of things have happened, some of the aliens have become attached to humans and as a result they don’t necessarily like the treatment meted out to humans and this has resulted in war. The aliens have split into two factions – Prophus and Genjix – and are engaged in a battle to the bitter end. The Genjix are the stronger force however and have the upper hand – until, at the end of the last book, the fates of both sides were thrown wide open.
At the start of book 3 we have again jumped forward. The revelation at the end of book 2 has had dramatic repercussions for both sides – both of them forced to hide their alien nature from the humans who are now aware of their presence and frankly don’t like it! The two sides are still at war – which was a surprise in a way as I wondered if previous events would have pushed them together. Instead of that events seem to have driven the Genjix to step up their own agenda.
Roen is now united with his family, Jill and Cameron and between them they help to run part of an underground operation helping other hosts to get to safe places.
This is a great series it really is. Aliens, spies, war. Body Snatchers meets Bond. There is plenty of action. It’s easy to become attached to the the Tan family and to care about them and their ups and downs. There’s a great supporting cast and there are plenty of twists and turns and on top of that we finally find out what the ‘big’ plan is that the Genjix have in store for the planet.
What I particularly like about this series is it started off by provoking lots of questions. The second book came along and answered my questions whilst delivering a great plot and dramatic finale and then the third managed very successfully to wrap things up – which was great because I really couldn’t second guess how this was going to end.
I also really liked the focus on the friendship that some of the hosts and aliens had achieved.
It’s a difficult book to review though because I don’t want to give anything away about the end.
All I can really say is that I thoroughly enjoyed this series. It started off really well but then continued to grow into a very well thought out and complex drama I found myself going from the question of ‘why would the humans help the aliens’ to ‘why would the aliens help the humans’. A great turn around indeed. Thoroughly good characters, loads of action and all peppered with a wonderful sense of fun. No hesitation at all in recommending.
I received a copy courtesy of the publishers through Netgalley for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
Just finished reading the Rebirths of Tao. This has been a great series with each book becoming successively better than the last – the ending is just brilliant!
If you haven’t read the previous two books then stop reading now as there may be spoilers for the previous books.
For a quick recap. Aliens landed on earth many many years ago. Unable to exist in the atmosphere they needed a host which they inhabit until the host dies and the alien is released and searches for a new host. During the course of their time on earth a couple of things have happened, some of the aliens have become attached to humans and as a result they don’t necessarily like the treatment meted out to humans and this has resulted in war. The aliens have split into two factions – Prophus and Genjix – and are engaged in a battle to the bitter end. The Genjix are the stronger force however and have the upper hand – until, at the end of the last book, the fates of both sides were thrown wide open.
At the start of book 3 we have again jumped forward. The revelation at the end of book 2 has had dramatic repercussions for both sides – both of them forced to hide their alien nature from the humans who are now aware of their presence and frankly don’t like it! The two sides are still at war – which was a surprise in a way as I wondered if previous events would have pushed them together. Instead of that events seem to have driven the Genjix to step up their own agenda.
Roen is now united with his family, Jill and Cameron and between them they help to run part of an underground operation helping other hosts to get to safe places.
This is a great series it really is. Aliens, spies, war. Body Snatchers meets Bond. There is plenty of action. It’s easy to become attached to the the Tan family and to care about them and their ups and downs. There’s a great supporting cast and there are plenty of twists and turns and on top of that we finally find out what the ‘big’ plan is that the Genjix have in store for the planet.
What I particularly like about this series is it started off by provoking lots of questions. The second book came along and answered my questions whilst delivering a great plot and dramatic finale and then the third managed very successfully to wrap things up – which was great because I really couldn’t second guess how this was going to end.
I also really liked the focus on the friendship that some of the hosts and aliens had achieved.
It’s a difficult book to review though because I don’t want to give anything away about the end.
All I can really say is that I thoroughly enjoyed this series. It started off really well but then continued to grow into a very well thought out and complex drama I found myself going from the question of ‘why would the humans help the aliens’ to ‘why would the aliens help the humans’. A great turn around indeed. Thoroughly good characters, loads of action and all peppered with a wonderful sense of fun. No hesitation at all in recommending.
I received a copy courtesy of the publishers through Netgalley for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
February 24, 2015
It’s tough on humanity when an alien race, the Quasings, crash on earth and discover that the only way they can survive in our atmosphere is to inhabit earthly creatures, preferably humans. It is even tougher on humanity when the aliens begin fighting among themselves. The Tao series follows Roen Tan, host to Quasing Tao. Tao belongs to the Prophus faction, which essentially strives to co-exist with earthly life and opposes the Genjix, whose goal is to “Quasingform” earth’s environment to make it possible for Quasing to live without hosts. Unfortunately, the process will result in the extinction of most or all earthly life. Roen’s wife Jill is also a host, and in this third volume their teen-aged son Cameron has acquired a host and joins the battle.
It would be very difficult to say more about the plot without spoilers, especially for readers who have not yet read the first two volumes. Let me just say that The Rebirths of Tao has the elements I look for when I read fiction:
-an exciting opening chapter (as a bonus, it left me smiling.),
-characters I care about, even many of the bad guys and semi-bad guys, such as Russian leader Putyatin, who resists both the blandishments and the threats of the Genjix Enzo ,
-an essentially upbeat and warm-hearted outlook on life, despite all the horrible things going on, such as when the protagonist is forced to injure a federal agent in order to flee but does not want the man to die, so “he pulled out a cord he always kept on him---usually reserved for strangling someone---and tossed it to him. ‘Put that around your injury and squeeze it tight’”. May my enemies be so considerate!,
-well-done action scenes,
-humor, perhaps a bit wry but never nasty, with comments like “It is brave stupid people who change the world. The smart ones are usually too smart to even try,”
-some food for thought, enough to make me pause but not so much that it got in the way of the story ,
-oh, yeah, and a good story.
Chu has his own style, but if I had to make a comparison, I’d say that the writer he reminds me of most is John Scalzi, a comparison that bodes well for Chu’s potential following.
This is definitely a series to read in order, beginning with The Lives of Tao, continuing with The Deaths of Tao, and concluding with The Rebirths of Tao. In addition to the usual reason involving plot and character development, The Lives of Tao was a (very impressive) first novel, and Chu’s writing gets better with each instalment. Save the best for last!
It’s always nice to find a promising new author and even nicer when each book is better than the one before, so I am sorry to see this trilogy come to an end. Fortunately, Chu has neatly tied up the loose ends in a satisfying way that still leaves room for more adventures. I’m ready for them!
It would be very difficult to say more about the plot without spoilers, especially for readers who have not yet read the first two volumes. Let me just say that The Rebirths of Tao has the elements I look for when I read fiction:
-an exciting opening chapter (as a bonus, it left me smiling.),
-characters I care about, even many of the bad guys and semi-bad guys, such as Russian leader Putyatin, who resists both the blandishments and the threats of the Genjix Enzo ,
-an essentially upbeat and warm-hearted outlook on life, despite all the horrible things going on, such as when the protagonist is forced to injure a federal agent in order to flee but does not want the man to die, so “he pulled out a cord he always kept on him---usually reserved for strangling someone---and tossed it to him. ‘Put that around your injury and squeeze it tight’”. May my enemies be so considerate!,
-well-done action scenes,
-humor, perhaps a bit wry but never nasty, with comments like “It is brave stupid people who change the world. The smart ones are usually too smart to even try,”
-some food for thought, enough to make me pause but not so much that it got in the way of the story ,
-oh, yeah, and a good story.
Chu has his own style, but if I had to make a comparison, I’d say that the writer he reminds me of most is John Scalzi, a comparison that bodes well for Chu’s potential following.
This is definitely a series to read in order, beginning with The Lives of Tao, continuing with The Deaths of Tao, and concluding with The Rebirths of Tao. In addition to the usual reason involving plot and character development, The Lives of Tao was a (very impressive) first novel, and Chu’s writing gets better with each instalment. Save the best for last!
It’s always nice to find a promising new author and even nicer when each book is better than the one before, so I am sorry to see this trilogy come to an end. Fortunately, Chu has neatly tied up the loose ends in a satisfying way that still leaves room for more adventures. I’m ready for them!
March 23, 2016
As expected of the brilliant work of Wesley chu . This third installment in Tao series was superb
. The protagonist Cameron proved to be a worthy successor to his predecessor/father roentgen tan, the main hero of the first two novels.wesley retained the same sense of humor in the series . Roen was funny as always. the main antagonist Enzo was truly refreshing. He played his part to perfection . I am disappointed the direction which the character Alex was taken. She had much potential to grow . Overall I like this book
. The protagonist Cameron proved to be a worthy successor to his predecessor/father roentgen tan, the main hero of the first two novels.wesley retained the same sense of humor in the series . Roen was funny as always. the main antagonist Enzo was truly refreshing. He played his part to perfection . I am disappointed the direction which the character Alex was taken. She had much potential to grow . Overall I like this book
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