The Deaths of Tao

This felt much more pulpy than than first in the series (which was already a fair bit pulpy). The character development was virtually non-existent, and the main conceit doesn't really make sense of you think about it for more than a minute (if the main goal of the aliens is to accelerate human development, why did it take them millions of years to invent fire, or the wheel, or even the microchip?). So, although the first book held enough promise to get me to read the second one, I'm not sure I will go further.

I think I would have liked this series... if they didn't constantly talk about how every single great figure in human history was actually one of these aliens. I started rolling my eyes every time they mentioned another one. It was getting pretty tedious. Surely, at least ONE influential person in the entire length of history could have actually been great because of their own genius or abilities?

[b:The Deaths of Tao 17726421 The Deaths of Tao (Tao, #2) Wesley Chu https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1376921492s/17726421.jpg 24804136] is a typical middle book of a trilogy in that many things aren't resolved. The action picks up a few years after the end of [b:The Lives of Tao 15981711 The Lives of Tao (Tao, #1) Wesley Chu https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361886088s/15981711.jpg 19932371]. The war between the Prophus the Genjix continues with the Genjux pressing the Prophus everywhere. Things look very grim, and Roen and Tao have their work cut out to save the planet. Things get very very violent and many people both alien and human do not make it to the end of the book.The ending was a bit of a shocker for me. I will have to continue soon with the final book to find out where Chu is going with this.

It's been a few years since the events of The Lives of Tao, and things have not gone well for Roen Tam, either personally or in the war. He's basically dropped out of everything, going rogue, running covert ops for Tao while ignoring Prophus' command structure. Tao's sure he understands what's going on in the world better than anyone else, and so he pushes Roen to leave everything behind and find evidence for Tao's theory.

Meanwhile, Jill – and Raji – have wormed their way into the corridors of power in the Capitol, moving and shaking on behalf of Prophus while also keeping her cover as a Senatorial aide intact. This is where Prophus seems to be holding its own - but barely.

We bounce around between Roen, Jill, and a new Gengix host, Enzo, who is trying to find a level of dominance very quickly for himself in the Gengix hierarchy. He's rash, impetuous, and egotistical – not the signs of a great leader. But the Gengix he's hosting is wise, methodical, honorable and tries to impress these characteristics on this host.

But like I said, things aren't going well for the Prophus – they're on the verge of losing this war once and for all, clinging to power and influence some areas, absolutely losing it in others. They're so close to the brink that they eventually are driven to one final act of desperation that will change everything forever.

As the title suggests, The Deaths of Tao is darker (like any good 2nd volume of a trilogy), not as fun (understandable given the darkness, but would've been helpful), and slower paced than The Lives of Tao. But, still, I was enjoying it enough to keep going – and I wanted to see what happened to Roen and the rest. Hopefully get to see my favorite Prophus host whip that Gengix Enzo around a bit. But Chapter 29? Made everything up to that point worth it. And excitement, the pace, and the stakes picked up after that (not the stakes for the whole armies, obviously, but for Roen and Jill)

Still, it took until Chapter 29 for this really to come together for me – and that's far too long. Which is strange, because up until that point, I'd say this was better structured than its predecessor. It built better in plot development, character and tension. But Chapter 29 made me rethink that, it's just too much of a jump in development and voice.

I find it hard to understand – except for strength in numbers – just how the Gengix are winning this thing. The Prophus seem to come out on top – if not even with – the Gengix almost every time we see them. It's difficult to extrapolate from this to them almost losing this war. Yet that's exactly the situation they're in, and you believe it, up until you think about it a day or two later.

Giving it three stars – as good as the last 150 pages or so were, as huge as the ending was – it was a slog up until that point. I just couldn't connect with Roen or Tao (or anyone else). But believe you me, I'm anticipating The Rebirths of Tao and expect it to blow me away. Just wish this had done that.

Executive Summary: Another fun entry in the Tao series that ends with such an awful cliffhanger!Full ReviewA few months ago I had never heard of this series or Mr. Chu. Thanks to Sword & Laser and an Amazon daily deal, I corrected that oversight.I rather enjoyed the [b:The Lives of Tao 15981711 The Lives of Tao (Tao, #1) Wesley Chu https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361886088s/15981711.jpg 19932371] when I read it a few months ago, and moved this book up my list planning to fit it in as soon as my book club schedule allowed.Now that I have read it, all that I can say is “Damn You Wesley Chu!”That's a sure-fire sign of a good book/series if you get angry with the author for leaving you wanting more. It looks like the third book is tentatively coming out at the end of the year, and that's not nearly soon enough!This book was just as much fun as the first one, though maybe not as funny. Once again where the book shines for me is the way Mr. Chu retcons history to fit the aliens in. Did you know that Global Warming is actually the fault of aliens? True story.Galieo: Host to an alien. He wasn't persecuted by the church for blasphemy. It was really because he was part of a different faction of aliens than those who controlled it. You get the idea.I think the best compliment I can give this book is to contrast it with the book I was listening to at the same time: [b:Patriot Games 32682 Patriot Games (Jack Ryan, #1) Tom Clancy https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328007145s/32682.jpg 5054702]. [a:Tom Clancy 3892 Tom Clancy https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1175466521p2/3892.jpg] is arguably the king of the Spy Thriller, and Jack Ryan is one of the best known of the genre. I found this book way more exciting and fun.My only real complaint here is the main villain is a bit too flat. He's a believable character, but he's so unlikable that I found his chapters sometimes frustrating to read. Thankfully though his story line was pretty interesting and Mr. Chu did a good job at making me wish for bad things to happen to him.Overall this book seems to do a good job distinguishing itself from a lot of other sci-fi books out there. Part Spy Thriller, part alien invasion story. Well written and good humor and dialogue. There is a lot to enjoy here and I recommend checking out this series.