Symbiont
(Parasitology #2 of 3)
by Mira Grant
science fiction
copyright 2014
read in December 2019
rated 6/10: read to pass the time
Oh dear, it's the zombie apocalypse. This time, it's caused by man-made tapeworms. Well, at least that's a more believable explanation than the usual long-dead race of zombie mutants.
I did consider: do the zombies mean that this book is "horror"? Possibly... but not due to the tape-worm zombies. They are so irrelevant, really. Just background moaning drooling threat. A book about sailing does not become horror just because the sea is dangerous.
Is the book chicklit? Not in the "change of clothes every other page" sense. Is it that unpleasant form of chicklit where a woman is constantly being dominated -- willingly or unwillingly -- by men? Yes, there is a lot of that. Fortunately, the heroine is at least trying to resist.
I did consider: do the zombies mean that this book is "horror"? Possibly... but not due to the tape-worm zombies. They are so irrelevant, really. Just background moaning drooling threat. A book about sailing does not become horror just because the sea is dangerous.
Is the book chicklit? Not in the "change of clothes every other page" sense. Is it that unpleasant form of chicklit where a woman is constantly being dominated -- willingly or unwillingly -- by men? Yes, there is a lot of that. Fortunately, the heroine is at least trying to resist.
The science is ridiculous but consistent. Though a lot of new stuff is "discovered" just in time.
The heroine is, really, a right pain in the posterior. On the other hand -- she is developing. At the end the author admits that the two-book set has been expanded to three. Perhaps the third book will allow the heroine to grow some more backbone. It's starting but it is soooo slow.
And that's a problem with this book: it is sooo slow. There is action but it is always preceded by the heroine going through pages of self-analysis. Sure, that can be interesting. But too much is, well, too much.
And then the book ends. Hang on, isn't that the same way that the first book ended -- with a raid on the very heart of the evil HQ? At least book one ended with some pretence of success. This book ends with the heroine -- metaphorically -- hanging by her fingertips with no hope of escape.
Sheesh. If you can't think of an ending -- at least a between-books ending -- give up writing.
Still. There is so little suspense that a cliffhanger ending is of little consequence.
Read to pass the time. Or read to get to sleep. Either way -- there are some interesting points being made. No matter how preposterous the setting.
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
... Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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"Experience is the comb life gives you once you're bald" … per Ginger Meggs
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