The Deaths of Tao

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?

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.

[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.

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.