The Lives of Tao and the subsequent books in Chu’s fantastic series were some of my favorite books from the past few years, so you can image how excited I was to find out he was starting another series set in the same world. The Rise of Io takes place some years after the Tao books (and I say “some years” because I’m not exactly sure how many) and contains many of the elements we’re familiar with, if you’ve read that series. But this time the setting is Surat, India, and the main character is a tiny but fierce and plucky girl named Ella Patel. Like Roen before her, Ella is thrust into the life of the quasing against her will when she unwittingly becomes host to a Prophus named Io. But Ella and Roen couldn’t be more different. Ella might be one of my favorite fictional characters ever, I simply loved everything about her. But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. If you haven’t read the first series, here’s a little background about this world. The quasing are an ancient alien race who crash-landed on Earth millions of years ago, and since then have evolved and managed to survive…
Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked. FANTASY URBAN FANTASY SCIENCE FICTION HORROR FANTASY URBAN FANTASY SCIENCE FICTION HORROR FANTASY URBAN FANTASY SCIENCE FICTION HORROR All Your Wishes Adams, Cat 10/4/2016 Tor Books Break the Chains O’Keefe, Megan E. 10/4/2016 Angry Robot Closer to the Chest Lackey, Mercedes 10/4/2016 DAW Feedback Grant, Mira 10/4/2016 Orbit Impersonations Williams, Walter Jon 10/4/2016 Tor.com Into the Guns Dietz, William C. 10/4/2016 Ace Level Grind Bellet, Annie 10/4/2016 Saga Press Stranded MacLeod, Bracken 10/4/2016 Tor Books The Rise of Io Chu, Wesley 10/4/2016 Angry Robot The Wall of Storms Liu, Ken 10/4/2016 Saga Press The White Spell Kurland, Lynn 10/4/2016 Berkley
Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked. FANTASY URBAN FANTASY SCIENCE FICTION HORROR FANTASY URBAN FANTASY SCIENCE FICTION HORROR FANTASY URBAN FANTASY SCIENCE FICTION HORROR Arabella of Mars Levine, David D. 7/12/2016 Tor Books Drowned Worlds Jonathan Strahan 7/12/2016 Solaris Invaders Jacob Weisman 7/12/2016 Tachyon It Happened One Doomsday Laurence MacNaughton 7/12/2016 Pyr Necessity Jo Walton 7/12/2016 Tor Red Queen Christina Henry 7/12/2016 Ace Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell Paul Kane 7/12/2016 Solaris The Devourers Indra Das 7/12/2016 Del Rey The Ghoul King Guy Haley 7/12/2016 Tor.com The Stars Askew Rjurik Davidson 7/12/2016 Tor Time Siege Chu, Wesley 7/12/2016 Tor Books
The Days of Tao novella is set several years after Rebirths of Tao and features Cameron who is settled in college. I have always loved the interactions between Tao and whoever is hosting him so this instantly made my must read list. Cameron is trying to lead a normal type of life. Something he has not been able to do, pretty much since forever. His parents lives revolve around the Genjix/Prophus war, and as a host he has been trained to join them since birth. He finally has the opportunity to put all that aside and study abroad in Greece. This is a wonderful chance for him to finally be on his own and try to fit in and do all the normal things that typical kids do. Classes, homework, peer pressure, making friends. All that good stuff. But, Cameron? He’s not a typical kid. Typical kids don’t have aliens in their brains telling them things. Typical kids don’t have parents heading up a war. So, of course, Cameron is pulled out of his moment of typical college life when a Prophus agent in Greece needs extraction and Cameron is the only available agent that can help. As Cameron gets involved, the shit totally hits…
Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked. FANTASY URBAN FANTASY SCIENCE FICTION HORROR FANTASY URBAN FANTASY SCIENCE FICTION HORROR FANTASY URBAN FANTASY SCIENCE FICTION HORROR Sleeping Giants Sylvain Neuvel 4/26/2016 In Shining Armor Elliott James 4/26/2016 Sharp Ends Joe Abercrombie 4/26/2016 HEX Thomas Olde Heuvelt 4/26/2016 The Days of Tao Wesley Chu 4/30/2016