The Deaths of Tao by Wesley Chu
Book of the Month
The Deaths of Tao by Wesley Chu is the follow-up to the very successful The Lives of Tao, a book about symbiotic aliens and a global war between the two main alien factions. This book does everything a good sequel should do, improving on the first book in every facet, expanding the scope of the conflict, and delivering big punches and bigger consequences.
The story starts many years after the events of the first book, with Roen and Tao having proven themselves as an effective partnership who can get the job done. But Roen and Tao have gone off the reservation, leaving behind his wife and child, and the Prophus, to chase wild conspiracy theories. The war has gone from bad to worse for the Prophus, their backs are against the wall, and Gengix can smell blood in the water. But, as the saying goes, beware the wounded animal backed into a corner.
The Deaths of Tao is a very good sequel, one that benefits from all the world building established in the first book. We already know who the Quasing are, we already know how they symbiotically integrate with human hosts, we already know about the war between the Prophus and the Gengix, and we have already seen the Roen and Tao training montage. Chu takes advantage of this knowledge and drops us in the middle of an action scene, not letting up until the explosive finale. He expands the global nature of the conflict, he introduces political games and conflicts between Gengix and Prophus politicians, and he gives us a different perspective on the war by providing a number of chapters from the viewpoint of a Gengix host from the Adonis program. This really is a much bigger story.
Because so many years have passed between the events in the first and second books, the characters we got to know in first book have really changed in the second book. Roen, for instance, has become extremely jaded with the Prophus, very sceptical of Gengix motivations, and paranoid about almost everything. He and Tao have a much better rapport now, and even though they constantly bicker, you can tell that they are friends who care about one another. I like Roen and Tao much more in this story. Roen's estranged wife Jill, and her Quasing Baji, have a bunch of chapters to show off the political side of this war. Despite the years that have passed, the relationship between Jill and Baji is tense, and you feel like one of them could snap at any point. Jill provides a refreshing perspective on this war that she has been dragged into, and I found her chapters to be some of my favourites. The other main character, as I alluded to before, is Enzo from the Adonis program, a genetically engineered human host who has just been given the honour of hosting Zoras, one of the highest ranking members of the Gengix council. Enzo is a product of his upbringing, with an ego to match all those years being told that he's the best of the best of the best. He is a brutal, unrepentant, and unrelenting man who thinks he knows better than his Quasing, but has no political savvy or subtlety. Chu has built a lot of depth into these characters, and as a result Roen, Jill and Enzo really make this book shine.
Wesley Chu is an author on the rise, proving that the success of The Lives of Tao was no fluke. The Deaths of Tao is an explosive action adventure from start to finish, one that easily kept me happy and entertained. I think fans of urban fantasy or action movies will get a good kick out of this book.
This The Deaths of Tao book review was written by Ryan Lawler
All reviews for: Tao

Cameron Tan wouldn’t have even been in Greece if he hadn’t gotten a ‘D’ in Art History. Instead of spending the summer after college completing his ...

The Lives of Tao
Tao #1
When out-of-shape IT technician Roen woke up and started hearing voices in his head, he naturally assumed he was losing it. He wasn't. He now has a passenger in his bra...

The Deaths of Tao
Tao #2
The Prophus and the Genjix are at war. For centuries they have sought a way off-planet, guiding humanity's social and technological development to the stage where space...

The Rebirths of Tao
Tao #3
The centuries-long schism between the Genjix and the Prophus threatens to plunge the whole planet into a new World War. Roen is the only person who can protect a turned Gen...
Have you read The Deaths of Tao?
We've found that while readers like to know what we think of a book they find additional reader reviews a massive help in deciding if it is the right book for them. So if you have a spare moment, please tell us your thoughts by writing a reader's review. Thank you.
The Deaths of Tao reader reviews
9/10 from 1 reviews
There are currently no reader reviews for this book. Why not be the first?
Write a reader review
Thank you for taking the time to write a review on this book, it really makes a difference and helps readers to find their perfect book.
More recommended reading in this genre

Ready Player One
Ernest Cline
It's the year 2044, and the real world has become an ugly place. We're out of oil. We've wrecked the climate. Famine, poverty, and disease are widespread. ...

Ancillary Justice
Ann Leckie
They made me kill thousands, but I only have one target now.The Radch are conquerors to be feared - resist and they'll turn you into a 'corpse soldier' -...

iBoy
Kevin Brooks
For Tom Harvey, it was just another dull, routine Friday after school. That is, until a mobile phone hurtled through the air and hit him squarely on the head, embedding fra...

Inside Straight
George RR Martin
In the six decades since the alien plague known as the “Wild Card virus” spread a wave of mutations across the globe, humanity has begun to come to terms with i...

The Martian War
Kevin J Anderson
What if the Martian invasion was not entirely the product of H. G. Wells's vivid imagination? What if Wells witnessed something that spurred him to write The War of the...

Zenn Scarlett
Christian Schoon
Zenn Scarlett is a bright and occasionally a-little-too-smart-for-her-own-good 17-year-old girl training hard to become an exoveterinarian. She specializes in the treatment...

When the world was flat (And we were in love)
Ingrid Jonach
When sixteen-year-old Lillie Hart meets the gorgeous and mysterious Tom Windsor-Smith for the first time, it’s like fireworks — for her, anyway. Tom looks as if...

Vicious
VE Schwab
Victor and Eli, due to a research project gone wrong, become ExtraOrdinaries (referred to as EO's from here on in) with supernatural powers. Ten years later Victor esca...

Echo Boy
Matt Haig
Echo Boy by Nestlé Smarties Book Prize winner Matt Haig is a stand-alone science/speculative-fiction novel set exactly 100 years in the future. It offers a vision of...
Looking for more suggestions? Try these pages: