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Symbiont  By  cover art

Symbiont

By: Mira Grant
Narrated by: Christine Lakin
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Publisher's summary

NPR's Top 100 Killer Thrillers

Romantic Times' Best SF Novel of the Year nominee, 2010

John W. Campbell Award winner, 2010

Short-listed, the Hugo Best Novel, 2012

From New York Times best-selling author Mira Grant comes the second book in the terrifying Parasitology series.

The SymboGen-designed tapeworms were created to relieve humanity of disease and sickness. But the implants in the majority of the world's population began attacking their hosts, turning them into a ravenous horde.

Now those who do not appear to be afflicted are being gathered for quarantine as panic spreads, but Sal and her companions must discover how the tapeworms are taking over their hosts, what their eventual goal is, and how they can be stopped.

More from Mira Grant:

Parasitology

  • Parasite
  • Symbiont
  • Chimera

Newsflesh

  • Feed
  • Deadline
  • Blackout
  • Feedback
  • Rise
©2014 Mira Grant (P)2014 Hachette Audio

What listeners say about Symbiont

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Like a worm in my brain

I liked this book so much -- despite its flaws -- that I can't wait to hear the next one.

Before I list any flaws, let me say that the story itself is truly original and Grant's exploration of what it means to be a symbiont/host is elegant. There's a lot to reflect on here, in regards to who we are as people, and what makes us human. I found myself caring a great deal about the characters, and wanting to know what would happen next.

Somewhere early on in the book, I realized that it was intended for young adults (which I am not) and I do wish that YA books would be more clearly labeled. I know the lines are blurring between good YA fiction and adult fiction these days. But the characteristics that frustrated me are actually common tropes of YA fiction. The heroine is often confused about things that adults would understand, adults are either one-dimensionally evil or simply inscrutable, and then there's the repetition that the other reviewer was talking about. Repetition may be good for young readers, or people who didn't read the first book in the series, or -- lets face it -- adults who aren't paying close attention to the book, for instance if they listen while driving.

In the end, I think that I was so frustrated by these qualities precisely because the story itself is so good. I will definitely listen to part three regardless.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

It bothered me how much this book needed editing

The things that frustrate me the most about this book are:
1) It was obviously lengthened for the sake of lengthening.
2) It was overly redundant. (Grant could have reduced its unnecessary wordiness by going through and removing how many times the characters rehashed plot points and feelings over and over and over again).
3) If it wasn't being redundant, it was contradicting itself.

I feel like sometimes this isn't the fault of the author though, it is the fault of the editor (which should have caught most of these issues). A good editor takes a knife to the story and usually removes these redundancies and contradictions. I feel like what we are getting are published first drafts, and it just takes me right out the story as I try to listen to it.

Grant (McGuire) is formerly one of my favorite authors. But this hack-edit job is starting to be a recurring theme in her books. It has been the reason I haven't enjoyed much/any of her newer works.

However, the one redeeming thing about this book is that the narrator, Christine Lakin, continues doing a marvelous job. She is fantastic, and I will be searching out more audio books narrated by her.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Just filler

Total waste of time... Plot is not advanced beyond what could have been done in a chapter and I began to dislike the protagonist who was forever worrying about was it right to kill sleepwalkers who were trying to eat them.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • NK
  • 05-31-15

Not As Good As Book One

Sigh. I gave a raving five star review for the first book in this series, and purchased this (book 2) without hesitation.

This book doesn't seem near as well put together as the first book. Yes, it's a continuation of the story, and it's not an awful read, but by the time I finished this one I had decided I'm done with this.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Too Much Talking

This was about 5 hours longer than it needed to be. It felt like works and talking just for the sake of words and talking.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

dwindling towards the end loss of character growth

I really enjoyed the first book but in the second one felt dull with little character development. I really tried to like it but I felt the characters have been worn out and were husks of who they were in the first book

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Not good

I didn't like this book, the main charter gets really annoying worrying about killing the sleepwalkers, then right after worrying they always try to eat her. Not only does the second book fail to move the plot line anywhere, it feel like this is just a money grab extention of the first. I will not be buying the third, heard it's bad anyway.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A Middle Book

I have loved all of her books but this series was supposed to be 2 and became 3 books and this entire boo read like filler crap I didn't really need to know.

I don't do spoilers so I can say - yeah it was good and kept me on some pins and needles. I even just stayed up til 4 am to finish it but could have just saved it for tomorrow.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Keeps getting better

Would you listen to Symbiont again? Why?

Yes....loved the story, the characters & their relationships. Very easy to follow.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Symbiont?

The parasites "talking" to each other.

What does Christine Lakin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Science

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

No

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A favorite author and a great narrator

This second book of this trilogy is a wonderful addition to Mira Grant's work. Grant is a wonderful author with a brilliant imagination, quick wit, and a gift for storytelling. The narrator is fantastic, with a smooth delivery, and easy to listen to voice. Her character voices add an extra dimension to Grant's work. Im really looking forward to the final book in this series, and can't wait to see how Grant wraps it all up.

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