The Rise of Io

By: Wesley Chu

Narrated by: Soneela Nankani

Ella Patel, thief, con-artist and smuggler, is in the wrong place at the wrong time. One night, on the border of a demilitarized zone run by the body-swapping alien invaders, she happens upon a man and woman being chased by a group of assailants. The man freezes, leaving the woman to fight off five attackers at once, before succumbing.

As she dies, to both Ella and the man's surprise, the sparkling light that rises from the woman enters Ella, instead of the man. She soon realizes she's been inhabited by Io, a low-ranking Quasing who was involved in some of the worst decisions in history. Now Ella must help the alien presence to complete her mission and investigate a rash of murders in the border states that maintain the frail peace.

With the Prophus assigned to help her seemingly wanting to stab her in the back, and the enemy Genjix hunting her, Ella must also deal with Io's annoying inferiority complex. To top it all off, Ella thinks the damn alien voice in her head is trying to get her killed. And if you can't trust the voices in your head, who can you trust?

©2016 Wesley Chu (P)2017 Audible, Ltd

14 plus hours that I'll never get back.

Hated it. Hated it. Hated it. Hated it. Hated it. Hated it. Hated it. Hated it. Hated it. Horrendously awful characters, idiotic plot, awful, awful, awful book!

I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed

I tried; I tried to get into this book but just can’t. It feels like the “the Last Jedi” of the Quasing/Tao universe.

I could forgive the slightly juvenile writing style for the great story and character elements from books 1-3.5. This book, however, failed to grab me at all.

3.5 sets up a great continuation to a world event I was excited to see play out—if not with the original characters, then at least the same time frame. Instead, we open 10 years after book 3.5. It feels like a washed up version of book 1, with more forced character identities.

I’m going to have to leave this book as unfinished in my library; if I could get a credit back, I would.

Wes, wake me up if-and-when you ever retcon this stuff and continue the Tao series from where us fans wanted it to continue from.

Until the Eternal Sea