Sci-fi/Horror Book Club – August 2013: The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu

Our Sci-Fi/Horror Book Club returns to Science Fiction this month with a read of The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu. I read this book earlier this year and found it to be a novel fun read. I’ll also admit, it is extremely rare for a book to actually make me laugh out loud, and this one achieved that not just once, but many times. I am hoping a good number of you are able to join us for this one!

The Lives of Tao (cover)

“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 brain – an ancient alien life-form called Tao, whose race crash-landed on Earth before the first fish crawled out of the oceans. Now split into two opposing factions – the peace-loving, but under-represented Prophus, and the savage, powerful Genjix – the aliens have been in a state of civil war for centuries. Both sides are searching for a way off-planet, and the Genjix will sacrifice the entire human race, if that’s what it takes.

Meanwhile, Roen is having to train to be the ultimate secret agent. Like that’s going to end up well…”

Buy on Amazon US
Buy on Amazon UK

Read Fantasy-Faction’s review here.

– – –

Our discussion breakpoints will be:

Week 1: Chapter 1 – 9
Week 2: Chapters 1 – 18
Week 3: Chapters 1 – 29
Week 4: Finished

– – –

WANT TO JOIN IN?

If you would like to join us you can visit our forums and add your name to the list here. Want to know how our Sci-fi Book Club works first? Read on!

CHOOSING A BOOK

All books are nominated and voted on by our members. Anyone can nominate a book and everyone can vote. In September we will be reading I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.

SPOILER FREE DISCUSSION

Sci-Fi Book Club begins on the 1st of every month. Once a book is started we discuss our books in a way that will not spoil the story. We limit how much you can discuss and when and break it down by week.

Week 1 – You may only discuss the first 1/4 of the book
Week 2 – You may only discuss the first 1/2 of the book
Week 3 – You may only discuss the first 3/4 of the book
Week 4 – Anything goes

We are going to go based on page count. So for example, if a book has 500 pages then week one you can discuss up to page 125 and then week two 250 and so on. Each week will have a separate thread, so as not to spoil the story for people who fall behind or come in late.

WHAT IF YOU WANT TO READ FASTER THAN THAT?

Not a problem at all. You are more than welcome to read ahead, but when discussing things just remember to post in the appropriate thread. And if you’re not sure when something happened, you can always use the spoiler tag to hide your post.

Should you not want any spoilers or discussion during the reading process, just come after the end of week three and start discussing the book once you have finished. (This is how most book clubs operate anyway.)

We would love for you to join us! You can sign up for this month’s book club here or visit our book club section to see all our past selections here.

WANT REMINDERS?

Follow @FFBookClub on Twitter for reminders when book club starts nominations, voting and discussions.

Share

By Lisa Taylor

Lisa spends her days programming in Java, living the exciting life of a cubicle ridden software engineer. When not at work, she enjoys her time with her husband and two boys. She spends the rest of her free time playing indoor soccer and of course reading, reading, reading. She heads up the Fantasy and Science Fiction book clubs every month on the forum. You can also find her online at her blog Tenacious Reader or Twitter: @TenaciousReader.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.