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Parasite cover art

Parasite

By: Mira Grant
Narrated by: Christine Lakin
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Summary

A decade in the future, humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease. We owe our good health to a humble parasite - a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the tapeworm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system - even secretes designer drugs. It's been successful beyond the scientists' wildest dreams.

Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them. But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives... and will do anything to get them.

©2013 Seanan McGuire (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"A creepy spine-tingler of a medical thriller" (Charles Stross)

What listeners say about Parasite

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  • Overall
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More Mira Grant!

What made the experience of listening to Parasite the most enjoyable?

The Narator. She was great and managed to make every voice separate. She really braught the atmosphere of the story to life.

What did you like best about this story?

The way the author mixed Monster story with conspiricy thriller. She's also put a lot of research into the story which makes it feel more realistic.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I liked Sal's sence of humour. She made me laugh.

Any additional comments?

I can't wait for the next one to come on Audible!

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4 people found this helpful

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

Christine Lakin fails a bit on this one.

I liked her narration a lot in Drowning Depths, but she can't do a British accent. She ends up doing a weird, camp Australian for the British character, which is a shame.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Pretty good ear worm

Okay, this is a good book, I will be continuing the series. If you like modern sci-fi, this will keep you entertained.

But, the performance is okay at best, and honestly wouldn’t have been a problem if not for Christine Lakin’s awful “English Accent” for that one character in chapter 5. My ears are bleeding, what the hell was that, it sounds like Crocodile Dundee having banal conversation with Dick Van Dyke. I have verbal whiplash from the nonsense accent spewing into my auditory canal. And yeah, that one character was poorly researched and written but expletive Christ! That takes the piss!

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1 person found this helpful

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

Edge of the seat listen

Would you listen to Parasite again? Why?

Yes. This story gripped me from the start. The characters are brought to life by the narrator and there is a nice mix of science and drama.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Parasite?

When they are in the mall cafe and first see the sleepers.

Which character – as performed by Christine Lakin – was your favourite?

I enjoyed all the characters voices but especially Sal's.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me think.

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1 person found this helpful

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

An interesting take on zombies

Would you consider the audio edition of Parasite to be better than the print version?

No

What did you like best about this story?

I like the escapism of zombie books, but I like them to not be too impossible.... this hits the sweet spot!

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The best bit was the attack on the highway, trapped in the car with a relentless attacker outside.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

They wanted cheap and perfect health... it cost them their minds

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1 person found this helpful

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

Parasites Rule!

After to reading the Feed series I had no choice but to go for this one. I've had personal correspondence with 'Mira' and she is an awesome person. I'm actually starting to like cats. Can't wait to see some more drama and hopefully a bit more Sleepwalker action. Well worth a listen.

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1 person found this helpful

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

A Promising start to an Infection

Tapeworms taking over human bodies - good job I enjoy a good story and can suspend disbelief. The science is obviously a little far fetched, but the fact we have can support parasites and gene/dna manipulation/splicing this can turn into a fairly horrific scenario.
Which this book fails at (but i would assume will come to the fore front in book 2).

This is basically a single POV story. The 'sleepwalkers' are mentioned throughout the book, and i enjoyed the fact that they were in the background and we concentrated on a single character through this book. This book focuses on providing a foundation for the series, which means it is a little slow in some areas and there are a lot of 'science explaining'.
Apart from tapeworms taking over the body - there is little new. This is not a major issue however, as the author presents us with a good POV character. The bad 'guys' are a little too thin, but hopefully that will be explained in the next book.

Overall i enjoyed the book, but it fell a little flat in a couple of areas. Hopefully the second book will pick up the pace as all the ground work has now been placed.

The audio version was well performed. A high quality production.

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1 person found this helpful

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

awful English accent

it's some places this narration is absolutely unbearable. the story was OK but I don't think ull be listening to the rest of the trilogy.

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

Clever story well done

Enjoyable science fiction . But the British accent was dreadful and I ended up speeding through those bits . It spoilt the story telling .

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

Enjoyable - but shallow characters

I loved this premis - so clever and original. Enjoyed the science fiction aspect very much and have moved on to the second book.
The characterisation is a bit... tropeish? A bit 2d. I think the narration of it doesn't help . 0 value added. It's not BAD, it's just a let down for such a fantastic plot idea.
Crossing my fingers for the next book that the characters flesh out a bit.

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