Wesley Chu

I received an advanced copy via NetGalley.
Art of Prophecy is one of the best books I’ve read this year, a high fantasy delight loaded with incredible fights, moral complexities, and soap opera twists galore. It’s lush and lovely, shattering the usual fantasy tropes from the start: the prophesied hero is a spoiled, poorly-trained brat, and the powerful enemy he is destined to vanquish dies an ignoble death at a common soldier’s hands. Varying points of view create a nuanced perspective show more of events as the lost hero struggles to stay alive while pursued by assassins with different motivations. Chu's alternate world take on historical China is intriguing and definitely has room for further exploration in later books. show less

People require meaning. Indeed, we so crave meaning that we devote much of the human enterprise to generating it, whether in the form of religion, or politics, or (and especially) fiction. What can fiction tell us? In the case of Wesley Chu's 2013 sci-fi novel The Lives of Tao, we learn that individual happiness can only be achieved by having a cause. And possibly by mastering a martial art.

The Lives of Tao tells the story of Roen Tan, a schlubby, unhappy, Chicago-based engineer. After a show more lonely night at a club, and while vomiting out of the door of his car, Roen is unwittingly inducted into a worldwide extraterrestrial war. Humanity is not alone: Quasings, a gaseous alien race, have been stranded on Earth since the age of the dinosaurs. Unable to exist for long in Earth's atmosphere, Quasings are able to survive by entering a living "host," be it rodent, chimpanzee, or sad, chubby human. Unfortunately for Tao, the recently-evicted Quasing who takes refuge in Roen, his new host is a mess. But there's a war on, so Tao gets to work. Extraterrestrial symbiotic buddy dramedy!

As Roen and the reader learn, Quasings have been trapped on earth for millions of years, using animal life as hosts. When the first hominids appeared, Quasings saw their opportunity, and stepped in to direct evolution. One can only imagine the rictus of fear on the face of the first australopithecus to be inhabited by a wise and ancient cloud of sentient gas.

With the development of modern man, the Quasing realized that they now had a being capable of devising ever more advanced technologies, which presented them the (very) long-term possibility of finding a way home. Convinced that conflict drove human technological advancement, Quasings meddled with abandon, fostering discord throughout human history. In the wake of the Black Death, a small group of Quasing, calling themselves Prophus, determined that they should coexist with their human hosts and promote peace. The Prophus oppose the Genjix, those Quasings who believe that humanity is a mere means to their end. Roen is a bit player on a drama the timescale of which he can't even imagine.

Chu does an admirable job of presenting his scenario to readers without overwhelming them. The Lives of Tao opens with an action-oriented prologue that grabs the reader's attention and introduces Tao, who is clearly not a familiar life form. Tao's decision to wait to introduce himself to Roen serves to further ease the reader into the plot: The reader learns about Roen (and his many weaknesses), and Chu uses the opportunity to explain the back story to the reader by positioning it as Tao speaking to his new host. It's a very clean and clever way to orient the reader.

The book's structure is its weakest point. The Lives of Tao is an action-oriented story with dashes of humor. It is not comedic: The sobriety of the climax and ending belie that. Still, Chu writes the first third of the book from a comedic viewpoint. The joke is on Roen, to whom Tao serves as drill sergeant and counselor. Readers will enjoy Roen and Tao's exchanges as the latter harangues the former about getting shape, standing up for himself at his job, and so on. This portion of the novel is more lighthearted. Chu also shares extensive background about the Quasing sojourn on Earth. Readers will want more.
Unfortunately, Chu treads more traditional territory in the remainder of the book, which is mostly action. Finally trained, Roen begins to go on Prophus missions, one of which leads to some soul searching before he returns to the fold. Chu ends The Lives of Tao with an extensive action sequence and neatly positions it for a sequel.

Quibbles about structure aside, Chu poses interesting questions about human agency at both the individual and collective levels. Roen won't quit the job he hates. His colleague tells him to do something about it, to go to law school. Roen balks. It's only later, with Tao on board, that Roen finds the willpower necessary to improve his life. He eats right and works out. He stands up to his boss. He asks out his cute coworker. In the book, of course, Tao is an intelligent alien life form giving Roen a kick in the pants. But perhaps Tao is really that part of the mind that tells you to try something different. Chu seems to be saying to the reader that, if you don't like something, it's up to you to do something about it. For those of us who aren't locked into impossible circumstances, there are choices to be made. You can take the safe route, like Roen, or you can change things. It might not be pleasant, it might not be easy, but it's probably better than suffering in silence. Diagnosing Roen's unhappiness, Tao tells him, "You are causeless."

Those existential questions occur at the "species" level, too. What is the human enterprise all about? Is human history really just the story of war punctuated by all-too-brief periods of peace? Is there a common narrative to our history? The Genjix position, that war is necessary for evolution, seems almost to mirror certain theories that humans evolved only to better perpetuate the "virus" of DNA, or the assertions of some neuroscientists that humans lack free will, that we are simply acting out, based on received stimuli, the actions programmed into us.

This is all to say that there is more going on in The Lives of Tao than it would first appear. The Lives of Tao isn't a "big idea" book. It is light on science-fiction; don't read it expecting a serious exploration of the implications of this or that science. Chu, a martial artist (and former stuntman!) is firmly focused on telling an action-oriented story. There are guns. There are explosions. Still, The Lives of Tao is far from shallow in its examination of human motivation and agency. Recommended for more casual sci-fi readers who enjoy action and a touch of comedy. show less

The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu is excellent science fiction! It gives a plausible explanation for the way the world is right now (assuming a willing suspension of disbelief) and keeps the reader on the edge of his seat, but smiling. Chu had to be channeling Jon Stewart and Dave Letterman as he was writing the story because Tao, the co-protagonist, has an incisive but droll, sly wit and has an eye on the big picture, but never so much that he doesn't zone in on the critical, and occasionally show more humorous, salient details. The story was good enough to cause me to miss some of my favorite TV shows. Not to worry, I Tivoed them, but it also caused me to almost miss filing my income tax! If you like military science fiction, this is a story told from a very unusual perspective that shouldn't be missed.

You see, there are two alien factions fighting each other. Tao is an elder of one faction, if beings that are essentially immortal (barring accidents and mayhem) can be said to have “elders.” These aliens have mistakenly crash landed on Earth and are trying to get off, but their bodies cannot survive in Earth's environment. They do have the ability, however, to move into a symbiotic relationship inside the bodies of the fauna of Earth, including humans. So, the aliens (the Quasing, from the planet Quasar) are trying to control human development in order to get them (us) to develop the means for the Quasing to return home, all without humans becoming aware of the existence of the aliens. The rub comes from different ideas on how best to develop humanity's civilization and abilities. One faction, the Genjix, believes that humanity requires conflict in order to advance; the other faction, the Prophus, are trying to advance civilization by peaceful cooperation that innovates through stability. The conflict has gone from personal disagreements to schism, leading to the creation of the factions and outright warfare, providing the root cause of most of the wars mankind has been through - they were all started by aliens!

Tao, a Prophus, the good guys, finds a new host as he is about to die from both enemy action and the Earth's atmosphere. The host, Roen Tan, is an ethical but meek, overweight geek who prefers watching TV, playing video games and drinking to just about every other aspect of his life, particularly his job. Tao's task is to transform this nebbish into a lean, mean, fighting machine. And thus is born a classic partnership and the reader is taken on a roller coaster ride that is thrilling, touching and witty. The Lives of Tao is a definite must-read. show less

So, let me just begin by prefacing that this is one of those books where I can’t be expected to be objective, I already loved the characters too much before I began and there’s nothing that can make me not like this book. And as I thought, this book entertained me and made me very very happy, so let me try to gush less and maybe write some coherent sentences below. Also, there might be spoilers for all the previous Shadowhunters books, so please read at your own risk.

I thought I knew all show more about these two dearest characters of mine, but Cassie and Wesley managed to surprise me, so that was wonderful. Magnus has been the one fixture in every book in this universe but the beauty of him being a warlock is that we get to know new things about him all the time. And this book gives us a different Magnus - slightly insecure and uncertain, scared of loving another mortal again, regretting a lot of his past actions and unsure how Alec will react on knowing about them, and particularly terrified about telling Alec about his father. He has always been the one who is helping everyone and trying to make light of serious situations, but he is challenged and surprised every step of the way by Alec.

And wow was Alec a revelation. From a shy shadowhunter boy growing up in a homophobic society, he has grown into this wonderful person who is ready to live his truth and find his happiness despite the obstacles that threaten him. He may sometimes feel intimidated by Magnus’s unknown past or immortality and find himself not worthy of his dearest warlock, but one thing he is sure of is his love for Magnus. His whole character arc of deciding that he won’t follow a law that won’t protect Magnus and others like him, and deciding that he will work to change the laws is just so admirable and I was in awe of him many times in this book. And knowing that he will become Consul of the Clave in the future, it shows just how much he has worked towards this goal of his to change the world for the better.

Their relationship is also so adorable. To tell the truth, I don’t remember anything that happened in TMI except what’s happening in the TV show and the glimpses we got of them in TDA and the short story collections. So, reading about them in their initial days of dating, trying to get to know each other, wanting to have a fun vacation and just navigating the road of new love was very sweet. Every time Alec tried to protect Magnus during an attack and Magnus was surprised by it, I just couldn’t stop smiling. They are just too perfect for each other and I’m so glad we have a book featuring them as the main couple because they are my favorite in this universe. And it was especially beautiful to read the beginning of their story considering their wedding scene in Queen of Air and Darkness was one of my absolute favorite parts of that book.

The other amazing part of this book were the numerous cameos. All the little ones from Johnny Rook, Lily Chen, Hypatia Vex, Malcom Fade, Raphael Santiago etc were fun and nostalgic to read, especially because we already know what happens to most of them in the future. It’s always fun to see Tessa and Magnus reminisce about their past and I loved seeing her again. But the best part was the introduction of Aline and Helen - to each other. It’s the most adorable and true Shadowhunter style initial meeting and attempt at flirtation. And they made me sad too because I know the trials and tribulations they have to face in the coming days. Most of these characters are also unapologetically queer and it’s nice to see that all of them who have been mostly side characters in the previous books get to be the prominent ones in this book.

This world is obviously very familiar because it’s been a long journey, but it’s always fun to get to know about more types of demons. However, the highlight of this book was the European vacation itself. Magnus and Alec embark on a journey through Paris, Venice, Florence and Rome, and every single description of the Eiffel Tower or the canals of Venice or Boboli Gardens or the Colosseum completely blew me away. All I wanted to do was jump through a portal myself and join them. All the action sequences are also very thrillingly written and I could completely feel the emotions going through the minds of the characters while trying to save each other.

The themes in Cassie’s books are always special because she manages to write great parallels to our real world. We see the bigotry even more now because Alec and Magnus are dating, which is unimaginable for so many in their society. The mistrust with which Magnus’s friends treat him makes Alec realize how Downworlders have been mistreated till date and he really wants to do a better job. But he also knows he can’t do it by being defiant but by trying to change the system from within. And his trying to show solidarity to Aline and Helen and encouraging them to also do the same felt very touching.

The other major theme here was about not judging oneself or others based only on their past actions. Through Magnus and Shinyun’s stories, we realize that everyone has done bad things in their past due to circumstances or foolishness but one should always get the chance to redeem themselves and work to be a better person, and maybe even try to undo the consequences of the past actions. And Alec plays such a crucial role in trying to make Magnus forgive himself and show him that he has always been a kind and amazing person. Everyone deserves a second chance and Alec embodying this message made my heart warm.

Well, what can I say... if you are already a fan of the Shadowhunter universe, then you should read this book. If you are a Malec fan, then please go pick this up right now and be ready for the thrilling ride. This book should work fine if you have just read TMI, but if you have also read TDA, you’ll definitely appreciate the cameos more. This is a fun, entertaining adventure novel with the most adorable couple ever, the best European vacation spots and some fantastic fight sequences. I promise you will not be disappointed. show less