The Days of Tao

The Days of Tao by Wesley Chu is a novella length story set after the events of the original Tao trilogy. Chu describes this book as a bridging novella that will help to set the scene for his new trilogy with all new characters. And it works, not just as a bridging novella but also as an entertaining story. You could probably read this without having read the Tao trilogy, but I don't think you would get much out of it - The Days of Tao is definitely aimed at fans of the series.
The story follows Cameron Tan, the new host for the alien entity known as Tao, and gives us a snapshot of his life as a college student and as a secret Prophus agent in training. When a high value asset turns up in Greece needing extraction to a Prophus safehouse, Cameron is the only Prophus agent available for the mission who is capable of getting the asset to safety.
The Days of Tao is a fast paced story, commencing with an assassination and the threat of world war, and continuing to up the ante page by page with chase sequences, fist fights, shoot outs, sabotage and betrayal. Cameron Tan is young, brash, and unwilling to listen to the ancient alien that inhabits his body. He makes plenty of mistakes which can be rather frustrating to read, but he appears capable of learning from his mistakes which is a positive. This story is far from being a game changer, it's not pushing boundaries, but it does a fine job of keeping the reader engaged from start to finish.
Chu does a great job with the characters here, as he did with all the characters in the main trilogy. Chu gives us a diverse cast, who range from awesome asskickers to filthy backstabbers to scared runaways. Cameron gets the majority of the screen time and he owns his scenes, even if it results in him making stupid decisions and then having to deal with their consequences almost immediately. The novella size means that we don't get to explore any of the characters with any depth, but hopefully we get to see more of them in The Rise of Io whenever that comes out.
I had a fun time with this book and it left me wanting more and more from Chu set in this universe full of ancient aliens. The Days of Tao was long enough to scratch that itch, but too short to completely satisfy me, and now I’m left hanging out for The Rise of Io. If you are a fan of the series I think you will get a real kick out of this book.

The nitty-gritty: A short tale that's packed with action, humor, and some old favorite characters.

I fell in love with Wesley Chu’s Tao series, which ended last year with The Deaths of Tao, and so I was thrilled to discover he was writing a novella set in the same universe. The Days of Tao is short enough to devour in a day or so, and it seems to be setting the story up for Chu’s next book, The Rise of Io. For those of you unfamiliar with the world of Tao, this novella might not make as much sense as it would if you’ve already ready the series, but the story in itself is certainly self-contained enough to entertain anyone. Chu briefly explains a few of the world-building concepts, but doesn’t have time to really delve into a thorough explanation—thankfully for those of us who already know what’s going on.

(For those who need an introduction into Tao's world, you can read my review of The Lives of Tao here.)

The story picks up some time after the end of The Rebirths of Tao. Cameron, son of Prophus operatives Jill and Roen, is now college-aged and spending the summer in Greece, a “punishment” devised by his mother due to failing his college art history class. But Cam is having a grand old time, hanging out with his new friends and enjoying himself for the first time in his life, after a hard childhood growing up on the run from the Genjix, the sworn enemies of the Prophus. But in the middle of his enjoyable summer, he’s contacted by Command and told that he’s needed to help extract a Prophus operative, who has just murdered the Russian Quartermaster General (along with his Genjix quasing), from the country. Cameron isn’t happy about it, but he’s been training his whole life for this type of assignment, and as a host himself (the quasing Tao has taken up residence in Cameron), it’s his duty to help and protect the Prophus.

Cameron makes contact with the operative, but when he warns him that a world war between the two alien factions is imminent, Cam decides to take as many of his friends with him as possible before it’s too late. After this brief set-up, the rest of the story is a race to get out of the country, as the group is pursued by Genjix operatives, Greek law enforcement, and more.

I have to say I so enjoyed being back with the Prophus alien Tao, who has a much different relationship with Cam than he did with Roen, his last host. Roen was always a bit of a mess, so it was nice to see that Cameron, having been trained practically since birth, is already well ahead of his father with his fighting skills. He and Tao seem more suited for each other, although Cameron does have a healthy disdain for some of the wisdom and training that Tao tries to impart, which makes for some very funny banter between the two.

We don’t get enough page time with the secondary characters, which didn’t surprise me too much, since the story is so short. But a few of Cam’s friends stood out for me, especially a rich kid named Yang who refuses to leave his viola behind, even as he and his friends are running for their lives. Cameron comes across as a boy who may be destined for greatness, but he’s still just a kid with (sometimes) poor decision-making skills. I’m not sure what Chu has planned for his new series, but I fervently hope Cam and Tao are part of the cast.

The story ends with a bit of a teaser leading into The Rise of Io, but after reading the Goodreads story description I’m honestly not sure what to expect! All I know is that I love this series, and I’m beyond excited that Wesley Chu has decided to keep his characters alive on the page. For fans of Tao and company, don’t miss this fun and fast-paced adventure.

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.

This novella takes place after the first three Tao books. The protagonist of this book is the son of Roen from "The Lives of Tao". I don't think it's necessary to have read the other books first, it certainly would help in understanding everything that was going on (I've only read the first book, but I plan to read the rest of the trilogy). Plus, "The Lives of Tao" is a fantastic book. It's funny, fast paced, well written - completely enjoyable (as was this novella).

This story focuses on the outbreak of the war between the Prophus and Genjix who are factions in a war of Quasings (alien beings that are nearly immortal) that inhabit a host body in a symbiotic way (it always makes think of the Goa'uld in Stargate SG1). Cameron Tan is a Prophus agent-in-training, and is the only person available to help with the evacuation of a valuable asset as war breaks out. Things get complicated when some of his classmates end up coming along to escape the growing violence. It's an entertaining novella, and I only have one complaint really - several loose ends don't get wrapped up. My guess, is there are some new Tao novels coming.

I think if you've read and liked "Altered Carbon" or "Heroes Die", you'll like this novella and if you haven't read it, you should try "The Lives of Tao". They're all action packed books that in some way involve changing bodies, or sharing consciousness with someone else. They're also all books that are favorites of mine.

I got an advanced copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for a review

PS - LOVE this cover

I was fortunate enough to be a beta reader for this book. As a huge fan of the Tao trilogy, I was thrilled when the author contacted me and asked if I would like to give a read of his new novella featuring Cameron, son of Rowan Tan, starring for the first time in his own adventure.

Chu proves he can pack as much action and humor in 100 pages as he does in 300. In The Days of Tao, tensions between the Prophus and the Genjix heat up in the quasing war, and Cameron is tasked to transport a vital informant to safety while he was on a college trip to Greece with his classmates. Before long, Cameron finds himself responsible for the whole group, and this is the story of how he comes to learn many new lessons as a leader.

It's always interesting to see the changes from a beta read to the final product. One of my biggest issues on the first read was Cameron's decision to put his whole mission at stake for the sake of his classmates. His character is a nice person - but it still wouldn't explain the huge risk he was willing to take, especially with the world on the line. He's also supposed to be an agent capable of making those hard decisions, and I worried that the story was painting him too soft.

Chu ended up finding a solution to that problem that satisfied me, and it also made Cameron a deeper character in the process. This is a great, compact little story that accomplishes so much in such a short amount of time. Our protagonist ends up learning some tough lessons about friendships and betrayal, and liked that there was an ambiguity at the end about what happened. Camerson had to learn that there are consequences to his decisions, and that even when he's trying to be merciful and kind, things can backfire on him spectacularly. Overall this is an action story, but it also serves well as a character study.

I'm excited to see what the future will bring for the quasings. What's also cool about The Days of Tao is the fact that it provides hints for what is to come, and I liked that it had a few bridge elements which will set things up for Chu's next series, which will kick off with a new book called The Rise of Io. Those who love his Tao books will want to check this out, and if you want the full picture it is a definite must-read!

The Days of Tao by Wesley Chu- This is a novella in Wesley Chu's series about a war fought between two sides of an alien culture, called Quasings, living in the inside humans host minds, throughout thousands of years of conflict. In this story, a young college student studying in modern day Greece is also a trained spy suddenly set on a difficult assignment and beleaguered by friends he can't leave behind. Cameron Tan has the Quasing called Tao inside him. They are a team from the Prophus side of the fight, working together to stop the rival alien faction, The Genjix, from destroying mankind in its effort to get back to the stars. Cameron's task is to bring an agent back to home turf with valuable information. As Greece has become unsafe, he is also forced to bring his friends along rather than leave them to their fate. On top of this, one of his friends is obviously a traitor, because Genjix agents keep turning up where ever they go. Things move swiftly with action, violence and intrigue, the only sore point being a bit of the beginning which reads like high school high jinks but is thankfully left behind. I'll be honest, I've never read any of Wesley Chu's other Tao books, but the plot and the circumstances are easy to pick up, and I had no trouble understanding the background elements during this brisk narrative. My only complaint is, we never find out who the traitor was. Once we reach a certain part of the story the rest becomes a quick wrap-up and it's done. Maybe the author is planning on extending it to full novel format in the future? Anyway, I enjoyed the story and look forward to maybe going back and reading the original novels.

Thanks to Netgalley!

This was a delicious appetite-whetter. It may be just a novella, but it sets the stage wonderfully for the after-coming-out party war between the two alien species.

I particularly liked the character building for Cameron Tao, far from being a reluctant hero, but he's one that tends to bite off just a bit more than he can chew, and for all the right reasons.

It's a close to the heart novella about friendship and betrayal and the consequences of your actions. I really got into the Escape-From-Greece scenes, too. Am I going to be on the lookout for more of the Tao novels because of this?

Oh hell, how could I hold back? Like I said, this was TASTY.

A fast moving bite into the larger Tao narrative. Slick and cool like everything Chu writes.

Wesley Chu has proved himself that he can write bestselling scifi and at the same time deeply interesting stories. Must read.

Empezamos la semana con la reseña de otra novela corta, a las que últimamente estoy más enganchado por una falta casi total de tiempo para leer, cosa que desgraciadamente también repercute en el blog... pero bueno vamos al tema que es lo que interesa.

Hoy os traigo The Days of Tao de Wesley Chu, novela que se sitúa pocos años después de la trilogía de Tao y nos da alguna pistilla o guiño a por donde pueden ir los tiros en la próxima trilogía ambientada en el mismo universo, The Rise of Io. En la novelita, apenas poco más de 100 páginas, nos volvemos a encontrar con Cameron Tan, ya en época universitaria y castigado a pasar el verano en una Universidad griega por sus malas notas. Aún así, un acontecimiento de gran envergadura, pondrá al joven Cameron en el ojo del huracán y en una carrera contrarreloj para abandonar el país. Para aquellos conocedores de la trilogía ya sabréis a qué ateneros con este libro ya que encontramos todo lo bueno (o lo malo para quién no le guste) de la trilogía original. Un ritmo alto, humor y mucha acción que harán las delicias del fan del autor y que espera con ganas (como yo) la siguiente trilogía. Y es que esta novela corta, está hecha y dirigida exclusivamente para el conocedor de la trilogía original, ya que explica con total normalidad y sin ningún tipo de tapujo ni recordatorio los grandes acontecimientos de la trilogía, cosa que hace que sea un sinsentido para aquellos desconocedores de la serie principal, y a los cuales aconsejo no acercarse ni con un palo a este libro sin antes leerse la trilogía de Tao.

En resumidas cuentas, The Days of Tao es un libro divertido y rápido de leer que saciará las ansias del fan de Chu pero que no recomiendo para nada para acercarse por primera vez al autor. Para eso os recomiendo empezar por The Lives of Tao, que además es un libro perfecto para leer tumbado en la playa ahora que se acerca el veranito.