Wesley Chu has created a wonderfully entertaining series that features aliens known as the Quasing that crashed landed on Earth long be before humans walked on the planet. The only way for the Quasing to survive on planet Earth was to form a symbiotic relationship with living creatures. The Quasing have a considerably long life span and can move from one creature to another once their host dies. Eventually they would inhabit humans. Once they were able to form a relationship with humans, they realized they found an intelligent species that could help them to reach their goal of getting back to their home planet. But how the Quasing interacted with humans eventually split the Quasing into two factions; one that felt that their superiority to humans allowed them to treat humans as nothing more than a vessel to do their bidding. They convinced the humans that they occupied that they were special compared to other humans and that hosting a Quasing was akin to hosting a god. This faction is known as the Genjix. The other faction known as the Prophus, felt that the Quasing relationship with humans should be more of a cooperation and that humans should have a voice in this relationship. This has led to a war between the two factions with humans in the middle.

Io is a Quasing that doesn’t want to side with either the Genjix or the Prophus and surely does not want to be involved in a war. Io eventually occupies a very reluctant Ella Patel, a young Indian women who has spent most of her life trying to survive the slums of India. Io’s and Ella’s relationship is not very harmonious, but they try to make the best of it since Io cannot leave Ella unless Ella dies. One thing they can both agree on is that neither one wants to have anything to do with either the Genjix or the Prophus. So Io and Ella have sought refuge in the heart of Tokyo away from both the Genjix and the Prophus. But their life in Tokyo would be unfortunately disrupted only by the fact that Io’s original occupation among the Quasing was ‘Receiver’, and the Genjix needs Io’s unique abilities in order to communicate to the Quasing’s home planet. So two competing Genjix operatives are assigned to retrieve Io and Ella and the Prophus will do what they must to stop them. No matter what, Io/Ella are on the losing end.

Plenty of weapons, hand-to-hand combat and evil subterfuge makes The Fall of Io a must read for the die-hard Tao fan. Roen Tan makes an appearance and shows that even though he is collecting social security, he still has a bit of fight in him. I would say that this is not a standalone novel and would suggest at least reading the Lives of Tao and The Rise of Io beforehand.

I really enjoyed The Rise of Io and was looking forward to seeing what happened next with Ella and Io but was nervous after seeing the title of this book.

This book takes place two years after the events of Rise of Io. After a brief stint in the Prophus Academy (where she flunked out), Ella and the mind-invading alien Io are in Tokyo, Japan. Japan is a neutral country in the alien Prophus-Genjix war so she should be safer there and Ella goes back to being a small-time con artist like back in Crate Town. However, the Genjix's plans to contact their home planet require Io's knowledge so Ella is being hunted again.

This book is told from several points of view and it felt like we got much more information about the Genjix this time around and the conflict between two of the big players there than we did about Ella or Io. There was plenty of action in this book and lots of violence so the book moved pretty quick. I found myself not being very interested in much of the extra background stuff and wanted more of Ella and Io. There is very clearly another book coming and I am interested to see where the story goes next.

I liked the first book but did not care that much for this one. If you took all the fight scenes out you would have a much shorter book and they really did not add much to the plot. In fact I am still trying to decide what the plot is. The ending left Ella in a new place and did not seem to have much left to talk about. For me this was a big disappointment.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.

The Fall of Io follows an interesting and refreshing formula. Take an alien-inhabited version of Earth set in the near future, add in well-choreographed fight scenes along with some spy fiction intrigue, top it off with a witty, annoyed alien presence lurking in the background, and you’ve got a hit. Chu’s Tao universe is a masterpiece of modern sci-fi and his prowess shows through in this second novel of the Io series. Get ready for a badass lead who fights like a semi-pro, steals like a boss and hides a heart of gold.

Full review at: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2019/01/03/the-fall-of-io-book-review/

This Review is posted on my blog here: https://t.co/LCmAB4cNJm

The Fall of Io is the fifth book in Wes Chu's Quasing universe that began with the Lives of Tao trilogy (The Lives of Tao, The Deaths of Tao, The Rebirths of Tao) and the second book in this new Io trilogy, which began with 2016's "The Rise of Io." I read all four of those books within the span of a week back in 2017 and liked the Tao trilogy a lot - it was a really fun action series with some great characters and dialogue and I was looking forward to the continuation of this universe. And while I didn't love The Rise of Io as much as its predecessors, I was disappointed that a sequel didn't seem to be coming back when I read it.

Two years later, The Fall of Io appeared on Netgalley and Amazon and I got really excited - and was even more excited when I got an ARC from the publisher. And that excitement was justified honestly; whereas The Fall of Io is on par with the best of the Tao trilogy, and a really really fun book thanks to some great characters, great dialogue, and some fun action scenes. Now I can't wait for the next book in this series and hope there will be further books beyond that.

For those who missed these books, they follow a world where secretly for centuries an alien race (the Quasing) who shipwrecked on earth ages ago has been involved with human history, with their energy forms merging with human bodies, resulting in those aliens being able to talk to the humans within their own heads. The aliens got into a civil war - with half (the Genjix) wanting to drive humanity to deadly conflict while the other half (the Prophus) wished to help humanity peacefully. The Tao trilogy followed Roen Tan, a young man (at the start) who accidentally becomes the host of a Prophus Quasing named Tao, and has to fight to save humanity from the Genjix. The series was incredibly fun because Tao was hyper-competent (and had been inside the heads of some of the most famous humans in history) and the witty dialogue between Roen and Tao, as well as the other characters, was a lot of fun.

The Io series is a new trilogy set two decades or so later after the Tao trilogy, featuring a young woman named Ella Patel who comes into contact with a Quasing named Io accidentally. But where Tao was hyper-competent, Io is at best incompetent, having only guided hosts in the past to ignominious deaths. The result is a very less competent partnership with a very different vibe.

Note: You can start the Quasing books with either the first Tao book (The Lives of Tao) or the first Io book (The Rise of Io), but starting with this book will have you very lost. Honestly I wouldn't even start with the first Io book - these two books are better enjoyed if you understand the references to the Tao books, as a few major characters recur from there.

---------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------
2 Years after Ella first became host to Io and became involved in the Prophus-Genjix conflict, Ella and Io are once again on their own, with Ella having been expelled from the Prophus academy in Australia for her inability to fit in with Prophus discipline standards. Now in Japan, Ella is working to try and build a criminal empire - or as Io would call it: running her little street gang stealing things to sell on the black market. Ella's efforts aren't helped by her still caring heart....or Io's not always helpful advice in her head.

But Ella and Io won't be able to stay independent for long, as the Genjix has put a huge bounty on capturing them for some reason....and Alexandra "Shura" Mengsk is determined to capture them in order to triumph in her power play for power among the Genjix. And the Prophus aren't far behind also, including the only man Ella has ever loved as well as one old man Prophus agent mysteriously dragged out of retirement.

It will take all of Ella and Io's skills in order to survive this mess, with everyone gunning for them for some reason. The only problem? They don't really have much skill at anything - with Ella's soft heart and Io's lack of competence making it only more and more likely they'll wind up in a situation they will forever regret.....
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Rereading my twitter review of The Rise of Io, my biggest complaint was that I didn't really love the chemistry between Ella and Io, especially as compared to the prior trilogy's equivalent relationship between Roen and Tao. That is absolutely not the case with The Fall of Io - the relationship and dialogue between Ella and Io is brilliant here, and makes this book so damn good. Again it's a totally different relationship that the one between Tao and Roen - they're more like bickering partners at this point who are together seemingly only by necessity than blood-bonded allies, and Chu is great with the dialogue. It helps that Chu no longer plays up Io merely as an incompetent unhelpful Quasing - her advice isn't ever as brilliant as Tao's, but it's still advice that would often be good if Ella would take it. Of course, Io has her own agenda which isn't always aligned with Ella, for additional friction - as the reader finds pretty clearly in the blurbs that begin each chapter from Io's perspective about what happened in the two year time-gap, Io's definitely a bit of a jerk. Still, Ella is incredibly easy to love as the good-hearted rogue who can't be tamed and makes a great distinct protagonist.

The other difference between this book and its predecessor is that there are significant other major characters who are big players in this book who the book spends time with. In particular, each chapter switches off between Ella/Io's POV and one of two other characters - the antagonist Shura and Prophus agent "Makita" (whose real identity will be obvious to anyone who's read the other books from the beginning). And they're really interesting characters - Shura's desperation in her attempt to reclaim her power among the Genjix makes her a lot of fun as an antagonist, especially when she's forced to be a little humble, and Makita is a pretty natural extension of that character's story from the prior books in this series and he's still a lot of fun, especially as he's now not only a normal human, but one well past his prime basically having a post-mid-life crisis.

As always with this series, the plot is fast paced, often with some great action happening with all of the characters. It really works very damn well, from the beginning when the three main characters' plots are kind of separate to the second half where they all unite in the same location. And the action is really great in its diversity - this is a plot where we have the characters getting involved not only in the alien civil war (with their highly-skilled strike teams) but with yakuza, Tokyo police,and small time crooks also getting involved to cause pretty large amounts of havoc - the best type of situation for Ella/Io to be involved with.

For the second trilogy in a row, the book ends on a pretty major change of the status quo (and thus a pretty big cliffhanger) but it really works as a satisfying ending, and I hope we get the conclusion to the trilogy in a much shorter period of time than the last one. Because this series remains some of the most fun scifi action I've read since I came back to the genre and really begs to be made into a movie/TV series.

My poor love Ella really can't get a breather, can she? Wesley Chu keeps throwing obstacles in her way and, although I love reading the entire adventure, my heart feels for her so much. Other than that, I absolutely loved this book! The action, the writing and atmosphere in general was spectacular.

Also, Io continues being a trash bag, but a trash bag that I love. I certainly have a love for weird AI/alien creatures that don't really seem to get human things. It's not that Io doesn't really get them, but they just choose to only look towards their goal, without really taking into account others.

If I don't get my hands on the next book ASAP I'll cry like a small baby

A thoroughly enjoyable book. It's been a few years since I read the Lives of Tao series and I really enjoyed that. I was a bit underwhelmed with "Rise of Io" that continued the in the world of the Quasing with a few new characters. "The Fall of Io" was a nice surprise though. It felt a lot more like the original series and I can't wait for the next one to come out. Hope it doesn't take too long.

Just what IS the Fall of Io?

I mean, to me, I expected the grand wheel of Hubris to dunk Ella and Io under the water of fate, but similar to the first novel... the rising and falling aren't that spectacular. It's more of a personal choice rather than an epic downfall. :)

It's okay. :) We have a lot more to entertain us here.

Like heists, flashbacks to events that will already have happened right AFTER the events in the first book, heists, tons of action, heists, and feeling all buddy-buddy with the Yakuza. Oh, and did I mention h.... oh wait... I think I did. :)

An alternative title to this novel might be, "Everyone Hates Ella." Except for Cameron, of course, although he's just a stupid man. :) It's kinda nice to enjoy a relatively hated MC for once. She doesn't have much going for her and her alien is kinda a f***-up, too. This is no surprise.

No spoilers, but I had a good time with this. It's pure popcorn fiction.

It's aliens riding our meat-bags in a mutually beneficial arrangement, a whole taking over the world conflict between the good aliens and the bad, and an extended roll in the mud. :)