The Rise of Io

A scrappy thief eking out a living in a slum finds herself firmly in the middle of a war between body-swapping aliens.

The Rise of Io starts off with a bang. Ella Patel witnesses a woman’s death. Upon her death, the body-swapping alien leaves and chooses to inhabit Ella instead of following line of succession. Io is an alien that crashed on Earth long before humanity even existed. Io’s race has since split in two factions and, in the aftermath of a world war, has found an uneasy stalemate. Ella struggles to cope with sharing her body and complete the original mission.

This is one hell of a book. The aliens need humanity to survive on Earth, but some care little for their hosts. Io is an interesting character, as she has the longest string of failed human/alien relationships, and most of her historical past is failure. Ella is equally awesome. She’s scrappy, intelligent, and determined to survive at any cost. Following her as she copes with the alien inside and her place in the larger war is simply outstanding. Chu writes in an engrossing style and knows when to punctuate the violence and political intrigue with witty humor. Fans of the previous series and newcomers alike will be unable to put down this book.