The Lives of Tao – are too many

4 of 5 Puppet-Master Stars – The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu.

This book was frustrating for me. It was a very love/hate relationship while I was reading it. Because on the one hand, it’s an awesome fucking book. And on the other… Well, I really wanted to strangle Tao. He’s a real cocksucker. And he’s not even human. But yes, I did enjoy this book. It was very engaging, and I found myself acting like some black guy in a movie theatre, yelling at Tao all the way through this book. “Fuck you, Tao! Let the poor fat bastard do what he wants! Damn!”

The book is about Tao (duh), who is a ancient alien entity, who is literally centuries old. He has lived within many famous humans over time. Pretty much any famous, influential figure in history, this jackass Tao was living inside the guy’s head, telling him what to do, and how to conquer the world.

The story starts out with Tao basically driving a Ferrari of a human. Taking his prized human into battle. Kicking ass, and taking names, while chewing bubble gum. But then, the unthinkable happens. His super-human, who Tao has trained for many years, is finally killed. And this means that Tao has to find a new host. But that’s not an easy thing to do when you’ve just been punted over a cliff, and your host died on the way down.

So Tao finds the only available host. A poor fat bastard, that happened to be wandering around town in the middle of night, only to be inhabited by his worst fucking nightmare. Tao, the bastard. It’s a nightmare, because Tao is now stuck in this fat fucker, until he dies of a heart attack or something. And Tao doesn’t want to be lugging around such a fat sack of shit. He’s used to awesomeness. So he’s gonna have to find a way to train this fat lazy slob to be a super-spy. Or die trying.

This is when I started screaming at the pages. Telling Tao to go fuck himself. Because he finally reveals himself to this poor fat guy, and tells him in no uncertain terms, that he’s got to go outside and exercise like right fucking now. And the fat guy tells Tao “Yeah, right. Get fucked.” Or something like that. Seriously, for a second, this fat guy was my fucking hero.

But then Tao played an evil trick. He brings in some hot chick to train the fat guy. That’s fucking evil, man. No fat guy is gonna turn down training with a hot chick. And I was all like “Noooooooooooo! Don’t do it, fat guy! Run for your goddamn life, man!” But I knew it was no use. Because, of course the fat guy is gonna go out and try to jog with this girl. Dammit to hell.

And of course, there’s this evil plot thing, where there’s an evil faction of the alien entities who are out to rule the world. Or something. I don’t fucking know. All I know is there’s a fucking alien battle raging on earth, and most of the world has no fucking idea it’s happening.

What I really don’t get is the fact that Tao is the evil faction’s #1 target. Everyone want’s to kill Tao. Which is one of the reasons he has to train his host to be a super fighting machine. Okay, I get why everyone wants to kill Tao. Not just because he’s a fucking asshole. It’s because he’s one of the oldest and most influential alien entities out there. That makes sense.

But what doesn’t make sense is the fact that these evil fuckers can’t find Tao. It’s fucking retarded. This is the modern world they’re living in. With internet and everything. And these aliens are the smartest things imaginable. So why the fuck are they having such a hard time finding Tao and his host? It doesn’t make any fucking sense. At one point they figure out who Tao’s host is. They know where he works. They know where he lives. So what the fuck, man? Just kill him already.

There really needed to be more of an explanation of why these evil guys didn’t find Tao. It’s either that they’re fucking retarded, or maybe because they just didn’t want to, for some stupid reason. None of those explanations make any fucking sense. So what is it, Mr. Chu? What’s the deal man?

Anyway, it’s a great book. I enjoyed reading it. But it really was a struggle. In fact, this book got under my skin so much, that I actually wrote some fanfic about it. And I haven’t written fanfic in like twenty years. But I just had to, with this book. I needed some closure that this book didn’t provide. So I did it myself, goddamnit. So there. Fuck you, Tao.

**** And here’s my stupid fanfic. ****

Die Tao Die

“Hi,” I said to the group of Hosts in front of me, as I did my best impression of a smile, which turned out to be more of a smirk. “My name is Glenn, and I have an alien entity living in my fucking head.”

“Hi, Glenn,” the group said in unison.

“His name is Tao, and he’s a fucking cocksucker. He keeps trying to control my life, and it’s really starting to piss me off!” My audience was looking a bit alarmed.

So, I suck cock now, do I?

“No! Shut the fuck up, Tao. Fuck,” the audience was definitely getting a bit shocked. “Okay, fine. He’s not actually a cocksucker. If he was capable of sucking some cock, he might be able to do something good in this world. No, Tao is more of an asshole, really. And I just… I just don’t know what to do…”

One of the ladies in the front row gave me a knowing look and said, “It’s okay, Glenn. We’ve all been there. Just tell us your story. It’ll feel better, I promise.” And she finished it off with a sickening smile that made me want to puke. I just couldn’t understand how any of these Hosts were happy with their situation. It made absolutely no sense to me.

“Okay. So there I was, minding my own fucking business, eating lunch at the park. And there was this swift wind all the sudden. And I passed out, or something. Then, I woke up at my house. Crashed out on my couch. On my coffee table was my laptop. The browser was open to the most disgusting porn I’ve ever seen. I’m no prude, don’t get me wrong, but goddamn… There’s some porn you just don’t watch, know what I mean?

“So I’m thinking I must be sleep walking. But not sleep walking, sleep porn watching. Which is weird, right? Sure. Okay, I’ll buy that. But then this motherfucker starts talking in my fucking head. ‘Hi, Glenn’ it says. ‘My name is Tao, and you’re my new host. I’m pleased to meet you.’ And I’m like WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON HERE??!!

“He talks to me in my head, you see. I know, you’re all probably familiar with this, because you’re all hosts, but this shit is new to me, you know. He talks to me, and tries to make me do things. He tried to get me to exercise, for fuck’s sake! Exercise? Are you fucking kidding me? I’m a fat, lazy bastard, man. I don’t fucking exercise. It’s like he’s trying to kill me. I swear.

“’Let’s go on a run,’ he says. What ‘we’ is he talking about? It’s me doing the goddamn running. He’s not running at all. He’s just a useless lazy cunt…” I trailed off.

So, I’m a cunt now, am I? I thought you liked cunt. You’d eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you could get a date. But you’re too stupid and fat to get a date. And you won’t accept my help. Keep being a loser if you want. See if I care.

“Goddamnit, Tao! FUCK! YOU!” I pounded my fists on the podium, trying to make my point. The audience kept giving me those uncomfortable stares. “How do you people stand it? Seriously?”

Now you’ve done it, Glenn. You called them ‘you people’.

“Eat a dick, Tao! Damn. It’s like I can’t hear myself think with this guy stuffing up my head…”

Some guy in the second row spoke up, “It’s okay, man. You’ll get used to it. It’s not so bad, really. They can actually be quite helpful, you know.”

“But you don’t understand. I don’t want him to be helpful. I want him to fucking die. Yes, you heard me. I want to kill this motherfucker in the worst possible way. And yes, I understand that in order to do that, I’d have to kill myself. And I think I’m fine with that. As long as this cocksucker dies, I’m totally fine with killing myself.” I started gritting my teeth. I think I may have actually growled at some point.

An old lady in the front row spoke up after an uncomfortable silence. “Oh dear, don’t talk like that. These beings are our friends. They love us. I’m sure Tao would hate to lose you. He loves you. I’m sure of it.”

Haaaa ha hahahaha ahahahahahah oh my god. This is too funny. If they only knew.

“No. I’ve had it. This is enough. Tao is a fucking asshole, and all he wants to do is ruin my fucking life. And that’s why I insisted on having this meeting way out here in the middle of bum fuck nowhere. So Tao couldn’t find another host. I mean, he can’t inhabit one of you, because you’re already hosts, right?”

Then I gave one last smirk, pulled out my gun, and shot myself in the fucking head. It was the happiest moment of my life.

And now you’re in a coma, because you’re too stupid to even shoot yourself right. Good job, moron. Now I’m stuck here in your lifeless body until you die. Fuck my life.