I wanted to love this and based on the description, I should have. But I couldn't get over the trite prose and cheesy dialogue. I'm pretty sure this book was half similes. The characters kind of blended together and it was hard to keep them straight, which made things confusing at times. The narrator was good at least.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ALC.

*2.5 stars*

This had a contagion type story line and the drama of an isolated group of people living at the South Pole. Murder and mystery, and still somehow managed to be boring and predictable? It was weirdly misogynistic and gave me horrible grad school flashbacks.

The narration was fine. Well edited and easy to listen to if not a little monotonous.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ALC of this work. All opinions in this review are my own.

I'm sorry to say that I was was disappointed with this book. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I was expecting, and it was not my sort of book.

I was hoping for a chilling atmospheric mystery, but you know everything there is to know from the blurb and the first few chapters. It is all action, action, action, nothing creepy. I prefer a thriller driven by psychological tension, not physical violence.
I was hoping for a unique setting. It was that, but we kept being TOLD it was isolated and inhospitable, I never really FELT it.
I was hoping for some cool science - I love microbiology! The science was sadly not at all scientific.
I was hoping for some claustrophobic interpersonal interactions by people trapped in crisis. This part was done fairly well. BUT the writing of women was terrible! They existed only to be romantic/sexual motivation for the actual characters (the men) and murder victims.

I'm sure there are people out there who will love this as an action thriller with a unique setting. I did get somewhat invested in the plot, and didn't hate it. It just wasn't for me.

A snowy, chilling thriller set at the South Pole.

What I liked: pacing felt right, the narrator was really awesome and compelling, great curation of this isolated, suspicious feeling

What I wasn’t so fond of: this was very difficult to follow on audio, the tropes were predictable, and the dynamics between characters at the station felt almost a bit immature??

Overall would recommend if you enjoy contagion horror stories or books that leave you feeling chilly inside!

After reading the synopsis I thought it was right out my league, reminded me of a book that I have read before and I liked it, “Among the living” but I felt in here the story went through really fast and furious, other book that also has kind of a similar story is “how high we go in the dark”, and also I liked it better than this one… the best part for me in this book was, that it was an audiobook and I feel that Paul Bellantoni that read the book did a good job. Maybe if not for him I would have dnf.

Too much things happen at the same time, and I didn’t find enough time or reason to like any of the characters, that was also a difficulty for me, there’s lots of different voices, not that many of them stay for long, but that is for me to know and for you to find out…

so to make it clear, I did like the audiobook, I just didn’t enjoyed that much the story. Maybe if you like fast action books with a thriller feel to it, you’ll love this book. I give 3 stars to the story and i raise it to 4 because of the audiobook.

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media | Dreamscape Lore, for the free AAC and this is my honest opinion.

2.5 Stars
========================

Confusing. That is the best one-word description for this sci-fi/horror/thriller. Maybe it is the audio format, as it was hard to decipher who was who with so many characters in the story. The most confusing was the sentient microbe, it took me a beat to understand that voices in the characters heads were not always their own.

This story follows the premise of so many other stories set in deep-space or the polar icecaps. Scientists stranded away from civilization dealing with a contagion. The government is not coming to the rescue and the chance of survival looks bleak. There is normally one smart person who researches the threat and delivers a solution, and a hero that saves the day. These stereotypes are lost in the overwhelming number of characters. First, the men read more like blue-collar workers on a offshore rig. The language is raunchy with tons of toxic masculinity. Even the women in this story are one-dimensional. They behave as if they were on "Love Island" instead of trapped at a research station in the Antarctic with a violent crew and a very contagious "unknown entity". Maybe the increased libido was caused by the microbe? The infected have need to smoke lots of weed -was this an attempt at humor or some obscure obsession on behalf of the microbe?

The voice actor for the audio book, did a decent job with the various character vocalizations, but the narrative voice reminded me of an insurance commercial.

So what is the story actually about? A group of Chinese Researchers, survivors of a contagion at their research lab in the Antarctic, show up at the US Research station. They carry with them the body of one of their peers had had gone made and was mysteriously ripped apart in the back of their vehicle. The US is at war with China (and others as it is WWIII) so the survivors are imprisoned in a storage area. Meanwhile, the team that went out to meet them begins to behave bizarrely, and the violence begins. The culprit is an extremophile allegedly discovered deep under the polar icecap by the Chinese researchers. Bodies begin to mount as the team attempts to discover how to force the microbe into dormancy. But nothing is what is seems in the story. There is a government conspiracy, an evolving entity, and no one knows who they can trust. If the story had realistic characters, this would have been an intriguing concept. Instead it is an over-used trope shabbily supported by unlikeable characters.

Again, maybe the book format would have read more clearly. But the Audio format was clearly a fail.

In comparison, a book like Gravity by Tess Gerritsen is a 5-star read for me. It contains a science-based premise, and delivers a true BioTech /SCI-FI Thriller.

This was a fast paced, gripping thriller that kept me hooked from the start... but it also had its frustrating moments. The novel wastes no time diving into action and suspense, delivering twist after twist that kept me turning the pages. I especially appreciated the depth of research woven into the narrative, including the intriguing reference to the mysterious death of Rodney Marks. Nayak clearly put effort into grounding the story in real world science, which added a compelling layer of authenticity.

However, I struggled with the way the scientists, who supposedly at the top of their fields, having secured the immense funding required for Antarctic research, were portrayed. Their immature behavior and juvenile dialogue often felt unrealistic, pulling me out of the story. The writing itself also leaned toward the amateurish at times, which detracted from the intensity of the plot.

Despite these issues, Symbiote was an adrenaline fueled read that will appeal to fans of action packed thrillers with a scientific edge (think John Carpenter's The Thing). While the execution had its flaws, the sheer momentum and suspense made it a worth while ride.

Lastly, I think the narrator did an amazing job, especially for the many different characters!

This was a captivating read. Imagine The Thing with a science thriller feel. A group of 40+ south pole researchers and staffers get four refugees from a Chinese research station elsewhere in the Antarctic that feel to their base. With one person dead and a language barrier the Polies try to manage the situation, but it quickly becomes apparent that there's some type of microbe responsible. It's more fantasy than hard sci-fi, so be prepared to suspend your disbelief. But once the novel gets going you'll be hard pressed to put it down.

I greatly enjoyed the explorations of the characters that happened while under the influence of the microbe, I think it was well done and added a lot of depth to characters that may not have had time to shine yet.

My criticisms:
Took a little bit to get going, and at first the sheer number of characters was a little bit overwhelming.
Nayak paints the south pole as a sort of non-stop frat party of love triangles and petty relationship drama. It seemed like every female character was portrayed as using sex to get things or to solidify their position. It seemed largely irrelevant to the plot beyond establishing starting loyalties.
The narrator of the audiobook really leaned into the "symbiote" thing by doing what seemed like the voice of Venom the Symbiote from marvel movies. I feel like this kind of spoiled some of the surprise of the nature of the microbe.

All in all it's an impressive debut novel and I look forward to reading Michael Nayak's future works.

"Symbiote" is a science fiction thriller set in the Antarctic wasteland during World War 3. A group of scientists arrive at a research base, bringing a parasite, and chaos ensues. The author does a good job of setting an atmospheric dread that helps paint a picture of the rapidly building violent behaviors between the characters. I loved the idea of the story line but I believe the narrator takes away from the production. It felt like an old man at a bar was telling me a story and I kept losing attention. I think a younger-sounding narrator would help the story stick in the minds of the readers.

A good sci-fi debut! Not a new concept in the sci-fi world but still an entertaining story. Interested to see more from this author.

🧊 BOOK REVIEW 🧊
SYMBIOTE by Michael Nayak
3.25/5 🌟
Pub date 🇺🇸: out now!

I listened to this book and, though I think the narrator did a great job, it was a little hard to keep track of everyone. I really enjoyed the 'voice' of the organism and thought that was cleverly written and performed. It may have also felt a little too real with a war-torn world set in 2028 😅

This book follows a group of American scientists in Antarctica. They catch wind of a gruesome murder within the Chinese group of scientists that are also on an expedition.

Please read if you like the following:🧪 Venom meets The Thing at the south pole
🧪 Flawed characters in a race for survival
🧪 Open endings 👀
🧪 Honestly, saunas. Saunas had a big moment in this one

Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media, and Angry Robots for the ARC of this one!

🔖 #Dreamscape #robotarmy

This was just not for me, a little too horror and thriller for my taste. Sorry! But someone who Is really into horror might enjoy this more.

3.25 stars
Thanks to Net Galley for the early preview of this audiobook.

Overall, I mostly enjoyed this book. I liked the isolated environment, the ‘evil’ parasites, the idea of scientists going stir crazy and doing crazy things, the near future setting with global tensions, and some of the science of the book. I also liked the listing of the status of personnel in the research station (at the beginning of some chapters), though I feel like that could have been done a little better and a little more regularly (like when they mention how many people are living, how many prisoners, and how many have passed away).

There are a few main characters of the book and then there are like 40 other scientists. We get to kind of know all of them and that is way too many to keep track of. It would have helped to have a little more review on who was who/what they did, as well as some review on what all the acronyms meant (especially when listening on audio since I cannot easily turn back the page to be reminded of what the descriptions were). I got lost with many of the characters, so that did not help with my reading comprehension. Sometimes people will quote Bible scriptures in their books but I don’t think I had heard a quote from the book of Wisdom before (from the Catholic Bible).

I would like to read more books from this author but if this does have a follow-up sequel, I do not think I would read it.

Audiobook narrator Paul Bellantoni rating: 3.95 stars
The narrator does a great job of telling this story and changing his voice for different characters. It is unfortunate that there are like 40 characters in this book, which makes it hard for a narrator to keep track of everything. I feel like some voices reserved for certain people (like evil-Philip) were used with other people, and it confused me a little. However, he still does a great job.

I wanted to really like this book, and if I ignore how the female characters are treated, it is very interesting. But, women really are only broken down to who they are or are not having sex with or how they benefit the men in the story to an almost truly disgusting level. Even the forced attempt at female empowerment was mostly about how sexually open that female prespective was. But, otherwise, the progression of the main plot was interesting and at times I did want to yell at characters for being stupid because I was invested in them figuring out what was going on.

I really wanted to like this one, but I put this book in my DNF pile at about 40%.
The setting was amazing (WW III Antarctica) and I was expecting to enjoy The Thing vibes: claustrophobia, paranoia, murder at the edge of the world. However the character writing really held back my immersion in the story.
Most of the characters felt the same to me, even though we get different POVs. At the point I stopped reading, there aren’t any sections from a woman’s POV (though I heard there are some later in the book).
The writing felt very male-centric. Most of the women are described by their looks and which man they happen to be sleeping with. More time is spent talking about their physical appearance and how hot they are than their professions/scientific prowess/motivations. Science in general is still such a male-dominated field and this just perpetuates that.
Overall, I feel like the story had a lot of aspects that could have been amazing! The Thing is one of my favorite movies and I was really hoping this would hit the mark. Unfortunately, the way women were written was disappointing and jarred me out of enjoying this book.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for this eARC!

Michael Nayak’s *Symbiote* is a trainwreck of unoriginality and regressive stereotypes. The forgettable characters—especially women—are reduced to one-dimensional patriarchal caricatures, framed as vapid beings obsessed with sex. The plot shamelessly cribs from John Carpenter’s The Thing, lacking even a veneer of originality. Pseudoscientific babble about the organism’s evolution reads like lazy guesswork, undermining any credibility. Painfully predictable twists and sluggish pacing compound the agony. This book desperately needed rigorous beta *and* sensitivity readers to curb its plagiarism, sexism, and incoherence. A derivative, offensive slog that insults both sci-fi fans and basic storytelling principles.

In 2028, World War III is raging, but in Antarctica, a team of American scientists are largely unaffected. Then, a small group of Chinese scientists arrive, and suddenly, chaos ensues. People begin dying, and rapidly, along with generalized violence, they find they have to constantly discover new ways to survive and pivot quickly.

Symbiote is interesting in that it really didn't have a main character. The story revolves around the entire team as a whole, and as characters dwindle, there are less perspectives to swing between. I will say, though, that because there are so many viewpoints, the reader doesn't get to know any of the characters particularly well, and I really didn't find any of them to be all too likeable.

One thing that honestly bothered me was how sexually liberal the women of the team were. Now, we listen and we don't judge, right? But, in this situation, I'm not judging the characters, I'm judging the author, at least a little bit. There were only 3-4 women and all of them were so similar I had a hard time differentiating between them. None of them had just one partner, or were single, all of them were with two, or broke up with one for another, etc. It was like he had a canned version of what a woman is and gave that stereotype to all of his female characters. That definitely could have been better.

I listened to the audiobook for this Sci-fi thriller, and I'm glad that I did. It was fast-paced, and the storyline didn't slow. I've read several sci-fi books that take place in the artic, and although I am not a fan of snow myself, I keep going back for more. There's just something eerie enough about the landscape and setting that continue to hold my interest.

Overall I had fun, and this was a quick listen. Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ALC.

I did not finish this book. I made it to 12% before realizing there was absolutely no reason to keep going.

The audiobook narration was not great. With so many POVs, I expected some level of vocal distinction, but the narrator’s range was too flat and uninspired to make any character stand out. Worse, the vocal inflections used for the parasite’s personification were excruciating—grating, unpleasant, and actively painful to listen to. That alone would have made for a rough experience, but unfortunately, the story itself was even worse.

The premise had potential, but the execution was pure, unfiltered, 1980s dude-bro cringe. The women in this book exist only in relation to the male POV characters—defined entirely by their sexual availability. Meanwhile, the men spend a bizarre amount of time thinking about their genitalia, even while dealing with a violent, claustrophobic rage plague. It was honestly embarrassing to read. I could tell early on that this was one of those books, where the male gaze is so aggressively present that it sucks the life out of everything else. A quick glance at spoiler-free reviews only confirmed my suspicions.

At 12%, I had seen enough. Thanks, but no thanks.

I thought the plot was interesting enough, but I don't feel the narrator did any justice to this story. I found him difficult to pay attention to, which is a shame! I will try to physically read this book and see if it's a better read that way.

<b>3.5</b>

I did really enjoy the first 75% of this book. It was well written and capativating sci-fi thriller with interesting science. It did a decent job of developing characters despite having multiple PoVs.

I found the ending of this pretty dissapointing. It jumped around and alot of the characters ends did not feel earnt or satisfying.

A got a free copy in exchange for review.