The Parasite (Michael Vey, book 8)
By: Richard Paul Evans
My Rating: Three out of Five Stars
Best for: 12 and up
Michael Vey is Back! Wait…why is Michael Vey back?
I have some great Michael Vey memories! The series ended in 2017 in a mostly happy place, and while book 7 fell a bit flat with a bunch of huge reveals in the last few pages, the series as a whole was excellent. I didn’t know we needed more Michael Vey. But…
Apparently we did. And I kind of wish we didn’t.
It’s been nearly 7 years, and suddenly we have a book 8? I was a little suspicious, but as a fan I needed to give it a try. Here’s what I found.
Michael Vey is a series written for middle graders. The original characters have aged forward with the rest of us and are now in college–and while that sounds like a pretty cool idea, it’s actually kind of weird. College kids don’t act like middle graders, so how do you write about college kids for a middle grade audience? I’m not really sure, but I don’t think this was it.
Plus, this book is clearly setting up another multi-book story arc because in this big return to Michael Vey–NOTHING HAPPENED. At least, very little happened. Like, there was literally no climax, and the book ends abruptly without a single conflict being resolved. In the scope of another 7 book story arc, it’ll probably make sense. But as the big reveal of a surprise return to a beloved series? This book fell pretty flat.
I’m sure a fun story will emerge over the next few years. But I’m going to pump the breaks on this one for now. This story didn’t rekindle enough of the good old days to be first in line for each new book as it’s released…in fact, I don’t even think there is a release date yet for book 9!
No content issues…except that it’s boring. With no next book to jump to, I’m thinking only mega-fans are going to enjoy this one. Safe to read aloud to all ages, but best for independent readers 12 and up.
Happy Reading!
One Man Book Club 
11 responses to “The Parasite: Michael Vey is Back! Wait…why is Michael Vey back?”
The Parasite is an amazing book, even though I’m in middle school. I can’t wait to read the 9th, I always hate endings because they leave out info that would be amazing, and so continuing the story is a great solution.
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Awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I’m looking forward to finding out the rest of the story, too, but I’ll probably wait until there are a few more books published to find out!
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I don’t understand. Great book but why dose the michael vey series countinue? The 7th book literly says, “In the final book of the series”.
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Exactly!
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I honestly kind of hoped this would come, there are still many plot holes that need to be filled like you can’t just bring back Michael’s dad at the very end while it was a nice twist there needs to be more there, also my biggest reason for wanting it: Bryan and kylee… they showed up one time to mock Quentin and say he chose the wrong side and then after that they never said what happened to them and being the least important electrics and the series they really deserve more which I think they will get as this arc goes on
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not exactly my fav book in the series, besides it even says “The FINAL Spark” so you kinda think it’s the last book in the series.
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Right?!
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I didn’t read Michael Vey 8 or 9, because of one simple fact: THEY DON’T NEED TO EXIST!
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💯
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i still don’t understand why Taylor would let Tara kiss Michael
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The whole book doesn’t need to exist!
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