Parasite Pig [Mass Market Paperback]

William Sleator (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 9, 2004

Barney's stuck at a boring after-school job, earning money to repay his parents after their beach house is destroyed in a battle with aliens.  Of course, they don't believe that aliens did the damage.  No one, in fact, realizes that sixteen-year-old Barney saved the world by outsmarting the visitors at their violent game, saved the world by outsmarting the visitors at their violent game, Interstellar Pig.  No one but the aliens-and for them the game is far from over.  Barney is about to become the unwilling partner of a chatty intestinal parasite; the potential snack of giant, man-eating crabs; and the competitor of a stinger-happy seven-foot wasp woman.  Life just got a lot more interesting...

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up-Deliciously creepy and suspenseful, this sequel to Interstellar Pig (Puffin, 1995) will thrill science-fiction fans. In the first book, Barney joined neighbors in an oddly absorbing board game, only to find that it was real, that the other players were aliens, and that the fate of Earth lay in the balance. This book, set the next summer, finds the 16-year-old still playing Interstellar Pig with his friends Katie and Matt, but just as a simple board game. Or so he thinks, until Julian, a mysterious new player, turns out to be a disgusting, parasitic alien who kidnaps him and whisks him off to the planet J'koot. Matt, actually a nasty wasplike alien, grabs Katie and follows them. Once they arrive on the planet, the two teens are snatched by intelligent crablike creatures that imprison them in luxurious rooms and serve them heaping plates of delicious food. With dawning horror, the two humans realize they're being fattened up for the slaughter. Complicating matters is the manipulative parasite lodged in Barney's brain. The middle section, in which an imprisoned Barney begins to lose hope, does drag at times, but the teens' hazardous escape attempt injects renewed energy into the plot. Most readers will enjoy the high gross-out factor, especially the descriptions of Julian's home in the intestine of a large reptile and a scene in which Barney and Katie witness two other teens about to be roasted alive. Fans of the first book may enjoy this title more than newcomers will, but it can stand alone. This is a sometimes dark, sometimes silly, always entertaining read with a few twisty surprises thrown in at the end.
Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. Sleator has returned with a sequel to Interstellar Pig (1984) that is equally clever and engrossing, a puzzle that incorporates mysterious science fiction with a bit of health education and just plain suspenseful fun. Barney is back, this time inhabited by parasite Madame Gondii and forced to associate with his alien "friends" and a new round of bizarre acquaintances, including a parasitic worm hosted within a dinosaur and a huge wasp armed with her terrifying ovipositor. At least he has human companionship in his friend Katie, who unwillingly joins him on a dangerous search for Piggy on the planet J'koot, where the crab inhabitants consider humans the perfect gourmet treat. The years have not diminished the imaginative nether world of the game-playing teens or the aliens determined to destroy earth, all for a chance to capture the fickle Piggy. While readers will still probably want to read Interstellar Pig first, this sequel can stand on its own. Let's hope we won't have to wait quite so long for another installment. Frances Bradburn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: Firebird (February 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142400866
• ISBN-13: 978-0142400869
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #861,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #88 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Sports & Activities > Games > Fiction

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars horror story, July 29, 2004

By 

sf reader (nj, usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Parasite Pig (Mass Market Paperback)

mr. sleator took all the old and new characters and changed them from the mysterious, playful, exciting first book to a slightly less interesting, depressing format on another planet. I especially did not enjoy how barney went from being a sweet innocent child in interstellar pig to a cold hearted killer in the sequel.I have questions as to how humans were previously on the planet of the crabs and by the end of the second book it was a little ridiculous that barney should be the only one to undersand the truth about the piggy seeing as how the piggy exhibits such consistent behavior.I felt that the book went from playful in the first book (PG rated) to the new book which could be rated R for violence. The ending was very violent and morbid. I really do enjoy mr. sleator's books since my own teen years but I felt the new book, although good, was too discordant from the first book.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adds action based on the original plot, December 15, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Parasite Pig (Hardcover)

Fans of the author's prior Interstellar Pig will find Parasite Pig a suitable sequel: it not only adds action based on the original plot; it goes further in explaining the purposes and dilemmas of the Pig who controls other forces in the universe. Barney is grounded after his summer face-off with a dangerous space game; but when he's kidnapped by aliens, it's danger revisited in this absorbing story.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Galaxy Adventure, May 4, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Parasite Pig (Mass Market Paperback)

Barney is out one night walking his dog, Chang, when he's abducted. Julian beams Barney into his ship to take him to J'koot to find the Interstellar Piggy so he can win the game. But Matt abducts Katie, Barney's friend , so he can get the piggy first. Once they reach J'koot Katie and Barney are captured by man eating crabs, who take them to Death Palace to pamper them. The crabs pamper and feed the two teens to make them nice and fat. But Katie doesn't fall for it, she cuts down on her meals for all of the meals are fatening. Barney on the otherhand eats like he's never eaten before, and becomes fat. Julian has a plan for them to escape, but it doesn't work because the parasite in Barneys brain ruins it. While Barney, Katie, Moyna, Jrlb, and Moyna are all disguised as aliens and about to escape out of the Death Palace, when Madame Gondii uses her hormones to make the disguise disapear. Katie and Barney escape from the crabs, lichen, aliens, and the piggy takes the parasite out of Barneys brain and puts it in a crabs body, Mademe Gondii can have her babies.Katie and Barney have the Intersellar Piggy and they get beamed into Julians ship when Soma,Matt, appears but it is too late the piggy has been dumped into a galaxy trash can flying faster than light. I recommend this book to Science Fiction fans who love page turners.

Madame Gondii is a very selfish parasite living in a cyst in Barneys brain. She wanted Barney to get eaten by crabs, so she could escape into the crabs body, take it over, and have her babies. Madame Gondii also didn't like Katie because she had an effect on Barney that made him listen to her instead of Madade Gondii's hormones. Also she sent out tracking hormones to Julian to help him find Barney, who was immune to the lichen, who had the piggy, so Barney could be sent to J;koot where the crabs were.

Barney never knew he had a parasite in his brain until it was too late. All this time when he thought he was acting different it was really Madame Gondii sending hormones through his blood. When Julian and Katie tried to tell him what was making him not be scared of the crabs was the parasite in his brain, she blocked out his hearing. While Katie and Julian are talking about there escape plan they dont want the parasite to hear it, so Barney had to go into his room; he had to force himself to sit there and read a book even with Madame Gondii's powerful hormones.

The crabs seemed so nice to the Katie and Barney when they were really trying to make them fat so they could grill their bodies. The crabs give them a suite, like in a hotel, with two bedrooms, a living room, two bathrooms, and a mini fridge with free snacks; to calm them down and make them feel like they are at a resort and not a Death Palace. Every day Katie and Barney were fed scrumptious fatening meals that any child would love only to make them fat. Also there was a mud bath, steam room, and a pool to keep them busy, when it was really a way to gather their sweat for a sauce for when they cook them.

Parasite Pig is an excellent Sci-Fi book filled with adventure and many aliens and exotic characters. Barney and his friend, Katie, are in for a deadly adventure on the planet, J'koot. Barney thinks it will be a blast until he's captured by the legendary canible crabs. Now he must escape from the crabs and get the Piggy from the lichen before it explodes. I recommend this book to people who love science fiction, adventure stories filled with many surprising events.
T.Brown