The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Sometime in the near future, silvery parasitic aliens infiltrate the human population, bringing peace and love but causing their hosts’ personalities to be erased. Melanie Stryder is a seventeen-year-old post apocalyptic street fighter with a bad attitude who also happens to be stunningly gorgeous. Wanderer is a 1,000-year-old well-traveled female alien soul who, despite being parasitic, is altruistic to the point of martyrdom. The two of them are both attempting to occupy Melanie’s body and making a sorry hash of it. (Souls are surgically inserted into the base of the neck by doctors who have already been Body-Snatched.) Melanie is trying to keep the location of her small rebel human outpost a secret from her parasite, but eventually the soul breaks through and seeks out Melanie’s man, Jared, her little brother Jamie, and a rag tag assortment of other folks who have managed to evade having their brain stems coated with memory-wiping silver silly-putty. When Melanie’s body first shows up at the secret desert camp under the direction of Wanderer, the insurgent humans are all for murdering her on the spot, but Wanderer wins them over by giving voice to Melanie’s thoughts and discovering to her own surprise that she actually digs these passionate, violent, lusty life forms. Things get complicated when two of the men in camp both fall for the dystopian Sybil—Jared, Melanie’s hot, older-man savior-type, and Ian, a brooding bad boy who has lost his heart to the selfless Wanderer, who he calls “Wanda.” Sound familiar? It should–Meyer treads some of the same supernatural romantic love triangle ground she traveled so well in her enormously popular Twilight series. If you liked those books, you’re gonna love this one. Personally, Meyer’s melodramatic dialogue drove me a little nuts, but I did dig her descriptions of Wanderer’s past worlds, and the sympathetic alien’s fascination with this planet. Clocking in at over 600 pages, it’s also not going to be easy to stuff in your backpack. If you prefer your interspecies romances with a few less pages and a bit more grit, you may want to pick up a copy of the now classic Blood and Chocolate, one of my all time fav romantic horror stories, instead.
erin said,
May 20, 2008 @ 7:42 pm
This book may take a little while to get into, but once your in, you are hooked. It was amazing, and I’m not even into sci-fi that much. I basically read it because Stephenie Meyer is my favorite author, and it definitely reached my high expectations. Amazing.
Jen Hubert said,
May 20, 2008 @ 9:08 pm
Glad you enjoyed it, Erin. The premise of the book was my favorite part. That, and the description of the claw beasts:) Did you feel like Meyer left it open for a sequel? Or do you think it will stand alone?
Maree said,
June 2, 2008 @ 6:18 pm
Really disappointing. This is a great premise, but so many opportunities for humour and conflict are lost. There are also a lot of inconsistencies…for example, if Wanderer’s race is really so altruistic, why do they seek genocide in the first place? And why is it OK to extract the souls from humans in order to put them into some other race? And why is Wanderer tickety-boo with being taken out of Melanie and inserted into some other body? I also got annoyed with the whole love-triangle thing. Get over yourself, Stephenie!
P.S. What is the fascination with names beginning with “J”? We have Joshua in the Twilight series, and now we have Jeb, Jamie and Jared.
Kairi said,
June 30, 2008 @ 10:19 pm
Who ever this Maree is probably lives in a hole. I mean I thought it was great. I almost liked it more than the Twilight series (almost). But no need to be snobish about it.
Velva said,
July 5, 2008 @ 7:14 pm
I really liked this book a lot. I personally preferred it to the Twilight series once I got into it, but I’ll admit that it isn’t as instantly addictive.
As a mom who is extremely fond of YA literature (hey… romance novels bore the crap out of me), I’ve really enjoyed being able to read the books you review here and then pass them on to my 16 year old stepdaughter. Sharing the books we enjoy is a great way to get insight into another person and help strengthen relationships.
Jen Hubert said,
July 6, 2008 @ 9:36 am
Hi Velva,
glad you enjoyed it. While I’m not always a fan of her detailed prose, Meyer certainly knows how to keep her audience happy. Did your daughter like it as well?
mitzi said,
July 10, 2008 @ 8:34 pm
hey i totally liked this book. i love how even after all the twilight series she can still manage to pull of a book like this (its not very easy to write something with as high expectations as twilight, new moon, & eclipse). two thumbs up. u rock steph!!