Rating: 4
Stephenie Meyer's first novel for adults and highly enjoyable it is! I bought this after I had enjoyed Twilight and New Moon so much and can say that I certainly wasn't disappointed.
The Host takes us to an Earth whose population has been taken over by alien parasites who like to refer to themselves as "souls". We humans lost the battle and our bodies have been taken over by these souls, who are going about our usual lives, only with their enhanced technology and medicine. The story focuses on one such soul, known as Wanderer, and the host body that she has inhabited. Wanderer is exactly that, having travelled to most of the souls' inhabited worlds and who does not feel at home anywhere. She is chosen to take over this particular adult host, Melanie, a free human who had only just be captured by the souls. But it is difficult for her. Melanie's memories are so strong that Wanderer finds it hard to control her emotions, especially her passionate feelings towards her lover, Jared. Wanderer finds both herself and her host drawn to find this man, but ends up finding so much more.
The Host is not just a story about mankind's struggle for survival. It is also about a small community trying to accept someone very different, someone that represents all the hate and loss they have suffered. But at its heart, The Host is a love story...love that is lost, love that is found, and love that can never be. To say much more would spoil the story, so I'll leave it at that. But The Host is a suprisingly enjoyable read, and although the book is quite long, I still wasn't ready for it to end. As for the ending, I wasn't entirely satisfied, but its hard to see how there could have been a perfect ending. The idea of aliens coming to our world and making it a far better place, but the price being to lose control of our own bodies, to be effectively wiped out, is an interesting one. Very "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"... And the story becomes more intricate, as we become involved in both Wanderer and Melanie's lives, we get to know and care about both of them individually, and understand that they can't both truly exist in the same body..there can be only one.
Highly recommended, even if you haven't read Stephenie Meyer before.
Other blog reviews:
Naida @ The Bookworm
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The Host - Stephenie Meyer
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
I've heard a lot of good reviews about this book, Mariel! I've this in my TBR pile and I'll surely move it to the top of the pile after all these raves! :)
I just started this one last night and I'm loving it so far!
Gimmie your copy!
The premise didn't really appeal to me at first but I've read a couple of glowing reviews lately, and now yours, I've been convinced to try it. :)
I loved this book too.
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
It took me awhile to get into "The Host", although I absolutely adored it once I did. There have been recent mutterings that Stephenie Meyer basically changed the names in the "Twilight" saga, made a few different plot tangents, and produced "The Host". I disagree with that in general, although there are some similarities between Mel/Wanda's love triangle (or is it a love square, when all is said and done?) and the relationships exisiting among Bella, Edward, and Jacob.
Anyway, I think it's a great book : )
KLo - I only bought The Host because I enjoyed the Twilight saga, and because it was scifi, I wasnt really sure if I'd like it. But I zoomed through it and really liked all the twists and turns! It had similarities to Twilight, but was far more adult and varied that just the romance. I felt it was a better quality book in all honesty.
Glad you liked it, and thanks for stopping by!
Post a Comment