The Host: A Novel
by Stephenie Meyer
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Book Reviews of The Host: A Novel
Book Review: Mis-marketed Chick Lit; Strong sci-fi premise morphs into love "square"
Summary: 3 Stars
I'd rate The Host as a 4 as chick lit, and a 2 as scifi. Clearly, the publisher (Little, Brown, & Co.) thought they had a cross-over hit on their hands, but it's difficult seeing anyone other than fans of romantic fiction getting revved up about this. Nevertheless, as a complex relationship drama, it pulls its weight.
The book opens with a very strong premise and an original, extremely intriguing literary hook: a kind of "false POV": we are presented with the POV of an alien who is taking over the mind and body of a human. Though the story is told through this alien's POV, initially the reader strongly identifies with the brief glimpses of the human consciousness that is being erased by the alien. This makes for some extremely compelling reading, as we are horrified by the invaders and desperately pray for some kind of escape for the assimilated human, Melanie. The author sustains this intense, compelling suspense for about three chapters, as the alien tries to pry out the human's secrets from her memory, but the human fights back. As we follow the increasingly miserable alien around -- the alien even seeks therapeutic counseling to help her cope with the resistant human consciousness -- the reader's skin crawls, as we root for the human to somehow overpower the alien against increasingly unlikely odds. When we learn that the aliens have already taken over the planet and assimilated virtually every human consciousness, the stakes are raised to a fever pitch, and we imagine that the plot is leading to some kind of miraculous human rebellion; this certainly makes for some electric anticipation.
Unfortunately, all of this live wire suspense quickly dissipates as we realize that this is all a setup for what the author really wants to explore -- what happens when two girls sharing the same body fall in love with two different boys. After an opening which promises exciting sci-fi tropes of mental battles and human insurrection against a vastly superior invading army, a reader might be stunned to discover that the plot revolves around two sweet girls struggling with their feelings for two masculine boys, and the jealousies between the girls, and the boys. It's a variation of the old movie Ghost, where Demi Moore's spirit inhabits the body of Whoopi Goldberg, who must deal with Demi's affection for Patrick Swayze. The female alien, Wanda, who starts out decidedly similar to a human teenage girl, ends up as a very human teenage girl. Along the way, the superficial sci fi elements go by the wayside.
The aliens run the world like the aliens in the movie Invasion, and many other Invasion of the Body Snatchers type plots: the same as humans, without any of the bad parts. (We never see the aliens that have to work in the fields, or clean out the toilets, or work in the sweatshops; we only see the aliens who are doctors or professors or policemen, or other interesting jobs.) It's implausible, without much imagination, but it doesn't really matter anyway, because the humans aren't going to overthrow the aliens; this is not a humans vs aliens movie.
I'd consider this novel an extreme example of bait-and-switch, but that's not to say the chick lit bulk of the book is bad. In fact, the romantic "square" is quite serviceable for the genre, though it's clearly skewed towards the YA crowd. Meyer does a solid job of exploring all the interrelationships between the small band of humans and Wanda/Melanie, though Wanda is never convincing as an alien personality, nor is the back story or culture of the aliens. I suspect the author was probably also interested in taking a character who starts out as abhorrent (Wanda tries to steal Melanie's memories and kill her, along with the rest of humankind) and credibly transform her into a sympathetic heroine (we get plenty of scenes of Wanda selflessly saving the lives of undeserving humans), but this character arc is never very compelling because Wanda starts out fairly indistinguishable from the human Melanie in temperament, outlook, and values.
But it does function well as a fresh romantic twist, again similar to the movie Ghost, by answering the question, what would you do if you had to share your (female) body with another girl -- who liked a different boy than you?
Book Review: An engaging and thought-provoking sci-fi novel from the author of the Twilight Saga
Summary: 5 Stars
The Earth, in the not-too-distant future, has been taken over by alien "souls," parasitic worm-like beings that wish to experience life as humans. Some years after the occupation, only a few scattered human resistors remain. A young human survivor, Melanie Stryder, is captured during an unsuccessful attempt to rescue a family member. Her last-ditch attempt to kill herself rather than be taken fails, and the souls heal her battered body through their advanced healing techniques. Wanderer, an ancient soul and intrepid explorer of galaxies, is then transplanted into Melanie's body.
Wanderer expects to experience the lingering traces of Melanie's memories and emotions after the transfer but is taken aback to find Melanie's mind still active and fighting for control over the now-shared body. As Wanderer probes Melanie's unwilling mind to learn the whereabouts of other humans, she comes to know of the existence of Jared, the man Melanie desperately loves, and her young brother Jamie, who are still in hiding. Under the influence of Melanie's love for Jared, Wanderer finds herself irresistibly drawn to seek him out. The two women thus set off on a journey across the desert that puts them in deadly peril from humans and aliens alike.
The events that unfold when the Wanderer/Stryder pair meets a band of human resistors and is taken to their underground hideout form the crux of this story. The humans initially are repulsed by the presence of an alien amongst them. Will Wanderer and Melanie be able to convince them that Melanie still lives? Can the humans find a way to destroy Wanderer without losing Melanie as well?
THE HOST gets off to a slow start but picks up pace after the first 30 or so pages. This is not a conventional science-fiction novel, although the basic plot element --- the invasion of a human host by a worm-like parasite, through the nape of the neck no less --- is a classic sci-fi theme. Meyer has crafted a book that, while by no means lacking in suspenseful plot elements, is greatly concerned with the development of relationships. The complicated and evolving relationship between Wanderer and Melanie, who are forced to share one body, and each woman's relationship with the man they both pine for, are particularly fascinating. The existence of these two women in one body is an emotional three-legged race fraught with discomfort, frustration, flashes of jealousy and growing sympathy for each other, which Meyer captures extremely well. The interactions between the pacifistic Wanderer and the wary, hostile humans she encounters are also well-sketched and nuanced.
Coming on the heels of Meyer's successful Twilight trilogy, this book will draw the inevitable comparison with the vampire fantasy series. Although billed as a stand-alone for adults, there is nothing here that is unsuitable for the author's young adult fan base. Readers will find many elements that have defined the earlier books --- charismatic heroes, plucky yet self-effacing heroines, suspenseful romance, complicated relationships and an engaging cast of supporting characters.
Unfortunately, the sly humor that permeated the Twilight series is somewhat subdued here. The characters in the new book are essentially serious people, consumed with nothing less than the survival of an entire species. Meyer does a good job of conveying the stoicism, creativity and strength it would take for a small band of human survivors to last under such circumstances. The story is light on technical and scientific descriptions, such as of the extraordinary healing techniques practiced by the souls, but it is to Meyer's credit that the reader is able to be drawn into the plot without needing to know the details of how things work. It also speaks to her skill that she is able to make the reader as invested in the survival of the silvery centipede-like alien that inhabits Melanie's body as that of the human resistor herself.
THE HOST is a nicely-paced, well-written novel with an engaging theme and interesting characters. Overall, this is an excellent (if slightly hefty) book to take to the beach this summer.
--- Reviewed by Usha Reynolds
Book Review: Intriguing novel, excellent story
Summary: 5 Stars
The Host by Stephanie Meyer was an intriguing novel with themes to capture almost any reader. While the primary genre is science fiction, the book features an incredible story about love, acceptance, and unity. In the novel, aliens called souls invade Earth. These aliens take human hosts in which they live. Souls continue to live and act in accordance to human practices and habits, but without violence. They keep the memories of their human hosts, but the hosts' personalities and consciousness are completely suppressed. The souls each have assigned duties, for example, Seekers are souls charged with hunting "wild humans."
The story begins after the souls have infiltrated Earth, but some humans still hide and remain uninfluenced by them. Twenty year old Melanie Stryder leaves Jamie, her younger brother, and Jared, the man she loves, to go find her cousin, whom she believes is still human. While away, she is discovered by Seekers so she jumps down an empty elevator shaft in an attempt to commit suicide and protect Jamie and Jared because she knows that they will be found if the Seekers retrieve her memory. Healers, which are like doctors, mend her injuries and she is inserted with a soul named Wanderer.
Shortly after insertion, Wanderer realizes that Melanie is still there in her mind. She can hear Melanie's thoughts and they are able to communicate with one another...two consciousnesses in one body. Naturally, Melanie is not pleased with the situation and tries desperately to regain control of her body, but fails. Wanderer, realizing that this is abnormal, seeks help to remove Melanie's consciousness so that she can live a normal life on Earth. Much to her dismay, a Seeker takes advantage of every moment to hassle her and further solidify Wanderer's own beliefs that she is not normal.
Wanderer accesses many of Melanie's memories. She sees Jamie and Jared. She relives the first time Melanie met Jamie. Her human body overwhelms her with emotions which are so new to her. Wanderer knows she should turn the information from the memories over to the Seekers so they can find Jared and Jamie, but she can't. She is affected by Melanie's memories and soon they are united by common emotions...their love for Jared and Jamie and their hatred of the Seeker who is convinced Wander is hiding something.
Wanderer goes to the desert to seek out a rebel colony using clues which Melanie's Uncle Jeb left. Unfortunately, by cooperating they are alienated from both their peoples. They cannot stay with the souls and are feared and hated by the humans, including Jared. Wanderer must fight for acceptance by the humans, both for herself as a soul and for Melanie's body. She must also deal with the confusion of Melanie's body being drawn toward Jared, while she, the soul, begins to fall in love with Ian, one of the other human rebels.
An interesting aspect of this book is that much if it is told from the perspective of the alien soul, Wanderer, while she is inside Melanie's body. Meyer uses this to present an interesting way in which others, perhaps even aliens, would view the human race. Her use of Wanderer as a narrator helps draw attention to many of the human phenomena which are rarely acknowledged but so important in creating who we are.
I absolutely loved this book and would recommend it to anyone. Science fiction is usually not my genre of choice, but The Host was wonderful in that it presented a story line based on science fiction, but didn't place it as the focus of the novel. More emphasis was placed on the characters and emotions rather than the alien technology. Meyer tells an amazing story and does a great job of developing each of the characters in a way that grasps the audience's attention and helps each reader to connect with the characters. The novel was very enjoyable and not difficult to read. I was also pleased that the content and language was clean and quite appropriate for both teens and adults.
Book Review: One Fantastic Book for your Heart AND Soul
Summary: 5 Stars
In a time when Earth has been almost completely taken over by aliens, there were a few rebel Humans left in existence. The aliens, or Souls, have done a systematic take-over of this planet. They are a parasitic creature that can not live without a Host body. When they are inserted in a human body, their "soul" takes over. You can tell by the silver that shines in their eyes.
Wanderer is unlike most souls. She has lived on 8 other planets in 8 other host bodies. And yet, she has never found a place that she could truly envision herself at home. Hence, the name Wanderer.
Melanie was a rebel human. Along with her little brother Jamie, and her true-love Jared, she was carving out a small existence for herself. But when she saw on the news a person that looked like her cousin Sharon, she knew she had to find her and see if she was still human. That's why she went to Chicago in the first place. But when she was caught by the Seekers, the souls that were scouring the planet for the last of the humans, she knew she would rather die than become one of THEM. Unfortunately for her, the attempt of suicide failed. Her body was healed, and Wanderer was inserted into her body.
But unlike all the other Hosts that Wanderer had taken over, she couldn't lose Melanie. Melanie was such a strong human, she refused to let Wanderer completely take over. Mel was still there with her, talking to her and making her miserable. Wanderer knew all of Mel's memories and feelings. As much as Mel tried to block her thoughts, Wanderer would dream of Jared and Jamie. Soon, Wanderer finds herself longing to find the Humans that meant so much to Mel. On a trip to Tuscon, Mel remembers a map that her Uncle Jeb had drawn for her, and the two of them set off to find out if Jared and Jamie have survived.
But when Wanderer is found by the group of rebel Humans that include her family and friends, it isn't pretty. No one is sure what to do. They want to hate the alien that has taken over Mel. But things are not always as it seems. And Wanderer isn't the typical soul.
Can I tell you now how much I LOVED this book?? Although sci-fi in nature, it is so much more than that. It's a story of love and understanding, acceptance and humanity. This book is so deep and so beautiful that I'm having a hard time putting down in words my feelings for it. Melanie is such a strong human, but there were times that I just wanted to throttle her. She had become jaded and pessimistic during the occupation....and rightfully so. But she didn't think things through very well. Wanderer was such a beautiful and kind soul. Altruistic was a word that was used frequently, and for good reason. She would rather die than cause pain to other person or soul.
The cast of characters in this book is large, but my favorite would have to be Ian. He was one of the rebels that initially wanted to kill Wanderer. But spending time with the soul, he realized that to be human didn't always mean being a body without an alien presence. Stephenie Meyer has put together a brilliant novel. Her focus is more on relationships than on the alien presence, and is amazing to read. And the relationships are complex. There is a really weird triangle with Melanie/Wanda/Jared. Then you thrown Ian into the mix and it gets weirder yet. There are some seriously hard scenes to read. And as the end nears, as a reader you can see how difficult it is going to be to end this story well. You come to love the soul as much as the human. In fact, they come to love each as much as they do themselves.
If you are a fan of the Twilight series, I beg you to give this book a chance. I can't imagine anyone being disappointed in this story. I can't remember the last time a book completely left me so emotionally drained. I laughed, I cried, I cringed at times. But I wouldn't take back a second of it! This book was Freakin' Fantastic....and I'm telling you: GO READ THE HOST!!
Book Review: Might've read this somewhere before...
Summary: 3 Stars
If I could give this a three and a half stars, I would. But seeing as though I cannot, three (in this case) is better than four.
Like most people who read this book, I liked the Twilight series and decided to give this a read just for curiosity's sake. And I was so glad I decided to get this from the library rather than buying it.
I'll begin with the positives.
The idea of this book--alien "souls" who travels from planet to planet, parasitically taking over the inhabitant species and learning about their ways of life that way is pretty interesting. Meyer did a good job concocting alien species that didn't sound too run-of-the-mill sci-fi; likewise, for the people who dislike sci-fi, they weren't too overwhelmingly "Spock".
I also loved the personalities of some of the characters. Melanie, the human who's body is being controlled by Wanderer was very fun to read just because she was the most noticeable of the cast, and didn't really have a counterpart character from the Twilight series.
The ending of this novel was very touching as well. Probably the best part of the whole book, and thus the only reason I managed not to hate the story after reading it.
That being said, now the negatives, which are unfortunately greater in number.
First off (as many people have stated), the book takes much too long to get interesting. I struggled through the first half, persevering only because I knew that Twilight had started the same way. But Twilight got interesting thirty-something pages in, while The Host took much longer than that.
Second, Wanderer! Oh my goodness. She wouldn't have been too much of a problem if I had never read the Twilight series, but all while I was reading, I hardly noticed any differences between her and Twilight's Bella. The two are almost identical in personalities, it's frightening. They're both martyrs, soft-spoken, stubborn, obsessively in love with a man they have hardly any experience with, slightly masochistic and emotional. It might be because Meyer had written this book while she still had Bella on the brain, but that's hardly an excuse to create a near carbon copy of her character. Bella's sarcastic humor in Twilight/New Moon/Eclipse was one thing that saved her from being overwhelmingly annoying, and since Wanderer lacked that characteristic, that's exactly what she becomes after awhile.
And she isn't the only one. Aside from Melanie (and Jared in some aspects), a lot of the characters can be found lurking somewhere in the pages of the Twilight series, tweaked just a tiny bit. Even minor characters like Sharon and her mother reminded me greatly of Lauren from Twilight in the sense of their role only as the jealous/angry character who despise the protagonist, even though she's a good person who obviously does not deserve her rage.
Likewise relating back to Meyer's first book was the romance between the main couple (Wanderer/Melanie/Jared). This novel was pegged as one intended for adults, but partly due to Meyer's religious beliefs, it honestly reads about as "adult" as Twilight. The only difference I noticed was in the description of the more romantic scenes between the characters; a lot more adjectives revolving around "fire" and "burning" than you'd find in Twilight or Eclipse.
Overall, this book is a good read if you have nothing else pressing to do. But the lack of original characterization, a plotline that isn't nearly as engaging as it could have been, and the (very) frustrating beginning and obvious plot twists make it into a story that's good for one read and nothing more.
Here's to hoping that Meyer's future books can give us something a little more.