title:The Host
author: Stephenie Meyer
pages: 619
first line: 'The Healer's name was Fords Deep Waters.'
genre: science fiction
rated: 5 out of 5 stars
Being a big fan of Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight' series, I was excited to grab a copy of her first novel for adults, 'The Host'. And I'm happy to say I enjoyed this one so much, I was pleasantly surprised at the romance involved in the plot.
'The Host' begins with an Earth inhabited by creatures that have taken possession over human bodies. Melanie Stryder's body has been injured to the point of death, but these creatures healed her body, then put a soul into it, one called 'Wanderer'.
Wanderer has lived on several planets and has inhabited several species. However, she has never been to Earth and has never been inside a human host before. But once she is placed inside Melanie's body, she can hear Melanie's thoughts and dream her dreams. Wanderer thinks this is a sign of her own weakness, and refuses to leave the host body. Instead she decides to fight against Melanie's thoughts and mind, and take over the body completely.
'With the truest instinct of my kind, I'd bound myself securely into the body's center of thought, twined myself inescapably into its every breath and reflex until it was no longer a seperate entity. It was me.'
Wanderer soon finds out that Melanie's will is very strong. Melanie 'speaks' to Wanderer and convinces her to travel in search of Melanie's little brother, Jamie and love interest, Jared. Melanie shows Wanderer her memories of Jared and Jamie,and soon enough Wanderer begins to love them, just as Melanie does.
Wanderer is supposed to dig into these memories and find out if there are any more humans in hiding that they can overtake. Yet Wanderer is having a hard time with this, she doesn't want anyone Melanie loves to get hurt.
Risking much, Wanderer heads out, following a set of directions Melanie's uncle, Jeb, left for her. Eventually Melanie and Wanderer reach Jeb, and find that there is a group of several humans living in hiding underground, in caves, including Jamie & Jared. However, once Melanie and Wanderer find the group, these humans do not trust Wanderer, and want to kill her. They know that once an alien soul invades the host body, the person that the host once was, is gone forever. The only reason she is kept alive at first, is because of uncle Jeb, who gives Wanderer, the nickname Wanda. Jeb and Jamie everntually see that Wanda and Melanie are two people in one body. They know Melanie is still there.
This novel was wonderful, it was hard to put down, especially towards the end. Classic Stephenie Meyer's style, it was pretty much squeaky clean. She found a way to keep Melanie & Jared from getting too intimate.
I also like how the author adds a second love interest, a guy named Ian, to the story. Ian also lives hidden in the underground caves with the rest of the group, and slowy but surely he falls in love with Wanda. Then there's the jealousy between Jared and Ian, then add jealousy between Wanda and Melanie....what do you have? A foursome :P I really like Wanda's character. And I much prefered Ian to Jared.
I like Wanderer, and the idea of how she almost becomes human living in this host, how she comes to love Jamie, Jared & Ian and even Melanie. Wanda begins to make connections with others living in the cave as well and considers them her family.
The stories she told about living on other planets were entertaining too. She was once a bear, a flower, a bat and a spider. It was creepy how these aliens take over the planet, live like regular humans and make sure to eliminate any real humans left. They have 'Healers' that heal all disease, 'Comforters' who act as counselors and give advice and 'Seekers' who find humans and use them as hosts. Yet for the most part, these aliens are against violence & claim to have made Earth a better place.
I enjoyed the plot, the characters were well written and I recommend this read. Even if you're not a big fan of science fiction, you might enjoy this one.
It's a story about love, compassion & hope.
visit the official Host website: http://www.thehostnovel.com/
this read has been part of the following reading challenges:
RRC
suspense & thriller
TBR
100 +
triple 8
