Book Review: The Host by Stephenie Meyer (no spoilers)

Book: The Host
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publication: May 2008
Source: Local Library
Rating: 5/5 Stars












Summary (from goodreads):

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

 As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

 Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.

My Thoughts:
The Host is truly riveting. I totally agree with the summary after reading this amazing novel.

The Host took me a long time to read a whole fifeteen days is a long time for me to read only one book. The Host is 619 pages long so it does take a consirediable amount of time. Truly the page count is what has kept me from reading this book before, but I was wrong. This book was worth every minute I spent reading it.

The beginning of The Host is really confusing and I think that is the part where most people would put the book down. I wasn't sure I was ever going to understand the story, but once I got past page 50 I got a good grasp on the story and once I got past page 100 I fully understood the story. Although I didn't fully comprehend the beginning I was instantly intrigued in the book and wanted to keep reading to find out more about Melanie and Wanderer's life.

At first I was very unsure if I was going to like Wanderer as a character. I instantly fell in love with Melanie. How does that work they are the same person? At the beginning of the book we see Melanie through her memories. Eventually I warmed up to Wanderer as did the other characters of the book. Eventually we meet Ian, Melanie's brother Jamie, and Melanie's love Jared. As we meet many characters who dislike Wanderer with a passion the most noteworthy being Ian's brother Kyle. Soon Wanderer finds her place in the human world. She builds relationships with Humans and I quickly forgot that she was indeed a parasite.

My favorite part about the legnth of this novel was it gave Stephenie Meyer a lot of time to do world building. She was able to fully discribe every location and paint a clear picture in my head. Although some places weren't too excited others were. Some of the places were just beautiful in my mind.

Some common themes that Stephenie Meyer kept in this novel from the twilight series was first off the love triangle. The nice thing about this love triangle was that is was different from other love triangles and it wasn't over bearing on the book. The romance took second place in this novel. Survival was more important and I liked that. Another theme Stephenie Meyer kept was that two conflicting forces can work together. I can't say much more on that subject without spoiling. Otherwise The Host is a totally different book from the twilight series.

Towards the end I believed I knew the ending, but then Stephenie Meyer threw a huge plot twist at me and I was left with a unexpected, but more satisfying ending than I could have expected out of this novel.

Overall I fell in love with The Host and I would say even if you strongly disliked The Twilight Saga (which I loved) give this book a try because it is such a different more complex novel compared to The Twilight Saga. Stephanie Meyer did a great job writing this novel and I can't wait to see the movie which comes to theaters on March 29th, 2013.

Thanks for reading


Rachael