Friday, February 18, 2011

Books I Love – The Host by Stephanie Meyer



Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves-Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.

If you don’t like the Twilight series (gasp…yes some YA fans don’t give a crap about Team Edward or Team Jacob) still give this book a try. It’s a bit long, but if flows really well and such a unique take on an Invasion of the Body Snatchers norm.

While Melanie (the human) and Wanderer (the “soul” invading alien parasite thingy) are stuck in the same body, they have very distinctive personalities. The love triangle is done really well, with Wanderer unsure if her feelings for Jared are only echoing Melanie’s own love for him.

This also touches a lot on human nature (as all good alien invasion stories do). The band of survivors has to decide how to treat Melanie/Wanderer and do not know how to deal with someone they know and love who is at the same time someone they loathe and are fighting against. Wanderer also has to come to terms with her own humanity and revaluate her species. Although they rationalize their presence by making the world better, taking away disease and crime, Wanderer begins to see that they are also harming the world they occupy, by taking away the dominant species' free will.

The Host isn’t typical teen angst YA and is actually listed as an adult novel (although it reads like YA). Check this one out, if you haven’t already.

Back next Wednesday after the holiday.

23 comments:

  1. Oooh, this sounds fun! Thanks for the review:)

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  2. I haven't had the displeasure of checking this one mainly because I am not a masochist. I might change my mind, though. If I am really desperate. Or in a foolish mood. Anyway you made me curious - always a bad sign.

    BTW team Edward? Team Jacob? HUH??????????

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  3. This is an amazing book! I think it has been completely under-rated previously.

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  4. anachronist - You crack me up. Google it...you'll see. :)

    Hannah - I agree it's under reated...stuck under Twilight shadow.

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  5. I loved The Host. And you're right, it kind of does read like YA (which is cool with me). I hope she puts out a sequel!

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  6. I read this one a few times and the story was great. I enjoyed it.

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  7. I havent tried this book yet....I thought it was being made into a movies, isn't it?

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  8. This is one of my favorites as well, possibly my favorite. It's beautiful.

    ^Stephenie Meyer posted on her website a LONG time ago that The Host was going to be a film, and I've heard nothing about it since.

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  9. I loved The Host. It's easily Meyer's best book and I'm surprised it hasn't received more attention. The themes are more mature than in her other series and the characters are more memorable. It's very difficult to put this one down. Great review!

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  10. I do admit that the storyline was so much better than the Twi books, so she did well there. But I just don't think she can write so skimmed it

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  11. I thought when I saw Stephenie Meyer's name off the top... uh oh. Still, the review sounds like it's got potential, unlike Twilight itself.

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  12. I really liked this book! Definitely different than Twilight and I've heard a lot of people had a hard time getting into it, but I didn't. I was into it the whole time.

    By the way, you won the book for my 100 followers giveaway!

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  13. I could not get through Twilight. Granted I'm way past teenage angst. Will have to see if the library has this one. I'll give her another try.

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  14. I'm about to really give Twilight a serious try. When I read it before, I was listening on audiobook and I just couldn't get into it. I hope the book will give me the experience I need to really enjoy it!

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  15. Host is BETTER than Twilight. The first 50 pages are hard to get through, but after that it's awesome. Try it.

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  16. I tried this a while ago, but totally gave up. Granted, I was 3 months pregnant and super sick, so that was one reason. I'm going to try to read it again one of these days, since it's sitting on my bookshelf collecting dust! :) Thanks for stopping by my blog! I'm a new follower! ;)

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  17. It took me forever to get into this book, but my students told me it was worth it... and it was. So, so good.

    Thanks for stopping by!

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  18. Thanks for checking out and following my blog. Yours is just as cool, well written, and dabbed with blue. Big fan of blue. I'll now follow you. Looking forward to future posts :)

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  19. Hi! Thanks for stopping by my blog today. :) It's great to meet you.

    I really enjoyed this book too, though I agree with Becky that the 1st 50 were hard to get through. It was a slow start, but once it picked it up I couldn't put it down.

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  20. I appreciate THE HOST too! Meyer did an excellent job, and now it's becoming a movie!!

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  21. I really liked this book. I'm following you now and thank you for stopping by my blog

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  22. I loved this book!! Great blog. New follower!

    Kristina
    http://ladybugstorytime.blogspot.com/

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  23. Meyer definitely improved as a writer for The Host (who wouldn't improve after four books?) And the only reason it's considered Adult is because the characters are grown-ups. It's still plenty wholesome compared to a lot of YA

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