We all know Stephanie Meyer from her Twilight series... but to my surprise, she can write a mean alien book too.In this story, planet Earth has been overtaken by aliens called “Souls”. These Souls are parasite-type aliens who implant themselves into the human brain and take over - thus the human race is practically extinct.
In comes Melanie Stryder - part of the human resistance and someone who has evaded capture for several years - she is captured by the Seekers (Souls who search for renegade or “wild” humans) and is implanted with a Soul named Wanderer. Wanderer is like a celebrity within the Souls. She is very old and strong and she has lived many life cycles on different worlds. Upon implant, Wanderer is surprised when Melanie’s consciousness refuses to fade away. Melanie fights and is a voice in Wanderer’s head. Through Melanie’s memories Wanderer is able to see what being human is about - the good (love, laughter, friendships) and the bad (fear, jealousy, rage, anger). Eventually Wanderer and Melanie have to learn to live together, and they go off on a very dangerous mission.
I liked the fact that we get to hear Wandarer’s (eventually nicknamed Wanda) point-of-view. It was Invasion of the Body Snatchers - from the unique perspective of one of the Snatchers.
I will say though that the first 80 pages or so were a bit slow and difficult to get through, for me, but once I passed that I was completely hooked and devoured the remaining 500+ pages.
In conclusion, The Host is definitely a must read! You’ll stay up till the wee hours of the night reading it, I know I did. It also leaves a perfect opening for any sequels and Meyer has already mentioned that she is working on a follow-up that will be appropriately titled “The Soul”, as well as a possible third book she would like to call “The Seeker”. If The Host does spawn a series I know they will be loved just as much as the Twilight Series and I can say that I will be one to stand in line to get one of the first copies available.
ha ha ... I liked The Host too but I thought there were too many similarities between the Host and Twilight.
ReplyDeleteI've been curious about this book. Thanks. If I read it, I won't give up too soon.
ReplyDeleteI went passed the 80 pages and still couldn't get into it. :( Glad you liked it though.
ReplyDeleteI had a hard time with this one. I found it did get better the further in that I got but it wasn't my favorite. I prefer the Twilight series. Glad you enjoyed it though-lots of people have.
ReplyDeleteGood review. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Glad you liked it.
ReplyDeleteIs it age appropriate for a 12-year old girl? She's read Twilight.
ReplyDeleteSheri
A Novel Menagerie
I was glad to read your review. I just started it a couple of weeks ago and only read a chapter, but haven't really felt the desire to pick it back up yet, even though I'd heard it was good. But now that I know it will pick up after roughly 80 pages, that gives me hope!
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, the audio book is FABULOUS
ReplyDeleteI preferred the Host to the Twilight series. I thought there was more growth for the characters in this one book than for most of the Twilight characters in all 4 books!
I loved this book too! Some people thought it was too much like Twilight, some thought it was not enough like Twilight. I didn't really compare the two, other than that I enjoyed them both.
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