In review: "The Host"
The Host: A Novel by Stephenie Meyer
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Hot on the heels of her uber-successful Twilight series, author Stephenie Meyer’s latest novel takes aim at adult science fiction readers, as opposed to her normal young adult following.
Released in May, The Host focuses on what it means to be human - but from a very unlikely perspective.
Wanderer, also known as Wanda, is a “soul,” one of the aliens newly arrived on Earth who inhabit and take over the bodies and minds of their human hosts. But unlike the body-snatching aliens of other science fiction stories, souls are primarily benevolent; they have come to Earth to gain experience and, perhaps even, to improve upon and quell the violence and emotional nature that appears to rule humanity as a whole.
Wanda has lived on nine other worlds prior to coming to Earth, but never has she found a host as resilient and eager to keep its sense of self like the current one, Melanie Stryder. Melanie and Wanda struggle for control of their shared body, but, over time, Wanda is swayed, if not overwhelmed by Melanie’s memories and concern for her younger brother, Jamie, and Jared, the man she loves. Eventually, Wanda begins to take these feelings as her own, and, with the help of Melanie’s consciousness, embarks on a journey to find them.
Wanda finds Jared and Jamie among a group of human resistance fighters hiding in the desert. Seen as the enemy, she isn’t welcome, but tries, nonetheless, to convince them that Melanie is still alive and well inside her body. It is during her time among these people, and at the center of a very odd love triangle, that she will eventually discover that being human isn’t necessarily a bad thing and may be something worth fighting for.
Because Wanda is technically the villain, the reader is taken on an amazing emotional rollercoaster as she struggles to understand why humans are the way they are, why they are so opposed to the souls’ “interference,” and why, in the end, she becomes sympathetic to their cause, so much so that she is willing to die - really die, and not be transferred to another host - to protect those she has come to care about. The reader can’t help but like her and want things to work out for every one involved.
In true Stephenie Meyer fashion, The Host is addictive and pure unadulterated enjoyment from cover to cover. As a writer, she has a knack for breaking things down to their simplest level and making them all the better for it. The Host is an amazing novel, and I recommend it highly to anyone who likes brilliant stories.
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