extremely long review of the Host
Okay, time to write about the Host! For those who don't know, the Host is Stephenie Meyer's newest book, which I devoured over the past couple days, mostly yesterday.
Overall...I LOVED it. It was so good. One of those worlds that sucks me in so much that I have to immediately jump online and find everything I can about it and start making playlists and stuff. I'm already hoping they'll somehow make it into a movie and I can't wait for potential sequels.
I'm sure anyone who liked the Twilight series would like it, and because it's an adult novel and not so teenybopperish, I think more adults and guys will like it than the Twilight series. Anyone who hasn't read the Twilight series will need to be a bit patient with it, because it's a little slow to start. Once it grabs you, it really grabs you. Twilighters will have enough trust in Stephenie to not be put off by the start.
Some corner of my mind was naturally determined to figure out how similar to Twilight it was, and I actually found it quite similar - but maybe it's just me wanting to see that. What I see as the similarity is that both stories are about this very complex world but when you boil it down, they're love stories. For that reason the Host will probably still appeal more to women than men, but hey, it works. We love it. We fell head over heels for Edward Cullen and the Host is just as engrossing, if a bit more complicated than that.
In general, the book is just a bit denser than Twilight - I wasn't aware of it requiring more concentration to read, but I guess it must have. It felt the same, it just took longer. At first I was glad of that fact and I thought it would mean I could spread it out and enjoy it over a few days rather than devouring it in a day like I inevitably do with the Twilight series - but no, no such luck. It only meant that I ended up reading in bed until 5 in the morning in order to devour it in a day. (Most of it in one day, at least).
It's a lot more complicated than Twilight in a lot of ways. It's darker and it doesn't have as much fluff, it's a more complicated premise that you need to spend some time with to get used to. But the thing that stands out as so much more complicated than Twilight - the relationships. Oh MAN. Sure, sure, Twilight has its little love triangle, but honestly, IS there even a Team Jacob? I like Jacob and all, but NOBODY stands a chance against Edward Cullen.
No, Twilight's little love triangle is nothing compared to the geometry of love that permeates the Host once the story deepens. I was amazed by how complex my feelings about it were - I'm a total shipper, I always want the couples to get together, so usually with any TV show, book, movie, or anything else, I figure out who I'm shipping pretty quickly. I got to the end of the Host and I still wasn't sure because everything is so entangled. Sure, I wanted Melanie and Jared to end up together, to be reunited. But I also couldn't stand Melanie's jealousy of Wanda and any attention Jared paid her - after all, Wanda loved him too. I wanted it to work out for both of them, somehow. When I began to see the love interest with Ian developing, I panicked - I didn't want him in the way! When it got to the point where it was indirectly acknowledged that he was crushing on Wanda, my thoughts were along the line of "aw, crap." But somehow things shifted quickly and by the time it was directly acknowledged...I think I liked it. Certainly before long I wanted it to happen. I didn't give up on Jared, though, and the scene where he was supposed to be lying and he clearly wasn't - well, I definitely enjoyed that scene.
The ending - I sort of ended up feeling like I lucked out having it work out so well with what I wanted. All through the book I knew it would be a happy ending somehow, and everybody would be loved - because I know Stephenie that well by now. She couldn't have let the book end with broken hearts, she's too much of a romantic. So it's a tribute to her writing skills that I ended up feeling that there was any chance things WOULDN'T work out well...enough chance that I felt lucky when they did.
One thing I love about Stephenie's writing is that I really feel I can trust her with the characters. In just about any book I read, there comes a point about two-thirds of the way through, just when you know you've got a sense for how every character fits into it, when I start to worry about them. Because in an awful lot of stories...somebody isn't going to make it. Think of all the deaths in the Harry Potter series. So at that two-thirds point, I start to realize who the likely candidates are and it's awful. I've got nothing against authors who do kill off a character or two, but somehow I feel that I can trust Stephenie with her characters and I love it. Of course, there's a few deaths, and it's sad, but the ones that I absolutely couldn't stand - nope, she doesn't do THAT to me. And again, it's a tribute to her writing skills that it feels realistic enough that I still worry. Yeah, two-thirds of the way through I started to think "No, no, not Ian! NO, not Jared! NO PLEASE NOT JAMIE!" But I rode that roller coaster and we all survived.
Of course, my trust in her has not been proven with the Twilight series yet. With three out of four books out of the way, I'm in that spot right now, and it's worse with so many characters to love - "Not Esme...not Carlisle...no, not Rosalie! No, no, not Emmett! Not JASPER, NOT ALICE, you wouldn't, you couldn't!" And although I do still feel, somehow, that I trust her with all of them...well, the worst could still happen, so we'll have to see.
Back to the characters from the Host, though - Ian. Oh, Ian. Somehow I ended up loving him most of all, I think, even though I resented his appearance as a love interest at first. In hindsight, I LOVED watching him slowly warm up, seeing him develop from antagonist to love interest so slowly you almost missed its happening. In a way, Ian reminds me of Jacob Black - Ian and Jamie both, in different ways. Ian's quiet determination, his resolve to sit back and wait for Wanda if it took time, or his confidence to grab her and kiss her if it took guts. And of course, the way he goaded Jared, not worried even though he was the underdog; "Jealous, Howe?" just lines up directly with Jacob's "May the best man win" in my mind. And Jamie - so like Jacob in his puppy-like exuberance and his simple love of human contact. And I love them all.
If Ian and Jamie remind me of Jacob, does that make Jared Edward? No, not at all, absolutely not. I feel a bit guilty for writing all of this as such a comparison between the two stories; they shouldn't have anything to do with each other and I feel bad for Stephenie that everybody remains so focused on the Twilight series. Even so, I can't help but compare the two in most respects, but when I get to Jared and Edward - well that's where all the guilt really smacks into place. They're not the same, they're not even close. And it's not that they're opposites or anything, it's just that they don't exist in the same world and there's no way to compare them. I can see similarities between Ian and Jamie and Jacob, and I sort of connect Sharon with Rosalie, but Jared and Edward are so distinct that I can't even begin to compare them. I honestly can't hold them both in my mind at the same time, so I really can't even say if there are similarities or major differences or anything. Apples to oranges.
I'm definitely running out of steam here, so I'll let this end here - it's quite long already. To sum up? I LOVED the Host and if I thought it would hold me over until August I was wrong, because now I'm only longing for more of this story too.
Overall...I LOVED it. It was so good. One of those worlds that sucks me in so much that I have to immediately jump online and find everything I can about it and start making playlists and stuff. I'm already hoping they'll somehow make it into a movie and I can't wait for potential sequels.
I'm sure anyone who liked the Twilight series would like it, and because it's an adult novel and not so teenybopperish, I think more adults and guys will like it than the Twilight series. Anyone who hasn't read the Twilight series will need to be a bit patient with it, because it's a little slow to start. Once it grabs you, it really grabs you. Twilighters will have enough trust in Stephenie to not be put off by the start.
Some corner of my mind was naturally determined to figure out how similar to Twilight it was, and I actually found it quite similar - but maybe it's just me wanting to see that. What I see as the similarity is that both stories are about this very complex world but when you boil it down, they're love stories. For that reason the Host will probably still appeal more to women than men, but hey, it works. We love it. We fell head over heels for Edward Cullen and the Host is just as engrossing, if a bit more complicated than that.
In general, the book is just a bit denser than Twilight - I wasn't aware of it requiring more concentration to read, but I guess it must have. It felt the same, it just took longer. At first I was glad of that fact and I thought it would mean I could spread it out and enjoy it over a few days rather than devouring it in a day like I inevitably do with the Twilight series - but no, no such luck. It only meant that I ended up reading in bed until 5 in the morning in order to devour it in a day. (Most of it in one day, at least).
It's a lot more complicated than Twilight in a lot of ways. It's darker and it doesn't have as much fluff, it's a more complicated premise that you need to spend some time with to get used to. But the thing that stands out as so much more complicated than Twilight - the relationships. Oh MAN. Sure, sure, Twilight has its little love triangle, but honestly, IS there even a Team Jacob? I like Jacob and all, but NOBODY stands a chance against Edward Cullen.
No, Twilight's little love triangle is nothing compared to the geometry of love that permeates the Host once the story deepens. I was amazed by how complex my feelings about it were - I'm a total shipper, I always want the couples to get together, so usually with any TV show, book, movie, or anything else, I figure out who I'm shipping pretty quickly. I got to the end of the Host and I still wasn't sure because everything is so entangled. Sure, I wanted Melanie and Jared to end up together, to be reunited. But I also couldn't stand Melanie's jealousy of Wanda and any attention Jared paid her - after all, Wanda loved him too. I wanted it to work out for both of them, somehow. When I began to see the love interest with Ian developing, I panicked - I didn't want him in the way! When it got to the point where it was indirectly acknowledged that he was crushing on Wanda, my thoughts were along the line of "aw, crap." But somehow things shifted quickly and by the time it was directly acknowledged...I think I liked it. Certainly before long I wanted it to happen. I didn't give up on Jared, though, and the scene where he was supposed to be lying and he clearly wasn't - well, I definitely enjoyed that scene.
The ending - I sort of ended up feeling like I lucked out having it work out so well with what I wanted. All through the book I knew it would be a happy ending somehow, and everybody would be loved - because I know Stephenie that well by now. She couldn't have let the book end with broken hearts, she's too much of a romantic. So it's a tribute to her writing skills that I ended up feeling that there was any chance things WOULDN'T work out well...enough chance that I felt lucky when they did.
One thing I love about Stephenie's writing is that I really feel I can trust her with the characters. In just about any book I read, there comes a point about two-thirds of the way through, just when you know you've got a sense for how every character fits into it, when I start to worry about them. Because in an awful lot of stories...somebody isn't going to make it. Think of all the deaths in the Harry Potter series. So at that two-thirds point, I start to realize who the likely candidates are and it's awful. I've got nothing against authors who do kill off a character or two, but somehow I feel that I can trust Stephenie with her characters and I love it. Of course, there's a few deaths, and it's sad, but the ones that I absolutely couldn't stand - nope, she doesn't do THAT to me. And again, it's a tribute to her writing skills that it feels realistic enough that I still worry. Yeah, two-thirds of the way through I started to think "No, no, not Ian! NO, not Jared! NO PLEASE NOT JAMIE!" But I rode that roller coaster and we all survived.
Of course, my trust in her has not been proven with the Twilight series yet. With three out of four books out of the way, I'm in that spot right now, and it's worse with so many characters to love - "Not Esme...not Carlisle...no, not Rosalie! No, no, not Emmett! Not JASPER, NOT ALICE, you wouldn't, you couldn't!" And although I do still feel, somehow, that I trust her with all of them...well, the worst could still happen, so we'll have to see.
Back to the characters from the Host, though - Ian. Oh, Ian. Somehow I ended up loving him most of all, I think, even though I resented his appearance as a love interest at first. In hindsight, I LOVED watching him slowly warm up, seeing him develop from antagonist to love interest so slowly you almost missed its happening. In a way, Ian reminds me of Jacob Black - Ian and Jamie both, in different ways. Ian's quiet determination, his resolve to sit back and wait for Wanda if it took time, or his confidence to grab her and kiss her if it took guts. And of course, the way he goaded Jared, not worried even though he was the underdog; "Jealous, Howe?" just lines up directly with Jacob's "May the best man win" in my mind. And Jamie - so like Jacob in his puppy-like exuberance and his simple love of human contact. And I love them all.
If Ian and Jamie remind me of Jacob, does that make Jared Edward? No, not at all, absolutely not. I feel a bit guilty for writing all of this as such a comparison between the two stories; they shouldn't have anything to do with each other and I feel bad for Stephenie that everybody remains so focused on the Twilight series. Even so, I can't help but compare the two in most respects, but when I get to Jared and Edward - well that's where all the guilt really smacks into place. They're not the same, they're not even close. And it's not that they're opposites or anything, it's just that they don't exist in the same world and there's no way to compare them. I can see similarities between Ian and Jamie and Jacob, and I sort of connect Sharon with Rosalie, but Jared and Edward are so distinct that I can't even begin to compare them. I honestly can't hold them both in my mind at the same time, so I really can't even say if there are similarities or major differences or anything. Apples to oranges.
I'm definitely running out of steam here, so I'll let this end here - it's quite long already. To sum up? I LOVED the Host and if I thought it would hold me over until August I was wrong, because now I'm only longing for more of this story too.