The Host

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Melanie Stryder died. Or did she? An alien soul, Wanderer, now inhabits her body but Melanie's mind won't go away. Will Wanderer lead the rest of the souls to Melanie's friends or will Melanie's personality win out? And what of The Seeker on Wanderer's trial or Melanie and Wanderer's feelings for Jared, Melanie's old love and one of the few humans left?



First off, this had two things going against it from the start. Firstly, it's a romance, and secondly, I did not pick it. It was forced upon me as a Christmas gift in 2009. If the gifter hadn't been my best work friend, I would have traded it in for store credit on the 26th.



The Host isn't a bad book. The story is a page turner and the premise, tiny aliens inserted into human bodies at the base of the neck, was very interesting. So did I like it... ?



... I did not. The writing was very lazy, like the book was unfinished and never meant for publication. All of the science fiction elements had infuriatingly simple names: Souls, See Weeds, Bats of the Singing World, Planet of the Flowers, etc. Also, everything felt too safe. Not once did I think any of the important characters wouldn't be alive at the end.



None of this compares to the weird relationship between Melanie/Wanda and Jared. From what I've heard of the Twilight books and what I've read here, either Stephanie Meyer doesn't get out much or has some messed up ideas about love. You'd think getting back-handed in the face by your old lover would maybe make you adjust your opinion of him. At least the Ian thing happened.



About halfway through, I kicked it into high gear, skimming instead of reading. Life being too short, etc. The baby thing at the end was a little weird but from what I hear about the end of the Twilight saga, Steph likes weird stuff with babies.



My final summation: Not a horrible book but nothing I would have picked for myself. I have the sneaking suspicion that if someone else had written it, it would have never been published.



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