‘THE HOST by Stephenie Meyer (ISBN 978-0-316-06804-8)

Saturday Writers' member Stan Wilson calls THE HOST "An intriguing love story disguised as an adventure."

I really did not know what to expect when I started the novel, "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer.   It was my first experience, a very good one, with one of her novels.  I certainly plan to take a serious look at her other works and strongly recommend this one.

"The Host" is incredibly believable science fiction which takes place sometime in the future.  The story happens after an alien group who call themselves Souls has taken over the Earth. The Souls are embedded into humans who are used as the Hosts. Their goal is a non-violent universe and Earth is just one of many planets they have dominated.   One does not have to be a science fiction fan to enjoy this book.

The Wanderer is a Soul who is placed into the body of Melanie. Melanie resists the take over of her body and the adventure begins.   In many ways the novel is actually a love story.   I do not want to spoil your read by giving out details, but it is ‘not’ an adventure book with great firefights between hostile forces flying space craft.  It will stir your emotions and provides numerous conflicts and battles often causing you to switch sides, based on behaviors and reasoning, along with the Wanderer.

The primary villain is from a special sect of Souls known as Seekers who are in charge of keeping order.   I found I developed a desire to learn more about the Seekers. 

 The book certainly lends itself to the possibility of future books about the key characters we get to know in "The Host."  Stephenie successfully provides us with bread crumbs throughout the novel that could be entire novels and future adventures for our consumption.   

During one part of the novel, The Wanderer became a storyteller allowing us a view into the lives of various groups inhabiting other planets.   Her stories created a craving for learning much more about these other worlds.  As an example, I certainly hope Stephenie provides a future novel based on the Spiders, an alien species on another planet, who have three brains, twelve eyes and seemingly the computing power of a Cray computer.     

A recommendation on how one may want to go about reading "The Host."  Start on a Monday evening reading two or three chapters each night because by the time you get to Friday you will not want to put the book down; thus giving you the weekend to complete. (Review by Stan Wilson)

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Dianna Graveman has this to say about THE HOST:

Romance lovers and sci-fi fans unite!  The Host, by Stephanie Meyer, has plenty to offer both. Touted as possibly “the first love triangle involving only two bodies,” The Host take its reader along for a delightfully enticing adventure into a future where alien parasites invade earth and use human bodies for hosts. Although forced to surrender her body to the alien soul called Wanderer, Melanie Stryder refuses to surrender her mind. What follows is a strange case of multiple personalities, with Wanderer succumbing to Melanie’s desires to find her younger brother, Jamie, and fellow resistor, Jared. Melanie and Wanderer form an unlikely friendship as occupants of the same body – at times quarrelsome and competitive, but often consoling and supportive.

The Host, while a respectable 619 pages, moves at a consistently entertaining pace. Although the inner dialogue between Melanie and Wanderer at times seems contrived, it does not detract from a story that demands the reader suspend belief in what he or she currently knows to be true. There is no denying the truth behind the aliens’ assessment of humankind: We are a cruel and violent species at times, but we can be kind and altruistic, too. Stephanie Meyer leads us not just on a journey into an uncertain future inhabited by aliens, but on an investigation of our own beliefs and understanding of what it really means to be human. (Review by Dianna Graveman)

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