Probably best know for her works on The Twilight Saga, Stephenie Meyer is less well know for her other supernatural works. Today we bring you The Host, another great book by Stephenie.
Brought by OBS staff member Katlyn
Summary
An alien species created from the “Origin” has taken over the Earth and every human body on it. The aliens have come here to create a better world for humans. They are placed inside human host bodies and with those bodies comes the memories and emotions of the previous “owner”. Since all information is given up to the alien the host body appears to be unchanged, and the alien lives the life of the human. The only difference is a small injection scar at the base of the neck and a ring around the iris of the eye when it is exposed to light.
Now a small resistance has been created by the humans, and the Seekers, alien “peace keepers”, are out to finish the job they started on Earth. When a suspected human resistor, Melanie Stryder, is captured and commits suicide to keep her secrets she is injected with a soul named Wanderer. Wanderer is named so because she has had many host bodies from many different planets. She has never felt the need to settle after she has outlived the body. Because of her reputation, Wanderer is chosen to extract the memories of Melanie to find out where the rest of the resistance is.
Review
After reading the Twilight Saga about ten times through, I was a little skeptical about reading this book. Usually most mega-writers are one hit wonders, but I figured that I would have been wrong, and I was!
This book was an amazingly creative story that will live with me for a long time. The characters were so fantastic and the descriptions of the other worlds that the souls occupied were breath-taking. The different creatures that Stephanie Meyer created really stretched the imagination
After starting this book, I honestly could not put it down. At the end of each chapter I was gripped by what might happen in the next. I was kept on the edge the whole time.
The love triangle or quadrangle I guess I should say, between Melanie, Jared, Wanda, and Ian was breaking my heart as it was Wanda’s. This idea was so refreshing and new, it wrapped me up in it. The fact that Wanda’s body and mind were so conflicting, really tore me back and forth throughout the book wondering how it would turn out.
Also, the many close-calls for Wanda in the caves and above gave this book a great thriller aspect. The fact of her trying to understand both humans and souls and trying to please both was very heartbreaking. This soul was truly one of a kind, and I think the book ended perfectly to eventually make everyone happy and safe.
