Guest Review: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Dance Chica’s review of The Host by Stephanie Meyer.

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed. Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn’t expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves–Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body’s desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she’s never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring what may be the first love triangle involving only two bodies, The Host is a riveting and unforgettable novel that will bring a vast new readership to one of the most compelling writers of our time.

I approached this book apprehensively. Mostly because I wasn’t fond of the story Meyer wrote for the Prom Nights from Hell anthology and figured Meyer’s writing just couldn’t capture me outside of the Twilight series. I certainly wasn’t convinced this bizarre body-snatcher plot could be pulled off. I was wrong, and I’m happy to admit it because I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It does sound weird but the characters are ultimately what drew me in.

The back blurb is pretty straightforward and pretty accurate in describing the story. Wanderer is a “soul,” an alien from another planet. Souls are gentle creatures that survive by taking a “host” body to live in. When the story begins, the Souls have invaded Earth and embeded themselves into the minds of the majority of the human population. Normally, once a Soul has been placed inside the body of a human, the human’s consciousness fades away. That’s what Wanderer expects to happen when she is placed inside the body of Melanie Stryder. But Melanie won’t fade away and the two form an uneasy alliance. Eventually, Melanie convinces Wanderer to help her find her family: Jared, the man she loves, and Jamie, her brother. Through Melanie’s memories, Wanderer comes to love Jared and Jamie, too, and they set off to find them among the rebel humans living in hiding.

This was a very engaging story because even though this is a science fiction novel—even though the story took place in a world overrun by aliens—it was still so human. That’s where Meyer really excels in her writing. She’s able to fully explore all the joys and pains of what it is that makes us human. It was truly interesting seeing our world experienced through the eyes of an alien life form. There were many types of relationships in this story and they were all well developed and unique, particularly the relationship formed between Wanderer and Melanie: two minds sharing one body.

Another distinctive aspect of the novel was, of course, the Souls. The Souls weren’t violent, alien monsters descending on earth to kill all the humans and take over in a bloody battle. They truly were gentle beings, and in the absence of humans they created a utopia: a world where money is not needed, there are no crimes or sickness; people live in absolute harmony and love one another. So it wasn’t easy to pick a villain in this story because you could see exactly where the humans were coming from and exactly where the Souls were coming from. Because of that, the book raised interesting questions of morality and what it means to be alive. But besides that, this was just a good story with lots of moments that made me laugh, made me want to cry, made me happy…

This book has been labeled “science fiction for people who don’t like science fiction” and I have to agree with that. I encourage everyone to give this book a try, even if you don’t normally enjoy stories of this kind. The book does take a little time to get going in the beginning, but but keep going! Once you get to know the characters and their stories, I doubt you’ll need any encouragement to keep reading.

4.5 of 5.

This book is available from Little, Brown and Company. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Reviewed by Dance Chica.

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