Review: Stephenie Meyer’s The Host

The Host by Stephenie Meyer and narrated by Kate Reading

Sci-Fi, Published 2008

Read Oct 2010, Unabridged Audio, 21 hrs

Challenges: RIP V, Audio Book, YA

Shelf Life: 2 years 4 months, Purchased HB 5/1/08

Verdict: 4.5/5

Book Blurb:

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away.  Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy that takes over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact.  But Wanderer, the invading “soul” who occupies Melanie’s body, finds its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who has avoided invasion and lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she’s never met.  Soon Wanderer and Melanie – reluctant allies – set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, The Host is a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.

My Thoughts:

I really did not like the beginning of this story, (however, after finishing, I want to go back and reread it).  I made it a few hours into the audio and wondered whether or not I should continue, but boy, I am so glad I did! I think since the beginning starts immediately with an action sequence, with the alien transfer taking place, I was really confused.  I didn’t know where I was or who I was supposed to be.  I have read other reviewers having this same confusion, but I definitely don’t think the audio helps in this aspect.  The narrator makes Wanderer sound very mechanical or robotic.  Her voice is very monotone and it was hard at times to get the needed inflection.

Once some of the background information was given about the aliens and what they were doing, I started to understand what was going on better.  At first I did not like them, especially the Seeker.  Wanderer, however, is truly fascinating.  She has been many things and lived 8 lives before coming to Earth.  Once Melanie awoke inside Wanderer’s mind and started giving her a hard time, that’s when I really became interested in the story and didn’t want to get out of my car so I could listen more.

The love triangle aspect is truly unique.  Melanie and Wanderer (Wanda) both share Melanie’s human body and Jared loves Melanie and Ian loves Wanda.  It takes Jared a really long time to believe Melanie is still alive.  I really hated the violence Jared had toward Wanda.  Even if Mel was gone, taken by the Souls and never to return, how could he desecrate her body?  I think overall I preferred Jared over Ian (Team Jared, if you will), mostly based on Melanie’s memories of him, but I really wanted Wanda to just shake him and slap him across the face and tell him to stop being such a *BAD WORD* !!  I also really liked his inherent survival skills.  However, I really could have done without all the hitting.  Ian, to me, needed a little more grit.  I liked that he was so kind to Wanda, but he seemed to be too much of an opposite of his brother Kyle.  Side Note: REALLY liked the Sunny & Kyle storyline!!

I think the only reason this book is not technically considered to be YA is because of the violence, but I think any teen who has read the Twilight Saga has read The Host as well.  There is not a lot of gore and blood, per se, but a lot of domestic abuse toward Wanderer/Melanie when the humans still believed she had come to harm them or turn them in to the Souls.  Meyer continually made the point that humans, while able to have complex emotions, were naturally evil and violent toward one another and that the aliens or “Souls” were inherently good and that’s why they had taken over the earth.

Because he was a soul, by nature he was all things good: compassionate, patient, honest, virtuous, and full of love. -p. 3

But I think a major point was missed and I was really hoping Melanie would have stressed it to Wanda.  If the Souls were so good and revulsed away from guns and violence, why did they then not feel any remorse against taking over a human’s body?  And if that human’s mind did not cooperate (i.e. give way to the Soul) then they were discarded and considered useless.  The Souls did not account for the person inside, like Wanderer comes to realize through her human journey, so isn’t that essentially evil as well?  The person’s death may have been committed less violently than the way of the humans, yet it had the same end result.

I read on Melanie’s blog, I’m pretty sure she is unrelated to Mel in the book , that she would have really liked to have seen a map of the caves.  I so agree! Wouldn’t that be so awesome? I am discovering that I LOVE fantasy books with maps, but I’ll save that topic for another post.

I loved the ending and I really hope Meyer delivers with a trilogy.  They are tentatively titled The Soul and The Seeker.  I just hope they don’t disappoint me like the Twilight saga.  I LOVED Twilight, still really loved New Moon, really liked Eclipse, but was ultimately disappointed with Breaking Dawn (ummm, no review but I gave it a 3.5/5, which is pretty low on my generous scale).  I also really liked the graphic novel.

Quotes:

Life and love went on in the last human outpost on the planet Earth, but things did not stay exactly the same.  I was not the same. -p. 609

Perhaps there could be no joy on this planet without an equal weight of pain to balance it out on some unknown scale. -p. 609

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From Mel’s Shelves…Jim Butcher’s Furies of Calderon

Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera #1)

by Jim Butcher, 504 pages

Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Published 2005

Mel Read Oct. 7, 2008

4.5/5

From the Back Cover:

For a thousand years, the people of Alera have united against the aggressive and threatening races that inhabit the world, using their unique bond with the furies — elementals of earth, air, fire, water, wood, and metal. But in the remote Calderon Valley, the boy Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. At fifteen, he has no wind fury to help him fly, no fire fury to light his lamps. Yet as the Alerans’ most savage enemy — the Marat horde — returns to the Valley, Tavi’s courage and resourcefulness will be a power greater than any fury, one that could turn the tides of war…

Review:

I don’t normally buy books without having at least taken a look at the rating on Amazon, but when looking for more Dresden books at Half Price one trip, I instead found #2 and #3 in this series, and the back cover summaries seemed intriguing. Fortunately for me, the series so far doesn’t disappoint – I even pre-ordered the fourth book, Captain’s Fury.

One of the most intriguing aspects of this series is the role that the furies play within the lives of the Alerans. Everyone – well, very nearly everyone – has at least one fury, and some have more. The furies vary in the elements they affect, the forms they take on for their masters, and their strengths. Over the course of thousands of years, their presence in the Alerans’ lives has shaped Aleran society.

Of the series I’m currently reading, Mercy Thompson is at the top of my list for urban fantasy, and this series, The Codex Alera, is at the top for high fantasy.

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Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Ender’s Game (Ender #1) by Orson Scott Card

Sci-Fi, Published 1985, 324 pp

Mel Read Nov. 15, 2008

4/5

From the Back Cover:

Once again, the Earth is under attack. Alien “buggers” are poised for a final assault. The survival of the human species depends on a military genius who can defeat the buggers.

But who?

Ender Wiggin. Brilliant. Ruthless. Cunning. A tactical and strategical master. And a child.

Recruited for military training by the world government, Ender’s childhood ends the moment he enters his new home: Battleschool. Among the elite recruits Ender proves himself to be a genius among geniuses. In simulated war games he excels. But is the pressure and loneliness taking its toll on Ender? Simulations are one thing. How will Ender perform in real combat conditions? After all, Battleschool is just a game.

Right?

Review:

Recently I’ve been making an effort to catch up on more of the “classics”, which is what led me to Ender’s Game. Going into this book, I had no idea of what to expect; the fact that it is held in very high regard within the scifi genre is about all I knew of it. This is not a lighthearted book by any means. Much like 1984, it paints a harsh picture of the future, but Ender’s universe does leave room for hope. Although much of the book is focused on various battle simulations in the form of Zero-G games, they are described so that even someone like me who is not terribly familiar with tactical arrangements can follow along and understand the action that is occurring.

The story never seemed to drag along, as it does in so many books, and each chapter left me wondering what would happen next in Ender’s journey among the stars. The ending, likewise, took me by surprise. I would definitely recommend this book to any lover of scifi, and suggest that even those who aren’t so fond of the genre (like emmegail!) give it a try. You won’t find a lot of technical jargon here, and the story has less to do with aliens or high-tech gadgetry than it does with the struggles of humanity. Just don’t pick this when you’re looking for something upbeat!

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From the Shelves of Mel…

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

Dresden Files Series ~ Book 2

Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Published 2001

Mel Read Aug. 2008

4/5

From the back cover:

Business has been slow. Okay, business has been dead. And not even of the undead variety. You would think Chicago would have a little more action for the only professional wizard in the phone book. But lately, Harry Dresden hasn’t been able to dredge up any kind of work — magical or mundane.
But just when it looks like he can’t afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise.
A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon. Take three guesses — and the first two don’t count. . . .

Mel’s Review:

I liked this second installment in the Dresden series even more than the first one. It’s certainly not a light-hearted story; the situation is bad at the beginning and plummets continually from there. Throughout that downward spiral, Harry gets a chance to take a good look at his inner self — his buried fears and sorrows, his motivations, and the very dark possibilities for him that await only one false step. In one of my favorite parts of the book, Harry has an earnest conversation with his subconscious, which helps him to open his eyes to several truths, and reveals to the reader hints at secrets that will likely be told as Harry’s story continues.

The plot is complex, but in a good way, and not so much that it becomes difficult to keep track of the characters and events. This is far from a simple case of werewolves — if there can be such a thing. The magic involved and the wide range of characters are all covered in sharp detail, helping to bring Harry’s world to life. This is a series I will definitely continue to follow.

Emme: Sounds like it’s better than the first, Mel! Looking forward to grabbing it out of the TBR pile and reading it! =)

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From the Shelves of Mel…

The Dolphins of Pern (Dragonriders of Pern) by Anne McCaffrey

Sci-Fi, Published 1994

Mel read June 2008

3.5/5

From the Cover:

When the first humans came to settle the planet Pern, they did not come alone: intelligence-enhanced dolphins also crossed the stars to colonize Pern’s oceans while their human partners settles the vast continents. But then disaster struck. The deadly silver spores called Thread fell like rain from the sky, and as the human colonists’ dreams of a new, idyllic life shattered into a desperate struggle for survival, the dolphins were forgotten.

Now, centuries later, as the dragonriders of Pern prepare to complete the momentous task of ridding their world of Thread forever, T’lion, a young bronze rider, and his friend Readis, son of the Lord Holder of Paradise River Hold, make contact with the legendary “shipfish.” And as the dragonriders grapple with the end of an era, T’lion, Readis, and the dolphins face the start of a new one: reviving the bond between land – and ocean – dwellers – and resurrecting the dreams of the first colonists of Pern.

Review:

I’ve been a long-time fan of the Dragonriders of Pern series, and was happy to finally pick up this last volume missing from my collection of the novels written before Todd McCaffrey began co-authoring the series. This book would likely leave readers confused if read as a standalone novel, but is an enjoyable addition to the larger story of Pern.

The dolphins, or “shipfish”, are lively and often humorous characters, and it is their antics and interactions with the humans that make this book so much fun. Though over the centuries the people of Pern forgot the truth of their oceanic friends, the dolphins always remembered, and seek every opportunity to help the humans through the troubles that accompany a society trying to adjust to radical changes to their way of life.

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Catching Up on December’s Reads

Storm Front: Book One of the Dresden Files

Jim Butcher

Sci-Fi, Published 2000

3.5/5

A Virtuous Woman

Kaye Gibbons

Fiction, Published 1997

4/5

Stardust

Neil Gaiman

Sci-Fi, Published 2007

4/5

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