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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Twilight Manga

Twilight: The Graphic Novel Vol. 1

by Stephenie Meyer, Art and Adaption by  Young Kim

Graphic Novel, Published 2010

Read March 2010

5/5

This book really surprised me when I received it in the mail yesterday.  It’s hardback for one thing, which is nice, and the paper is fairly thick, which allows for the illustrations to not bleed onto the next page.  Most of the illustrations are in black and white with beautiful shading.  There are a few color illustrations at the more poignant junctures in the story.  I am not a huge graphic novel, comic book or manga fan by any means and have only read the first few volumes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Eighth Season graphic comics.

The speech bubbles sometimes seemed to lack in “intelligent” content, with the use of slang as well as short simple sentences, but this could be the use of the manga style that I am not use to, and I can see that Meyer wanted to make a definite distinction between her novels and the manga.

Meyer’s first novel has been split into two volumes so that the story has room to breathe. The illustration style is heavily informed by manga (or the Korean variant, manhwa) — bold, cinematic panels, intense close-ups, long wordless sequences — but the usual enormous eyes have been toned down and a more “literary” serif typeface introduced for the speech bubbles.   Twilight: The Love Story That Never Dies

I’m not quite the Twi-hard as some people, but I’ve read all four books and have seen the first two movies.  I even wore my “I <3 Edward” shirt to see New Moon.  (OK, maybe a little bit of a Twi-hard…)  Twilight is my favorite book of the series and I love Kim’s fresh twist to the story.  I think Bella is beautiful and I want her hair!  Overall, I think this is a great addition to the saga.

Check out my reviews for Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse…(never did review Breaking Dawn, mostly I think because I was a little disappointed in how Meyer wrapped the story up.)

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Twilight Saga ~ Books 1&2

Twilight Saga – Book 1

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

YA Fiction, Published 2005

Read: Emme-Sept. 2007, Mel-Oct. 2007

5/5

From the Cover:

About three things I was absolutely positive.

First, Edward was a vampire.

Second, there was a part of him – and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be – that thirsted for my blood.

And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

Emme’s Review:

Bella Swan moves from Phoenix to Forks to live with her dad, the police chief of a small, rainy town in Washington. Her mom is getting remarried and Bella feels she will be in the way of her mother’s happiness. So, she decides to move in with her father, Charlie, who willingly takes Bella in even though they’ve never been particularly close. He has even bought her a truck to drive to school so she won’t have to be dropped off in (gasp!) a police cruiser. Bella is about to begin her sophomore year of high school and is not at all excited about one, being in Forks, two, being in the cloudy, rainy weather of Washington, and three, attending a new school.

Bella’s first impressions of Edward are of confusion and anger. She really believes that he does not like her and it is not until he saves her life several months into the school year that they actually become friends. But she also befriends Jacob and soon Bella learns there are many secrets lurking in her new hometown. Book One of the Twilight Saga introduces us to the entire cast of characters, each unique in their own right.

As I, nor my contributing reviewer, bff and cousin Mel, am no longer in the “YA” age group (although she may disagree), I was hesitant to pick this one up. I’m so glad I did because Stephenie Meyer has a way of grabbing hold of the reader and not letting go until you turn the last page. After reading all four books in the series, I have to say that Twilight is probably my favorite in that it is where we first become enthralled with Edward, Alice, and the entire Cullen clan as well as a bit curious about Jacob and his friends down in La Push.

It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers, that I first saw them.

I stared at their faces, so different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful.

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Twilight Saga – Book 2

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

YA Fiction, Published 2006

Read: Emme-Oct. 2007, Mel-June 2008

4.5/5

From the Cover:

For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself; Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella could ever have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their dating relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just beginning…

Mel’s Review:

Although I did enjoy this book — in fact, I intended to read a single chapter but ended up reading it all in a day — I liked it less than Twilight. When Edward leaves, it devastates Bella to a point where she shuts down emotionally, and simply goes through the motions for several months, much to my disappointment. Eventually, she builds up a strong friendship with Jacob Black out at the reservation, and her outings with him are, in my opinion, the highlight of this entry in the series. It turns out that Jacob has a rather unusual secret of his own now, and with his help Bella starts to find that life is almost livable again, but still she can’t quite get Edward out of her mind, or her heart.

The end of this book definitely left me wanting more, so I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in Eclipse, on special loan from emmegail’s bookshelf!

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Check out Emme and Mel’s Review for Book 3 of the Twilight Saga ~ Eclipse

and coming up (as soon as Mel finishes): Review of Breaking Dawn!

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Twilight Saga ~ Eclipse

Twilight Saga ~ Book 3

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

YA Fiction, Published 2007

Read: Emme -July 2008, Mel – Aug. 2008

4/5

From the Cover:

As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob – knowing that her decision is potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

Review:

As the release of book 4 of the Twilight Saga approaches, I’m finally finishing Eclipse which I pre-ordered last September. This says nothing about the quality of the book, but just my ineptitude to read in the order that I plan… In my book buying craze I’ve also pre-ordered Breaking Dawn which should arrive at my house Saturday. (This is directed at you bn.com…don’t send me any more e-mails telling me about your super awesome book clearance sale!!) However, after finishing Eclipse, I’m super excited that I may just beat my 10 month reading delay.

Coming from New Moon, I was excited to find out how Bella would deal with having both Edward and Jacob in her life. Mostly the book focuses on the push-pull love triangle between Bella, Edward and Jacob. It’s towards the end of Bella’s senior year in high school and like all graduates has some big decisions to make. Bella finally makes up with Jacob after their falling out in New Moon and starts to hang out in La Push, against Edward’s wishes. Jacob falls further for Bella every time they’re together and he knows she loves him too. Jacob even invites Bella to a bonfire with all of his were-friends and it is here that we discover more of the history and inner workings of the werewolf pack. Jacob’s character really started to come to life in New Moon and I really love him in Eclipse.

Jacob finally admits his true feelings to Bella and Edward knows he now has competition. Bella can see her life with Jacob, but not without Edward. She struggles with her feelings for both guys, for werewolf, for vampire, until the end of the novel and even then it seems not entirely over.

But bliss never lasts too long for Bella because soon Victoria, an evil vampiress, is coming after her with a group of newly turned vampires. The only way to make it out alive is for the immortal enemies to join forces and save their true love. Whose heart will Bella break and which side will she choose in the end?

“He’s like a drug for you, Bella.” His voice was still gentle, not at all critical. “I see that you can’t live without him now. It’s too late. But I would have been healthier for you. Not a drug; I would have been the air, the sun.”

“I used to think of you that way, you know. Like the sun. My personal sun. You balanced out the clouds nicely for me.”

He sighed. “The clouds I can handle. But I can’t fight with an eclipse.”

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Mel’s Review:

The relationship dynamics in the third book of the Twilight Saga got a bit more interesting. Throughout the beginning of the book, the refusal of the Cullen family to allow Bella anywhere near her werewolf friends was nearly as aggravating to me as it was to Bella herself. Despite Bella’s denials, Jacob had a good point when he suggested that Edward was very controlling in his relationship with Bella, and it was not surprising that Bella rebelled against that excessive control despite her love for Edward. Even after Edward and Jacob reach a truce of sorts, Bella continues to be conflicted between those two opposites. In the face of seeming hopeless odds, Jacob continues to fight to pull Bella away from Edward, and he has my vote. It’s not often that I switch sides in a love triangle, but in this case, the more I get to know of Edward, the less I like him, or the strong-armed approach he tends to take with Bella. The interplay among those three characters was, to me, the most compelling part of the story.

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