Surprisingly Good Read

 

 

I just finished the Stephenie Meyer Book, The Host. The ideas and characters in the book caught my attention and kept me turning pages to see just how it was all going to work out. There are moral dilemmas, questions about right and wrong, love triangles (or maybe quadrangles?), and what it means to be friends.

Ms. Meyer is most widely known for her YA series of books which have become the phenomenon known as Twilight. I've read the first 2 books of the Twilight series, and although I enjoyed them enough that the third and final book is sitting in my TBR pile, I have to say I think this book is better.

This is the blurb from Stephenie Meyer's own web site:

Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed.

When Melanie, one of the few remaining "wild" humans is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, 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.

Wanderer probes Melanie's thoughts, hoping to discover the whereabouts of the remaining human resistance. Instead, Melanie fills Wanderer's mind 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 begins to yearn for a man she has been tasked with exposing. When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love

The book explores many ideas, one of the most important being what exactly makes you a human? The story is told not from the point of view of the surviving humans, but from the alien who has been thrust into their midst. Slowly both sides start to see the worth in each other, and even as Wanda, as she comes to be called, is accepted into the renegade humans fold, they each begin to change each others points of view.

While I have to classify this as a Sci-Fi story - there are aliens after all - I think it is a very accessible story and would be enjoyed by any person who has ever questioned what makes a human, what is love and/or wonders about the best and worst our race (as in the human race) can be.

I enjoyed this story enough that I have my fingers crossed that Ms. Meyer will again visit these characters in another book. Wonder if it is a book you would enjoy? How about the chance to read a little bit before you buy or borrow from the library. Ms. Meyer has an excerpt you can read on her website. go to this page which has all the info on the book and click the link for the excerpt. Cool, huh?