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January 7, 2011

Review: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Book Cover The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Title: The Host
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Release Date: May 6th, 2008
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Pages: 619
Age: Young Adult
Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.
As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.
Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOSTis a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.
I think I was the last person in the planet to read The Host, hehe. The truth is: I wasn't going to read it. When it was first published I was interested in the book, but with all the Twilight stuff, I decided not to read it. It was a good choice, because just a couple of weeks ago my boyfriend surprised me with the book and I could read it without hearing the other people's opinions. I heard thousand of times that it was bad, but I did like it and a lot.

Wanderer is a "soul", an alien who came to the earth to use a human body. Melanie's human body, one of the last survivors. Wanderer has lived many lives, but Melanie is strong and young, and she's isn't going to surrender.

At first I thought it was going to be Melanie's story, but it was Wanderer's story. She's old, but at the same time young. She didn't have much of a personality, but while she spent more time at earth, and Melanie starts to make her life impossible, she began to change, to become someone.

It's worse for Melanie. She's trapped, can't use her body, and has to protect her biggest secret, the life of her lover and brother. But Wanderer discovers it, and she's so confused, that she doesn't know if she should tell the other aliens or help Melanie.

After a long trip and almost dying, Wanderer and Melanie discover that not all the humans have disappear.

I don't want to give spoilers in case some of you haven't read it, but I can tell you that it's impossible to ignore Stephenie Meyer's writing. She created an interesting science fiction story that trapped me.

It's a long book, and the first chapters were very slow, only explaining about the aliens and the new earth, but they were interesting enough so I kept reading. It's not a book full of action or fast, it's more about character's feeling and of course, romance.

Wanderer's stories, and the universe Stephenie Meyer created, was what I liked more. Very original, I felt very fast under Wanderer's charm. But it made me think about how awful would it be if aliens invaded earth (specially for me since I'm afraid of them) and how horrible it's not to be the owner of your own body.

Overall, I was very surprised about The Host. Sometimes it was too slow for me, but I was very curious so I kept reading it. At the end, I can't believe I waited so long to read it and I can't wait to read "The Soul", the next one in the series.

PS: The only thing I didn't like was Jared. He was too voilent for my taste. I prefer Ian.


9 comments:

  1. I hated Twilight. Hated it. I read them all, but hated them haha So, I wasn't expecting much with The Host. I really enjoyed it though, and Ian was by far my favourite character...can you imagine if Ian Somerhalder actually played him?!?!?! :D

    Great review, Gaby!

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  2. I LOVED the Host! I agree with you about the beginning though, there were parts that were really slow. I also really didn't care for the parts where Wanda was talking about all the other planets she used to live on. I kind of just skimmed past them. But I loved Ian!

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  3. I too loved the host - I read all the Twilight books and I liked them, but I didn't love them. I wasn't sure about The Host, but I really liked the cover. I was thrilled that I had taken the chance! I thought it was a great story!!!

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  4. I really loved this book, much more than Twilight. I'm glad you enjoyed it as well! Great review :)

    And I also love Ian ;)

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  5. I really enjoyed this book. It took a little while to get started but once it did I couldn't stop reading it. I think the concept was really interesting and I'd love for SM to continue this series.

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  6. I read this when it first came out. I really liked it as well. I prefer science fiction so I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Good review!

    Jen

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  7. OMG, I loved Twilight. Yes I did. Okay, so I haven't actually read the last one, but that's only because I don't want it to end and I heard it's BAD! Going to read it very soon, otherwise my friend will ignore me for the rest of the semester. Anyway, I loved the Host. The characters where great and it was sooo suspenseful. Great review!

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  8. I actually didn't like this book at all. I do, however, agree with you about the Jared and Ian thing. I was not a big fan of Jared's violent tendencies at all. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

    Andrea @ Reading Lark

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  9. I've read all of Stephanie's books but so far haven't managed to bring myself to read this one. Not quite sure why, but maybe I'll get around to it some day. Glad you enjoyed it though!

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