The Host Review

Stephenie Meyers first book for adult readers gets off to a very slow start.  Mrs. Meyers goes to great pains to really develop the main characters in The Host, and the readers will really appreciate this background as the story really takes off.  The chapters are relatively short, that is appealing for a quick nighttime read and I thought she didn't close each chapter with that "I can't stop reading now...I have to know what happens next" feeling that really captured me in her Twilight series.  Once she has fully established her characters and the action begins, the book is harder to put down between chapters. 

In The Host, readers are introduced to a new earth that has been invaded by alien creatures who use human bodies as their "host".  The humans typically cease to exist and the alien creatures then live out the human bodies lives.  Great detail is used to describe the aliens, other worlds they have taken over in this way and how the humans who haven't been "taken over" are fighting this war.  Honestly, my biggest regret about this book is Mrs. Meyers use of the word "soul" to define the aliens.   That really rubbed my personal beliefs the wrong way, but the more she describes the "souls" and thier pure and innocent intent, it would be nice to believe that all humans truely possessed such pure souls as I personally believe.  Anyway, off the soapbox and back to the review!

In the case of Melanie Stryder, she was one human not willing to be taken over easily.  Her alien soul, Wanderer, has visited many planets and is considered a very valuable member of her race.  The mental barriers and difficulty retrieving personal information from her "host" is very disorienting and begins an unlikely relationship between the alien invader and the thoughts of Melanie.  Mrs. Meyers uses different fonts to speak in the alternating voices of Wanderer and Melanie making it very easy to follow their conversations.  It's a simple trick, but it really helps at the beginning of the book.

Melanie "convinces" her alien to locate two humans who she loves deeply.  Piecing together clues from her memory, Melanie and Wanderer end up in their worst nightmare.   This is where the bulk of the story takes place and I thought it was very interesting.

I couldn't really determine the difference between this book and Meyer's other novels that would qualify this as adult, there is no foul language, intimacy is only referenced and not nearly as much as in  Breaking Dawn, and other than the fact that the story is really science fictiony and maybe too hard for young readers to understand, it is perfectly safe for young adult readers.

The ending kind've dissappointed me, but I can't really go into detail on why, but hopefully Mrs. Meyers is simply setting up a sequel so that readers can continue to enjoy her talents.

I would recommend this book mainly to readers who have vivid imaginations and enjoy a little science fiction.  There is some romance, but the book is mainly about survival.  As in Mrs. Meyers other writings, focus is strongly placed on relationships and emotions, so this book probably wouldn't be appealing to the greater male population.  But fans of Twilight should enjoy this book.