So I finished The Host by Stephenie Meyer, and I really enjoyed it!
I am a big Stephenie Meyer’s fan as I am a die hard Twlight Series lover. I was given the Twilight Series books last September by one of my best friend’s Tiffani for my birthday. I got them right before a 3 week trip to Europe and started them immediately. It caught me by surprise that I enjoyed them so much, mainly because they were “young adult” novels, but regardless, I was an immediate fan and read through those books at record speed! I got SO into them!
Her new book, The Host came out this past week and has nothing to do with her popular Twilight Series.
The Host is a science fiction novel written for an adult audience. I’m not going to give any story spoilers, so if you are wanting to read the book, you are safe to proceed.
The basic premise is definitely invasion of the pod people-esq, but I found it very thrilling and interesting. The story begins after the invasion. A woman named Melanie is captured who has been involved in the human resistance, (A group of human’s who are in hiding, refusing to implanted by a “soul”-or-alien). They capture this woman and place a soul into her in hopes that 1. they will assimilate her and 2. They can find the location of the resistance to assimilate the rest of the humans she is with. Much to her Soul’s chagrin, the only resistance info they get, is from her. Melanie refuses to relinquish her memories or even her consciousness. She takes on an independent personality inside this soul’s mind, which is not a common thing and there is no real protocol for it besides reassigning the soul and terminating The Host. Obviously Melanie can’t control the actions of her body, but she takes “hearing voices” to a whole new level as she constantly argues with her host and this Soul (named Wanderer) tries to find out the information she needs. Since there has to be an antagonist, this one comes in the form of a really awful/irritating/emotionally charged Seeker who is relentless in her pursuit of Wanderer and trying to figure out what Melanie knows. It’s quite the battle for Wanderer to try and dig through a resistant mind, but that’s not the real trouble. It’s when she gets a hold of memories, they are so powerful that they rock Wanderer’s world. Melanie has memories that are so strong that she can not hide them from Wanderer and these are memories of her passionate love of a man whom she left behind. Without realizing it, Wanderer begins to fall in love with this man she has never met and soon sets off to find him… it’s a fantastic love triangle that actually only involves 2 people! Obviously the story goes from there, twisting and turning as you can imagine… it’s a very good read!
Since I’m not giving away any secrets, I will basically just give my impressions. I really enjoyed the story. I thought it was a fresh twist on something we’ve seen done over and over again.
I myself got really into the book and finished it quickly. I liked the lead character a lot, but I felt the Soul Wanderer was a little too human, even in the very beginning. These Souls are basically supposed to be emotionless.
And how did I feel about the end?? I felt it was fitting, that’s all I will say.
I can’t really say more as I don’t want to give away the story for any of you planning reading it.
Bottom line, I really enjoyed it, so much that it inspired me to write more on my current project!
Destiny Cole 
OK, I read this book about a year ago. I agree with you – the writing quality wasn't anything award-winning, but it WAS totally entertaining. The one hesitation I had about the book was the fact that the main female/male characters weren't having "adult activities" at some point over the course of the book. They are practically the last man/woman on earth. In the tone of Arrested Development's Gob… "COME ON!" That part just stretched reality a bit too far… even for a sci-fi novel. Parasitic aliens, sure – lack of "adult activities" at the end of the world – ridiculous. I know Meyer is Mormon, but let's be practical here. 🙂
TOTALLY agree. I was the same way! I mean, they need to re-populate for the sake of the human race! GET IT ON! 😉
Okay, I have to be the different one here. I couldn't get past the first 2 chapters. And I tried THREE times! I just couldn't get into it. Sci-fi is really not my cup of tea, so it was a stretch for me to start it anyway. But Robbie got it for me for Mother's Day last year because it was written by Stephenie Meyer, and he knows I am a Twilight freak! So he thought that I would enjoy it. I just recently sold it to 1/2 priced books.