The Host

I didn't know what to expect from the author of Twilight, but this looked like it had potential since it claimed to be a dystopian novel, one of my favorite genres. 

In the end, I loved, loved, loved this book!  It is so much better than the Twilight series!  It's kinda sad, really, that all the Stephanie Meyer hype is over that famous vampire trilogy, when this one is by far more superior.  The Host was published in 2008, but is virtually unknown of by the masses.  The only reason I found out about it was by googling Stephanie Meyer and coming across a list of her publications.  Meyer's writing style is much more mature and easier to read in The Host.  Instead of making me want to gag with her romantic love triangles, Meyer portrays the relationships in The Host with true emotion and sentiment. 

As with all dystopian novels, this one opens with a bleak look at the destruction of human life as we know it on planet earth.  In this case, alien life forms from the planet Origin take over earth by inserting themselves into human bodies, or "hosts."  Their intention is to take over the world by doing away with the violence of humans and instead live in happiness.  They are kind aliens and only wish to bring peace to planet Earth.  However, to do so, they must eliminate all humans and use their bodies to survive.

As sci-fi as this sounds, it's actually sweet story of human kindness and how much we are willing to sacrifice for the ones we love. Wanderer is the alien soul that inhabits the body of a Melanie.  Wanderer discovers that the former human inside of her is somehow still alive.  The former Melanie's brain still functions as a separate entity from that of the alien Wanderer.   As Wanderer relives Melanie's memory and starts to actually communicate with her, she realizes there could be a glitch in the system, not to mention the possibility that there could be humans that actually exist free of alien soul inhabitants.  Following Melanie's instructions inside her head, Wanderer starts on an adventure into the unknown in search of human life.  She does not have the intention of killing them or taking over their bodies.  In fact, she doesn't even really know why she's so interested in the human thoughts in her head or why she's actually listening to them.


I don't want to give away too much, so I recommend you read this book as soon as you can.  It's a fun read!  I felt connected to the characters in that way where you don't ever want the book to end.  I want to get into my on Monday to drive to work and still hear the story of Wanderer and Melanie! 

This should have been made into the trilogy that made Stephanie Meyer famous.  As unrealistic as it is, that character development made it much more believable than Twilight.