Book Review: The Host: A Novel by Stephenie Meyer

Book Title: The Host: A Novel

Author: Stephenie Meyer(http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/)

Pages: 619
Publisher: Little Brown

(Scale Explanation: 1) Meaning awful, 5) Meaning not good, but not bad, equal, 10) Meaning wonderful)

PLOT - 10

CHARACTERS - 10

BEGINNING - 10

ENDING - 9

FLOW - 10
OVERALL - 10

What I liked about this book: This was a very interesting read. I hadn't believe that Meyer could pull off anything other than the Twilight Saga and I would love to tell those that didn't like the Twilight Saga that thye should give Meyer another chance with The Host. This book was wonderful and I found instances where Meyer also borrowed from other great science fiction authors, with the world of the dolphins. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and the emotions that the main character had to go through to understand the bigger picture.

What I disliked about this book: There wasn't much that I disliked about the book. It was rather lengthy, but I realize that this was needed to convey the story as a whole.

Who I would recommend this book to: Anyone that enjoyed the Twilight Saga and anyone that didn't like the Twilight Saga. Meyer puts together a much better story in this book.

What I felt the book was about: Wanderer is a Host, a small centipede-like creature, from The Origin. Hosts take over a host body and basically level out the planet on which the host bodies live on. Melanie was a rebel, one that evaded being captured and taken over by a host, but eventually, she was caught. Wanderer was placed inside of Melanie and so begins an emotional nerve-wracking story of love, friendship, and the human way of life. Melanie was in love with Jared and had her younger borther Jamie to take care of. The three of them lived like a family. When Melanie was captured, Jared took Jamie to Melanie's crazy Uncles hide-out smack dab in the middle of the Arizona desert. The hide-out is naturally made and was perfect for a small settlement of rebels. Melanie is still able to comunicate with Wanderer and as Wanderer finally gets sick of hearing Melanie play with her emotions and show her memories, she decides to go back to the Healer and be placed into another body, but on the way there, Melanie pushes her to look for Jaren and Jamie and so Wanderer treks through the desert following a strange map that Melanie's uncle showed her when she was little. On the edge of death, Wanderer finally gives up and lays down in the dirt just as the sun is gone for the night. She wakes up to someone giving her water and several anxious people with guns pointed at her. Jeb, the uncle takes her back to the hide-out and Jared and Jamie are there. Jared is angry and wants Wanderer dead, even though she is in Melanie's body. So, they hold Wanderer in a jail cell type cavern for days until Jared has to go on a supply run. Jeb then takes Melanie around and shows everyone that she is not dangerous and tries to make everyone accept her. As the days go on, the people eventually accept her. When Jaren returns, he is angry and beats Melanie/Wanderer up, then he speaks with Jamie and apologizes and finds out that Melanie is still in there. As the days go on, Jared accepts what is going on and Ian falls in love with Wanderer. Ian is a twin with Kyle who tries to kill Wanderer at another time. Jamie gets sick and Wanderer wants to get him the proper medicine, but no one wants to let her leave. Jared helps her escape in the middle of the night to go get the medicine and they save Jamie. Wanderer's Seeker, eventually gets caught by the people of the caverns and they learn how to take the Host out of the host body. Eventually, Wanderer wants to be removed from Melanie's body for Jared. But Ian doesn't want this. They take her out and find her a new body that had been in habited for a long time so there wasn't a person inside and they go on living.

Favorite excerpts or quotes from the book: “It's not the face, but the expressions on it. It's not the voice, but what you say. It's not how you look like in that body, it's what you do with it. You are beautiful!"