Shannon 's Reviews > The Host

Aimed at the adult science fiction crowd, as opposed to the Young Adult Twilight fanbase, The Host isn't about science or where the human race is headed, but about what it means to be human, here and now.

Earth has been quietly, non-aggressively conquered by a kind, pacifist species unable to lie or deceive, who go by different names on different planets in different languages. Here they call themselves "souls", while the rebel humans who have slipped through the net call them "parasites". They are silvery, ribbon-like sentient creatures small enough to hold in two hands, covered in feathery antennae. Inserted into the back of a host body's skull, they take over a host's mind and motor functions to the point that the host's mind is completely subsumed: in effect, killing them.

That is, until Earth, where the hosts fight back.

Wanderer has lived full life cycles on nine other planets - a record among her kind - before taking a human host, a young woman called Melanie. Unfortunately, Melanie's not going away without a fight, and on top of the gamut of new and intense human emotions Wanderer must contend with, she also struggles to take complete control of her host and find the memories Melanie's keeping from her - memories of her brother Jamie and the man she loves, Jared. They'd managed to elude the alien takeover, until Melanie was caught. As Wanderer gradually gets to know and understand Melanie, she dreams more and more of Jared and Jamie until she finds herself ruled by Melanie's desire to find them, a desire stronger than the need to keep them safe from the parasites.

While the story is very different from Twilight, the writing is much the same, and there are certain qualities in the characters that are becoming almost Meyer trademarks. I can already hear the same complaints and criticisms as I've read regarding the other series, but I'm not sure what these people are expecting - highbrow literature? The earth to move beneath their feet? Some people are never happy, and will often read a book determined to hate it. With one book they complain that something was mentioned and then seemingly forgotten, in another that something was repeated too many times. Personally, I didn't have a problem with the repetition in Twilight and I don't have a problem with it here.

I think the first readjustment to my assumptions was with the alien race and Wanderer in particular. When I read about the book last year, I assumed the aliens are aggressive and cruel and the humans would be portrayed as humane and vulnerable. That's how it usually goes, after all, though I don't care for it. The opposite is true here however: the humans are portrayed as greedy, deceitful and violent - which we are, pretty much, especially when cornered - while the souls are kindly, generous, non-suspicious, terrified of humans and - apart from the Seekers - couldn't harm a fly. Especially Wanderer. It's not easy having a pacifist as your main character and narrator, especially one who's easily scared. But Wanderer has her moments of strength too, and resourcefulness, as well as her moral dilemma which is what really carries the story.

Regarding the other characters, I really didn't like Jared, and Wanderer's attraction to him is one of the weakest points of the story. The point is made that she loves him because her body, Melanie's body, loves him and responds to him, and her mind too in a way. But it just didn't gel for me, probably because he doesn't come across well. His own dilemma - that the woman he loves is trapped inside a body ruled by an alien - gives him some excuse, but really, what's this thing Meyer has about women loving men who treat them horribly? Edward was pretty mean to Bella in the beginning, remember? Anyway, I liked Ian early on and it was pretty frustrating, the way Wanderer treated him etc.

The themes of the novel are pretty obvious, and definitely well-meaning, but still interesting. Questions of whether humans deserve to live on when we are so cruel to each other, and waste resources etc. The souls don't even use money, they take only what they need, and treat everyone with the same kindness. This raises the age-old issue of individuality, which is often the victim - and the ace up humans' collective sleeve - in such stories. The same theme was explored in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies/Pretties/Specials trilogy, for example.

Definitely one of the things I liked about this book was the conflict between Melanie and Wanderer, having two minds in one body with one more dominant than the other. It reminded me of Annon and Riane in Eric van Lustbader's Pearl Saga, a boy in a girl's body whose individual identities are slowly merging yet still conflicting - written so well, I think Lustbader created a whole new gender. It's simpler here because they're both female, but other problems arise because of it - like loving the same man, or of Wanderer wanting to respond to Ian but unable to because her host body lusts after another man. Among other things ;)

Because I didn't like the characters as much as I did in Meyer's Twilight series, I didn't fall in love with this book. It's an oft-times exciting story, with moments of tension and uncertainty, but I would have liked to understand the souls more - I didn't really understand where they came from or how they came to be, it's kind of like the chicken-or-the-egg: if souls can't survive without host bodies, how did they come to be? How did they get inside their first hosts? - and it was a tad bit heavy-handed on the moralising. Not enough to annoy me, but it's there nonetheless.

In short, if you enjoyed the Twilight series, you'll probably enjoy this because it means Meyer's style won't aggravate you; if, on the other hand, you didn't enjoy them, and you have bitched and moaned about her writing style like so many other people, I'd rather you didn't read The Host, not 'cause your criticisms will be wrong, but because you're missing the story. I should know, I've bitched and moaned about books I don't like often enough before. But I don't usually go on and read more books by the same author, unless I'm hoping they'll have improved. And I think Meyer's writing is improving, but it is what it is: simple, unadorned, reflective, introspective (but not too much), and clear. Even the repetition is necessary, which I think is true of Twilight as well.