A Review of The Host by Stephenie Meyer

The Host, written by Stephenie Meyer, is an adult science fiction novel with very little science fiction and a whole lot of heart and soul. Stephenie Meyer is most famous for her Twilight series of books for young adults, but The Host is her first book written for the adult main stream audience. While Twilight fans may pick the book up because of the author's name, The Host is a stand alone novel that should appeal to both fans of Twilight and those who hated the sparkly vampire books.

The premise of The Host is similar to that of The Body Snatchers or Puppet Masters, with parasitic aliens that invade the host body and take over. The body becomes controlled by the parasite, or "soul", and the human consciousness is destroyed. However, that is where any similarity to a traditional sci-fi story ends. The Host explores the story of Wanderer, a soul new to Earth, and her host, Melanie, who refuses to be destroyed or ignored. The two minds must coexist in one body and come to terms with each other. Melanie was part of the resistance and ends up taking Wanderer to join her friends. Wanderer is forced to try to convince the free humans that she is peaceful and will not betray them.

There is little technical sci-fi in this story. And little fast paced action. Instead, this story is about emotions. It explores the human condition and what it is like to love and hate, have friends, hope, faith and joy. The characters are alive, fully developed and easy to care about. The struggle between Melanie and Wanderer will leave you aching and full of compassion for both the host and the soul. The descriptions in this book are vivid and thrilling, making it hard to put the book down. The Host is not a book that will appeal to anyone looking for an action based thriller with ray guns and evil aliens. This is a book that has a science fiction base but is really a story about growth, acceptance and emotion.

I was not expecting The Host to be as compelling as it is. I was also not expecting to be unable to put it down. The story in this book takes you through so many emotions and explores the themes of selflessness, love, community and friendship in ways that make it hard to have anything but respect and admiration for the characters and the author. The ending of the book sets it up for a sequel that I truly hope is published soon. While the ending was satisfying and made perfect sense, it still left me wanting more. And, for me, there is no better book than one that leaves you wanting to read more.