Book Review: The Host by Stephanie Meyer
The Host is the story of a species of alien that invades Earth and captures all humans to use their bodies as hosts. Once captured, most humans relinguish control and the parasite then finishes out life in the body. The main character of this story refuses to give up her body and coexists inside her mind with the parasite alien. After retaining all the memories of the host, the alien decideds she loves the same people that her human loves and sets off to find them, although they are still human. If it seems confusing to read here, you can imagine what the entire book feels like.
The main character of the story was completely unlikeable as were the supporting characters. It was infuriating to read a story through the eyes of someone so weak. The only redeeming quality she had was the strong human locked inside her mind. Perhaps that is what Meyers was going for, to force the reader to feel the frustration of the human trapped inside- it worked. But the struggle was so boring and unbelievable I had to fight my own mind to stay awake while reading.
One can't help but see the comparison to Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Both books paint a picture of a flawed utopia where individualism is lost and the human mind is seen as savage. Even the love stories are similar with two lovers that cannot or will not be. One hopelessly in love with the other who does not either want or deserve the affection.
Even the excitement of Science fiction could not save this book. The futuristic space travel and description of the other inhabited planets felt empty and colorless. It almost felt like those parts were thrown in as an afterthought to satisfy the criteria of the genre.
The appeal of the Twilight series was the emotional attachment the reader could form with the characters. Meyers showed a true talent for creating realistic and beautiful characters that everyone wanted to either be or know. The Host fell short in this area which caused the whole book to suffer. Stephanie Meyers fans will have to continue to wait for the author to create new stories to light up their lives. No doubt she is capable of that, but The Host leaves everyone fumbing around in the dark.
Published by Sarah Barr
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2 Comments
Post a CommentWhat? If I'm absolutely, truly honest, this was much better than her "Twilight" series. Those put up the main character as a weakling, and keep getting Bella saved in each book, right up to the end, mostly by her own stupidity. With "The Host", each character is equal and, by rough jurisdiction, 'human'. Not all-powerful, or has superpowers, but does what is in one's own capability, and, sadly, in some cases, nothing more. The characters are truly human, with their emotions, grief, joy, and strife. In "Twilight", all these vamps, which make up half the characters, have almost no end. And--excuse my rudeness, no offense is meant to the author--they sparkle? Seriously? Whatever happened to burning up in sunlight, wooden stakes through the heart? Come on! With "The Host", it is honestly meant and had succeeded with staying reasonable, and going up and beyond normalcy of novels. Humanity is shown with, and of, both sides, with the viv
Well, to each their own. I thought this book was terrible, and I love Stephanie Meyer.