Monthly Archives: April 2009

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

The Host
By Stephenie Meyer
Read by Kate Reading

I just don’t get the whole thing about Stephenie Meyer.  I don’t understand why so many people look down on her as being a poor writer.  I don’t understand why so many are just totally enamored with her and her books.  I like her.  I think she can tell a great story, even if she gets fixated on particular words and expressions and repeats it throughout her books and drives me batty with it.  I like her for what she is; a good, quick, practically thoughtless read.

That said; The Host is probably my favorite over the Twilight series.  Don’t get me wrong, I liked Twilight well enough, and I liked the other two okay, but The Host, especially after listening to it on audio, is my clear favorite.  First, let me tell you a bit about The Host, just in case you are the last person in the book blogging world to have not read it.

Our planet has been invaded, rather like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but a peaceful race of parasites.  Which is rather oxymoron-ic, but anyway, they are peaceful amongst themselves and in their minds, they have bettered our planet by taking over the evil, warring, terrible humans.  One such human however, Melanie Stryder, refuses to go down without a fight.  Wanderer, the “Soul” who has been inserted into Melanie’s body, knew the challenges that would come from taking over a human host, but she had no idea what she was getting into (no pun intended!) when she woke up in Melanie’s body.

Melanie was still there.  And she refuses to give up control of her mind.

As Wanderer falls deeper and deeper into Melanie’s memories and thoughts, she finds she cannot separate herself from that life anymore.  Melanie’s assault has an unintended effect; Wanderer and Melanie now love the same man.  Outside forces combine to make Wanderer and Melanie unlikely allies and they set off to find the man they both love.

The Host is marketed as Meyer’s first adult book.  I don’t find it all that different from the Twilight series in language, scope, situations or anything else – I think it’s probably just a ploy to get adults to read her too.  As for the audio edition, which I am reviewing here, I can’t recommend it enough. Kate Reading was already one of my favorite readers, but this put her up near the very tip top with Davina Porter.  She has a warmth and tenderness to her voice that gives Wanderer much needed…well…humanity.  And when you read it, you’ll see why that is a plus.

One of my frequent problems with Meyer is her messages, her morals, and her attitudes toward gender differences.  Sometimes I feel like she’s, well, shoving her ideas down the reader’s throats.  At times she seems very antiquated in her treatment of relationships, particularly those between men and woman.   However, The woman can write a very absorbing story, so it’s hard to stay very annoyed with her.

Also reviewed by:

Fyrefly Books | Melissa’s Book Reviews |

If you have listened to this book, let me know in the comments and I will link to you here.