Book Review: “The Host” by Stephenie Meyer

Suspenseful, engaging, heart wrenching, and addictive: Just a handful of the slew of emotions Stephanie Meyer’s young adult novel “The Host” will undoubtedly inflict upon you. Known for her wildly successful series “The Twilight Saga”, “The Host” has some mighty big shoes to fill. Fortunately, “The Host” has easily proved itself to be a suitable, if not better, successor of that iconic series. It offers a riveting storyline and characters that showcase a sense of maturity and understanding that, surprisingly, does not make you want to strangle the lead heroine, a common complaint from her previous works of fiction.
The story opens with Melanie Stryder’s body being inhabited by Wanderer (later dubbed Wanda), an invading alien “soul” that inhabits human bodies like parasites. The souls have successfully taken over most of the human population, creating a peaceful society where there is no violence or hardships. After the soul has been implanted into the body, the host’s original conscience is supposed to be suppressed to the point of oblivion. This is not the case for Wanda. Melanie’s conscience fights its way back into her new mind, creating an interesting dynamic between the two. It is Melanie’s own thoughts and memories that persuade Wanda to leave her little society and venture out into the desert to find Jared, Melanie’s boyfriend, her little brother Jamie, and other survivors who have gone into hiding.
Despite being about 600 pages in length, Meyer paces the story well, leaving room for soft moments while still being exciting and suspenseful. The setting, a scorched desert, is also depicted as a sort of beautiful, desolate reality. Although there is a love triangle, it takes an unexpected back seat for the much deeper relationship between host and soul. This comes as a breathe of fresh air for readers who are tired of the typical “girl falls head over heels for a boy and suddenly becomes incompetent without him” story arc. Their budding friendship is the driving force of “The Host”’s plot, splitting Wanda’s heart in two as she struggles between her role as a “soul” and her new found love for the human race. The love she has for Melanie is incredibly heartwarming, serving as a testament to the power of loyalty and friendship. Her final act of selfless compassion is guaranteed to get some water works going.
At the very base of it all, this is a story about love. Not the unrealistic, fairytale type of love, but maternal, friend, and family love. We watch Wanda as her unfamiliarity towards human interaction blossoms into a love for all those around her. It is this type of soul searching that Wanda embarks on that makes “The Host” so compelling and a completely worthy read.