the host

The Host by Stephenie Meyer is possibly one of the best books I have ever read. Behind Harry Potter of course. But if you read her Twilight books and told yourself you weren't going to ever read another Stephenie Meyer book, think again and please read The Host.

The Host is a different kind of book and if I try to describe it, it's gonna sound like a stupid, cheesy, sci-fi book. But I'm going to try to describe it anyway.

The Host is about souls from different planets that have been coming to Earth and being inserted into human bodies and taking them over. Humans are now an endangered species and the Seekers are the ones who are in charge of tracking down humans and turning them in to be used as host bodies. Usually, after the soul is inserted into the host body, the host mind and thoughts are turned over to the soul. This story is all about a soul, Wanderer, and a host body, Melanie, that doesn't want to give up her body. When Wanderer is inserted into Melanie's body, Melanie is still there. What I mean by that, is that Melanie can communicate with Wanderer and tell her about her deepest thoughts. At first, Mel obviously hates Wanderer because her kind is taking over the planet and there is nothing she can do about it. This problem doesn't occur very often so it's very rare to have a case like Wanderer's where the host won't give up the body. Because of this problem with Wanderer's host body, she plans to go see her Healer, which is like a doctor. She plans to get a new host body and Mel's body will then be destroyed.

On the way to Phoenix, to see the Healer, Melanie opens up to Wanderer and shares old memories about her childhood and her friends. That is when we see Mel's thoughts and see her flashback to before she was a host body. The story she shares is about when she and her brother, Jamie, were on the run from the "aliens" and hiding out in caves. When Mel is on a raid for food for her and Jamie, she goes into a strange house in the middle of the night, hoping that no one is home. Luckily no one is there...yet. While Melanie is raiding the cupboards for food, she feels hands grasp around her neck, cutting off her air supply. When she turns around, she sees the man who grabbed her and the next thing she knows, he's kissing her. When he finally stops, he tries to explain to her that he's only kissing her because he's happy that she's not an alien. Melanie's flashback keeps going on for a while and she reveals even more to Wanderer, but you'll just have to read the book to find out what happens.

The beginning is a little bit confusing and a little bit boring, but if you can make it past that, it's one of the best books you'll ever read.

Pelekania