The Host: A Novel

by Stephenie Meyer
The Host: A Novel  
published 2008 by Little, Brown and Company
binding Hardcover
isbn 0316068047   (isbn13: 9780316068048)
pages 624
description The author of the Twilight series of # 1 bestsellers delivers her brilliant first novel for adults: a gripping story of love and betrayal in a ...more
date added
08-06-07



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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2899)



Britt
Britt rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/11/08

bookshelves: family, fiction, friends, sci-fi
Read in May, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Karin
Karin rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
04/07/08

Read in March, 2008
Wanderer has just arrived on Earth and been implanted into her new host. She has lived on seven worlds before coming here. She is arriving toward the end of the alien invasion when very few humans remain. The aliens are known as “souls” and are a peace loving type that don’t know of violence or lying.

Very few humans remain on Earth. When the remaining humans are discovered, they are captured by Seekers - the closest thing to a police force the “souls” have. Once captured, they...more
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Elizabeth
Elizabeth rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
05/10/08

Read in May, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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LeiAnn
LeiAnn rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/13/08

Read in May, 2008
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Angie
Angie rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
05/12/08

bookshelves: belovedbookshelf
Read in May, 2008
I felt myself getting more and more excited about this book as the release date drew closer. I've enjoyed the Twilight books and I'm looking forward to their conclusion in Breaking Dawn, but I found myself pretty intrigued to see what Stephenie Meyer would do when she set out to do something different. Plus, I was just in the mood for ...more
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  2 comments

pianogal
pianogal rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/06/08

bookshelves: sci-fi
Read in May, 2008
I don’t know what it is about this author, but she always takes about 100-150 pages to get into her story. I guess she just likes her exposition. Once she reaches that magic point – and I have no idea how she decides where to put it – whew! hang on because you are in for a ride.

Most people are familiar with Meyer because of her "Twilight" series of vampire tales. The Host is a new, more “Michael Crichton”esque, sci-fi based story with all different characters. In fact, it...more
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Diana
Diana rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
05/10/08

bookshelves: romance, science-fiction, speculative-fiction
Read in March, 2008
I wasn't really sure I wanted to read this book. I've always thought Meyer was over hyped even though I did enjoy her Twilight series and her premise for this seemed a little new-agey and contrived. I started The Host last night and didn't want to turn out the light. This morning my eyes popped open at 4:45 am so I could start reading again. It has elements of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a little bit of The Terminator, and a couple of nice romances.


Wanderer is a member of an alien ...more
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Lindsey
Lindsey rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/09/08

bookshelves: adult-yet-unclassified, sci-fi, teen
Read in May, 2008
I was initially concerned about my ability to finish a 600+ page book in two weeks, without the possibility of renewal. Especially a science fiction book. Not exactly my favorite genre.

However, I really liked it! So much that I read it in three days, despite have to go to work and school. Meyer does such a good job of universalizing whatever genre she chooses.

The story starts out (if you've read what she posted online, this is the first chapter) with human Melanie being given a S...more
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holly
holly rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
02/28/08

bookshelves: adult-fiction, science-fiction
Read in January, 2008
The Earth is being overtaken by "souls", little silver worm-like creatures who overtake a being's body and mind. When an experienced soul called "Wanderer" takes over Melanie Stryder's body, though, she fights back keeping a little piece of her conscious state . Now there are two beings in the body being drawn to Melanie's past. They find a small clan of unchanged humans with the man that Melanie loves and her younger brother. Wanderer starts to feel connected to those around...more
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Tez
Tez rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
04/23/08

Read in April, 2008
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Honor
Honor rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
05/13/08

bookshelves: mystery, romance
So I liked this newest offering of Stephenie Meyer, but I think I still like the Twilight series better.


The Host is a sci-fi book about aliens who have taken over the world .... this book takes place after the fact. The little "souls" are put into people's bodies and kind of just take over their brains. They are good, though, so they have done away with things like starvation, needing money, war, fighting, police, anything like that.


It starts with a new soul being put into...more
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Ruth
Ruth rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
05/06/08

Read in May, 2008
Went out and bought it ASAP this morning. Read it in less than a day. Loved it. But I was pretty sure that would happen.

This book really puts you in Wanderer's head, alongside Melanie. I somehow always thought I'd be rooting for Melanie after I first read the description of this book; after all, Melanie's the human who's been enslaved by the body-snatcher against her will. But it's hard to deny that humans have the capacity to do some inhumane things. Wanderer's people have fixed that, ...more
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Hope
Hope rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
03/24/08

Read in January, 2008
I ended a long sci-fi hiatus by reading this book! The genre hasn't appealed to me lately, but liking the author I jumped at a chance of reading an advance copy. Silly as it sounds, I was really impressed with the design! The embossed type and somewhat transparent silver foil in the eye was really ingenious on the cover. The script font used for title chapters also was edgy but feminine, a really great choice for a romantic-themed sci-fi book.

The story was very engrossing; I couldn’t put ...more
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Runa
Runa rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
05/12/08

bookshelves: runasbooks
Read in May, 2008
EXCELLENT <3
Okay, so I thought originally, well, nothing she writes is ever going to be good as the vamp. books, right? Especially something that's set in one location, a secret hideaway, that's going to get boring really soon. NOT SO. I am so glad I was proven wrong. Wanderer has got to be the most amazing character ever, and her and Ian are adorable. I wish we'd gotten to see more of Mel, but even with the italicized glimpses, you learned a lot. (I'd have liked to see more of her &...more
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Caroline
Caroline rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
05/11/08

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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  1 comments

Beth
Beth rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
01/26/08

bookshelves: fantasy
Read in January, 2008
recommends it for: everyone
Thank you Morgan for picking up this ARC at Midwinter and sharing!!!! If you never read anything by Stephenie Meyer because of the whole vampire thing you MUST READ THIS ONE!!!
I was so involved in this book that I couldn't go to sleep until I finished it (3 am) and then I kept on crying!!! I wasn't able to tell from her previous series if I just really liked vampire stories or if Stephenie was just a very gift story teller, able to make her characters so real that the readers are just draw...more
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  9 comments

Jessica
Jessica rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
04/11/08

bookshelves: recommended-reads
Read in March, 2008
While it's a little hard to get into this book, the pace does eventually pick up, and by the middle I didn't want to put it down! Readers of Meyer's Twilight series should be forewarned there are no vampires and werewolves, nor is there a good vs. evil storyline. There is however a love triangle, a wise and slightly bemused grandfather, handsome heroes and a beautiful heroine, suspense, grief, love, hate, jealousy, passionate kissing, and personal conflict aplenty. Since it's a sci/fi book, you'...more
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Liensol
Liensol rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
05/12/08

Read in May, 2008
recommends it for: Everyone, but especially Karen ;-)
Okay there’s no way around it: I totally loved this book. What I realized while reading this novel is that Stephenie is simply a very good writer. Even though the ‘science fiction’ and ‘for adults’ label might scare some people off, it is nothing to worry about.
The Host is a very well written story. It starts of a little slow in my opinion- she loses herself in descriptions now and then, but eventually the story picks up and you can’t help but get emotionally involved with the c...more
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Erin
Erin rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
05/08/08

Well...

It seems to me that the concept of alien worms being placed into hosts is a relatively old one... I am thinking specifically of the Stargate movie and Stargate SG-1 show on the Sci Fi channel. There are a lot of similarities in the concept of an alien and host sharing the same mind/body/feelings, etc. I was not impressed with a fresh concept and so that was initially discouraging for me.

The book was really hard to get into. Usually I am hanging on the edge of a page waiting an...more
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Winnie