book discussion

In the end we know that Ian loves Wanda for her personality and not for Mel's body. But then her personality changes so much when she gets her new body from Pet. She is shy and giddy which is so UNlike Wanda. So why does Ian still love her if she has a new body and her personality has changed so much.

Did her personality really change once she took on Pet's body? I think her main personality traits are her altruistic love and her inablity to hurt anyone. That certainly didn't change when she went from Mel to Pet's bodies. Yes, Pet was shy -- but Wanda wasn't exactly extroverted when in Melanie's body, either. Remember how she barely spoke a word when she first got there? -- for a long time she was like that. It's true that she became the storyteller for a while, but a reluctant one. She needed a lot of prodding from others to "come out of her shell" as Mel. So, it makes sense that she would repeat the cycle in a new body, too. Wanda was very slow to trust -- in both bodies. But the love she felt for Ian was definitely the same "flow of molten rock far beneath the surface of the earth" both times.

I agree with Rebekah. I liked the ending between Wanda and Ian. I was, however, a bit disappointed that she didn't switch over to Melanie and give us Melanie and Jared's reunion. That was the only part I found lacking.

I agree about the reunion with Jared and Melanie. Both characters were intertwined with Wanda, and yet we didn't get an insight into anything that happened there.

I hadn't thought about how we didn't see Jared and Melanie's reunion. I was more disappointed that we didn't get to see more of Melanie and Wanda together once they were in separate bodies.

I didn't feel that Wanda changed much at all when she acquired Pet's body. I was just glad that Stephenie Meyer figured out some way for Wanderer to stay with out feeling so guilty about having possession of somebody's body.

I liked the ending... I didn't mind not reading about Mel's and Jared's reunion, I didn't mind that Mel and Wanda's reunion was so small in the story. I'm just glad that Wanda got to stay and that she got to stay with Ian and her human family! I was almost sobbing when she got on Doc's table for the extraction... I could hardly read through my tears, and I hardly ever get choked up about a book like that.

I liked the ending - the story was about Wanda, not really Melanie, though they shared her body. I was glad the story didn't end with Wanda being extracted, I was glad they found her a body that she could be happy in.

I liked the end when they found the other humans that had taken in a Soul as one of their own also.

I loved the ending! And, thank you Stephenie Meyer for Ian! A perfect example of true love overcoming diversity. Ian did not care what Wanderers host looked like, he loved her and when he helped Doc extract her from Melanie's body he told her, "I held you in my hand, Wanderer. And you were so beautiful." You have to remember that the host body had had Pet inside too long so the human was gone, thats why they felt good about putting Wanderer back in. I think the author left the ending open purposefully for a sequel with Wanderer inside her new body and the love story between her and Ian and her human family. I could barely read through my tears!

Her personality might have changed a little, but she is still the "soul" she is. And that's the part that Ian loves about her.
I was really happy with the ending. It was left open for possible sequels, but at the same time it felt like and ending.

I was dissapointed with the ending. Half of the book circulated around Melanie and Jareds love for eachother, which is what I really got into. And then Stephanie didn't fill us in on the reunion.. which is what I had been looking forward to. Plus, I found the book inconsistent, first Jared hates wanderer, hits her, treats her horribly because she has posessed the body of melanie whom he loves, but then, in the end he makes out with her and begs her to stay. Even after Melanie and Wanda have their own bodies Jared is still looking at Wanda "searchingly" which makes me wonder if he ever really loved Melanie to begin with.

Wanda asked Jared as a final wish to beg her to stay. Although I think he went a little over the top, he did want Melanie back and loved her more than anything. That is why he couldn't really hate Wanda, because she brought Melanie's body back, and eventually Melanie!

I never thought about a Melanie and Jared reunion, but I was too focused on Ian. When he carried Wanda back from when she was attacked by Kyle, I knew I was far more interested in him than in Jared.

My problem with the book was that Stephenie takes half the book before she introduces the real love story. There was too much violence at the beginning, and I just wanted a sweet love story like Edward and Bella. The ending was well worth it though.

Wanda did ask Jared to lie to her, and tell her that he wanted her to stay. I don't think he went over the top--I think he was trying to give her what she needed, and to let her know that he cared about her. He might not love her like he loved Mel, but it was a way for him to express what she meant to him. She kept Mel for him, and was going to give her back, and that must have meant a lot to him. And maybe some of it was an apology for his earlier behavior.

I think I read the end so fast (because I had to see if Wanda really did die), that I was a little disapointed when it was over. I think I expected a big dramatic ending like in the Twilight series, and it wasn't quite like that. But I did enjoy the end, and was very glad that Ian and Wanda could be together without interfering with Mel and Jared's relationship. And at the time, I didn't even think of going back to Mel and Jared. By the end, I was a little more. . .interested in what happened to Wanderer than what happened to Mel. At the beginning I was more focused on Mel and her family to see what was going to happen to them. But by the end, I was a little more focused on Wanda and what happened with her. So it didn't bother me that we didn't see more of Mel after they were in seperate bodies.

I agree with whoever said up there that it ended with a possibility of a sequal, but also leaves it with some closure. I really enjoyed this book.

A reunion would have made it better, and holy cow, your guys comments are huge!

I actually didn't mind that we saw less of Melanie after the extraction. That really brought home the point that Melanie and Wanda were two separate beings. Throughout the whole book, Melanie was ALWAYS there. By not focusing on Melanie at the end, Stephenie Meyer was trying to get us to get a feel for Wanda as an individual without Melanie. I though that was an apt choice.

I loved the ending....in fact, not giving Mel and Jared's reunion big air-time underscored (or perhaps brought to light) this wasn't Mel's story...it was Wanderer's....who is actually no longer wandering :)

I've never thought about a reunion between Mel and Jared. Hmmm, it just never accured to me. I'm sure it was awesome though.
I do wish that Wanda and Mel had a little more time together in the last few chapters, since they were supposed to be like sisters. But at the same time all four of the "main" characters were trying to get past their awkwardness with each other. If Stephenie Meyer does a sequal I'm sure we'll get to see Wanda and Mel really interact.
I prefer Ian to Jared so I didn't really care about his relationship with Mel, so I didn't need too many details. At the end of the book I just wanted to know what happened with Ian and Wanda.
I think the only part that really bothered me, is the ending. The last two lines I mean. They just. . . aren't grand enough. It does fit the story, two souls saying how strange the world is and how they've gone native. But at the same time, it was just too mellow for me.
I love this book though! I just reread it and cried again when Wanda was being taken out of Mel!

I wanted to see the Wanda and Mel together more after they separated but didn't necessarily feel it was lacking. And I hadn't thought about Mel and Jared but now would have liked to see it. Maybe Meyer will put it up on her website as an extra or outtake?

The whole story being about Melanie and Jared's reunion and nothing! I would've loved to have seen it.

According to Wikipedia there's two more books scheduled...."The Soul" and "The Seeker"

Having litereally just finished the book I enjoyed the end. It interested me that there were other Souls out there that had been accepted and I hope that is the route the sequals take. I liked the Ian and Wanda renuion much better because it really rang true for both of their personalities, giving each other as much space as possible! My biggest question is that this is her "adult" novel and for me it really didn't read any different from the Twilight series. What really constitues an Adult novel???