The Host (The Host, #1) in Once Upon a Twilight blog

Feb 27, 2010 Adriana B rated it it was amazing

Shelves: best-books-ever, favorites

Stephenie Meyer is an amazing author!!! I read the Twilight books in Februrary of 08 and after finishing the first three I had to wait until August for Breaking Dawn. But during that time in May The Host came out!! I was planning on reading this book later in the year but I got so excited when it came out I got it on the release date!

Anyways this book is different from the Twilight Series but still good. It has aliens instead of vampires and it was neat because I never read aliens before. In my ...more

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Apr 05, 2010 OpenBookSociety.com rated it really liked it

Probably best know for her works on The Twilight Saga, Stephenie Meyer is less well know for her other supernatural works. Today we bring you The Host, another great book by Stephenie.

Brought by OBS staff member Katlyn
http://openbooksociety.com/article/st...

Summary
An alien species created from the “Origin” has taken over the Earth and every human body on it. The aliens have come here to create a better world for humans. They are placed inside human host bodies and with those bodies comes the mem ...more

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Jun 26, 2010 Elizabeth *Swords for Fighting* rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I cannot believe I waited this long to read The Host. It was absolutely amazing. I was sucked into the story from page 1. Honestly, I could not put this book down until I was finished, and I did not want it to end. I had a couple sleepless nights because I was reading until I could not keep my eyes open any longer.

If you have not noticed, I am a huge Twilight fan. While reading The Host, I realized how much I missed Stephenie Meyer's way of writing. She may not be the best writer in the world, b ...more

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Aug 10, 2010 Jesi rated it it was amazing

They say the first step in confronting addiction is to admit you have a problem. So, I am going to be completely honest with myself and anyone else who might be reading this blog. Not only am I a reading addict, but Stephanie Meyer is like my own personal gateway drug. Seriously. I used to be a lit snob in the worst way. Last summer when I was laid off, someone suggested I read the Twilight books. Other than a brief stint with Ann Rice as a teenager, I had no experience reading vampires, YA or r They say the first step in confronting addiction is to admit you have a problem. So, I am going to be completely honest with myself and anyone else who might be reading this blog. Not only am I a reading addict, but Stephanie Meyer is like my own personal gateway drug. Seriously. I used to be a lit snob in the worst way. Last summer when I was laid off, someone suggested I read the Twilight books. Other than a brief stint with Ann Rice as a teenager, I had no experience reading vampires, YA or romance. Twilight changed me. I became a new person… someone I didn’t recognize. Suddenly, I couldn’t get enough of the blood sucking vamps. I started perusing the YA sections of the local book stores. I even went to started attending RWA meetings and went to the Romantic Times Convention. This I blame on Stephanie Meyer.

Now, about The Host – I first picked up a used copy about a year ago when I was getting into her vamp books, but knowing that it is a sci-fi, I wasn’t too motivated to read it. I don’t read sci-fi. Honestly. However, given my recent experience with The Passage, I gave The Host a shot. And the result? I’m falling back in love with fictional characters!!!! Ian makes me feel like Edward did. I couldn’t put the book down, and I never wanted it to end.

One of my fears with reading sci-fi is that I was afraid it would be hard for me to get into, but Meyer sucked me right in to The Host world. In summary, this is the story of Earth after a group of parasitic aliens take over the human race. These centipede like parasites are implanted into the brains of a host human and they take the body over. Most human “souls” just fade away, leaving their memories for the parasite. However, when an alien named Wanderer is implanted into a host named Melanie, something goes wrong. Melanie doesn’t fade away. Her strength of character and love for her boyfriend and little brother urges her to hold on. Now, there are two souls in one body. Wanderer has the gut wrenching decision of whether to switch bodies, thus killing Melanie, or helping Melanie find her lost human family.

This might sound confusing… and as a writer, I can’t imagine taking on the task of two separate souls in one body while showing both thought processes… but Meyer pulls it off brilliantly. She uses different fonts to keep the reader from being confused and it all flows really well. Perhaps Meyer’s biggest talent comes in her ability to handle complex and confusing emotions. Melanie’s love her Jared and Jamie bleeds over into Wanderer and causes her to feel the same things. At the same time, when Wanderer gets close with Ian, Melanie begins to feel close with him also. These feelings cause the women to be jealous of each other, while at the same time, they form a bond of love themselves. It is all really much easier to understand when you read the book. Don’t let me two minute summary scare you off from this book. I strongly recommend it.

Overall, I give The Host…

Plot – 4 bookmarks (Very original and complex.)
Character Development – 5 bookmarks (I can’t express enough how well these characters were written.)
Love Story – 4 ½ bookmarks. (Again, very complex.)

Age Appropriateness – This is not supposed to be YA, but lots of teens will want to read it because of Meyer’s other books. I don’t think there is a lot in it that would be objectionable to parents. There are some intense make-out scenes, but no real sex to speak of. There is some violence, but the context excuses some of that. Keep in mind though, this is meant for adults, so teens might not like it as much as they might hope to.

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Rachel Bilson (Melanie/Wanderer), Ian Somerhalder (Ian O’Shea), Kellan Lutz (Kyle O’Shea), Jared Leto (Jared), Mariska Hargitay (The Seeker) ...more

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Apr 10, 2010 Lisa Langdale rated it really liked it

What I loved about this book was that the story didn't build up to just one main event at the end. There were many major events, some small, some large, but it helped to balance the book. I wish more authors would do this. And wow, what a powerful and amazing story! ...more

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Mar 30, 2010 Kelli Belli rated it really liked it

This book took me forever to get into but once I got passed the first 150 pages or so I was sucked in! I really enjoyed it. Anyone who is having a hard time reading it, just stick with it. It will draw you in eventually!

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