The Host

I started reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer a couple weeks ago. I actually purchased it on my Kindle when all of Stephenie's books were being sold for $2.99 and under one day. I read the Twilight series back in college and loved them but was always wary about The Host because I thought it would be so different then Twilight and I wouldn't be able to get into the novel, but I decided to give it a try.

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WARNING: Spoilers Ahead!

When I started reading I was instantly weirded out. I thought I wouldn't make it through twenty pages, the story starts out so strange. By the time I made it through twenty pages I was interested. Who was this Wanderer person? Why was this takeover of Earth necessary? I knew that Melanie was still going to be in Wanderer's head and there would be conflict, but that was the extent that I knew about the story. 

From the beginning of Wanderer/Melanie's internal drama I was instantly on Melanie's side. I couldn't understand what was happening and why Wanderer would want to be part of such a despicable society. Even though the souls are "peaceful" I didn't like the idea of them taking on human hosts, although I did enjoy learning the tidbits of Wanderer's life in different worlds. 

I was so excited when Melanie decided to trust Wanderer and let her see the love between her and Jared and the love she has for her brother Jamie. I waited for her to find Jared and was so upset when he didn't react to her in a loving way. I became frustrated as I realized that Jared didn't know if Melanie was still inside her body.

I thought the love connections and the insane relationship triangle? square? parallelogram? I don't even know what to call it. The fact that Melanie is in love with Jared, and Jared is in love with Melanie makes sense, but then add in that Wanderer also feels love for Jared, but Ian feels love for her and Wanderer is sure how she feels about Ian. Well by that point her name is Wanda in the book, have I lost you yet?

Anyways, I was floored by Wanda's goal to save everyone but herself and so thankful that they managed to save Wanda despite her protests. I was thrilled when everyone who belonged together ended up together, I do love a happy ending. I was also thrilled at the end of the novel when Wanda managed to meet someone else like her and they discovered there were other survivors. 

I really want to go see the movie now, I am extremely interested to see what they do with the movie, if it is far different from the novel or not. I'm assuming it will be, I mean The Host is a looooooong book. There must be less information given, and not having the first person narrative will be very different after just finishing the book. I'm planning on going to see the movie within the next week so I will let you know of any differences I notice and if I think the movie is as good as the book.

If you are on the fence about reading this novel, just know that I stayed up till 4am the other night reading because I just could NOT put the book down. When I finally fell asleep it was because the words were blurring together and I made time to finish it the next day. This novel pulls you in and makes you want to be a part of the world they are describing. I felt like I was right there in the underground volcano caves, following Jeb around and talking to Ian!

Geez, book nerd alert!

Any great books you've read lately???