By Saira Toppin
In light of the Twilight saga craze, I decided to join the wave. I am not a huge sci-fi fan. I once read Dreamcatcher by Stephen King and had to stop about half-way through (I enjoyed the movie better). You have to maintain all focus when reading and/or watching sci-fi. All the small details are critical and almost 95% of the time you are dealing with non-human entities. The Host was recommended to me by a good friend. I told her I did not like sci-fi, but she ensured me that I would like this book. After taking a peek at www.stephaniemeyer.com I knew my friend was right. The first sentence on The Host page says, “Science fiction for people who don’t like science fiction.”
This story is about small, silver souls that are on their way to complete domination of the planet Earth. These creatures have taken human bodies as hosts and put a real twist on the saying “living vicariously” through someone. We follow Melanie Stryder who is taken over by Wanderer, a soul that has traveled to many planets in the solar system. Wanderer and Melanie are against each other for about half of the book and then they finally become the best of friends at a critical point in the novel.
This novel is intriguing because it indeed captures the non-sci-fi reader. It is science fiction with a dramatic twist. It is a love story about two “women” falling in love with the same man; they share similar and distinct feelings for him. The love war that Wanderer has with Ian and Jared is special. Her body loves one man, while her soul loves another, and this love is reciprocated from both men. Ian and Jared see her as two different entities and express these emotions, even through physical contact. This made the story interesting. Wanderer’s character captivated me, because she became one with human feelings. She is a unique soul because she truly understood what it meant to be human.
It took me a while to get into the first one hundred or so pages, but once I got over that, I could not keep the book down. As the plot developed, the book became a page-turner. If you are a fan of the Twilight Saga, or just looking for a cool book, pick up The Host.