Shelly's Book Blog

Since I liked Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series so much, I decided to read her new, adult novel called The Host, and I found it to be just as much a page turner as her previous three novels. The premise is a bit strange -- the heroine is an alien "soul" who takes over the body of another woman. The other woman, however, refuses to relinquish her body and the two end up sharing the body.
Of course, it would not be a proper Stephenie Meyer novel if there were not an intense, all-consuming love interest, so enter Jared, who is part of a rebel colony of humans who have not yet been taken over by the invading alien species. Wanderer, the soul, and Menalie, the human whose body she inhabits, both feel a strong desire to find Jared, and so the adventure begins.

The novel is good science fiction in that it is not just about weird aliens and space ships but also about how those aliens' habits and philosophies shed light on what it means to be human. The "souls" are a gentle species, despite their seemingly violent, parasitic nature, and we humans appear pretty violent and petty in comparison. It's not all bad, though, because humans' anger, jealousy, and resentment are balanced by equally positive emotions such as love, loyalty, and commitment.