The Host: A Novel

Now in the trade paperback edition: New Bonus Chapter and Reading Group Guide, including Stephenie Meyer's Annotated Playlist for the book.Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOSTis a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human. (2008)Amazon Best of the Month, May 2008: Stephenie Meyer, creator of the phenomenal teen-vamp Twilight series, takes paranormal romance into alien territory in her first adult novel. Those wary of sci-fi or teen angst will be pleasantly surprised by this mature and imaginative thriller, propelled by equal parts action and emotion. A species of altruistic parasites has peacefully assumed control of the minds and bodies of most humans, but feisty Melanie Stryder won't surrender her mind to the alien soul called Wanderer. Overwhelmed by Melanie's memories of fellow resistor Jared, Wanderer yields to her body's longing and sets off into the desert to find him. Likely the first love triangle involving just two bodies, it's unabashedly romantic, and the characters (human and alien) genuinely endearing. Readers intrigued by this familiar-yet-alien world will gleefully note that the story's end leaves the door open for a sequel--or another series. --Mari Malcolm

Reviews

Yes, just like most of the other reviews on this book, I have to agree that it dragged and dragged and DRAGGED! Thinking back on everything I read, honestly it just felt like a story about a year in the life of a cave dweller. Nothing interesting, nothing exciting. Any conflict that came up just seemed to be resolved with too much ease, which made the book even MORE boring to me. When something interesting would happen, I found myself thinking..."Oh I hope they get caught" or "I hope something serious happens to them" because THAT at least would have grabbed my interest to want to continue reading. But it never failed...every time conflict arose, they would magically escape it and everything was always fine...ALWAYS. BORRRINNNNGGGG!!!

Being a huge Twilight fan, I continued to read the book anyway...hoping that something great would happen, but unfortunately, nothing great ever did. The ending actually angered me...

*SPOILER ALERT*

....when Wanda had her "Epiphany" about how to solve everyones problems, I thought "YES!! THIS IS IT!! THIS IS WHERE THE GREATNESS IS FINALLY GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE STORY!!" Heh....again, another dissapointment. Not only did her "Epiphany" take 3 chapters to finally reveal (or maybe it was more, can't remember exactly. I mean, the book IS 5 billion pages long!!!), it also turned out to be just plain weak and...well...boring. All I could say was "That's it?? Thats her big resolution? What's so exciting about that?"

So...2 stars. 1 because it takes a lot to write a book, (even if its not a very good one) and another 1 because SOME parts were actually OK. Just not enough for me to recommend it to anyone else. This one's going on EBAY. I just hope someone is dumb enough to buy it!

I am getting sick of seeing this little "price set by publisher". They need to get real and stop being greedy. Kindle ought to be able to stick to their own pricing and authors and publishers need to get a life if they think people would spend more money on ebooks when we could buy the same book in print for half that cost...and actually justify the printing expense.
Not addicting in the way that the Twilight series became for me (I resisted reading them until about a month ago, when I read all 2000 pages of the series in a week,) but a really good read.
I am only on the 6th chapter and it is amzing. thats coming from a 10 year old who can read 298 words in a minute. I personally think it should not be an adult book. Sure you have to read some scenes over again to get ot but still. I love Melanie and how brave she is to not let go of whats hers and taking care of her little brother how sweet. Wanda is brave too but she needs to realize that humans can resolve their prombams just fine thank you. Another master piece from Stephanie Meyer
Good book. I enjoyed this book but it is not quite as good as the twilight saga.