The Host

Rating All Ages Genre sci-fi Author by Stephenie Meyer Publisher Little, Brown External Links Official Stephenie Meyer Website

This will sound harsh, but keep reading: Stephenie Meyer will not win an award for originality of premise. The story of body snatchers as been told before, and will probably be told again. But what she should be commended for is telling a story about body snatching aliens and making me care. This is not an action-packed tale of human resistance against an overpowering alien race that has stolen our very bodies from us. It's the story of one alien, Wanderer, and her struggles as she becomes, more and more, human.

There is something refreshing about the perspective of this story. I'm not super familiar with the body snatching genre (if there is one -- it's probably a subset of alien Science Fiction), but I feel like Ms. Meyer's take on it is fresh and interesting. We follow Wanderer from the moment she awakes in her new body. It is the body of a young woman named Melanie. Contrary to the norm, once Wanderer is inserted into Melanie's body, Melanie's consciousness does not vanish. They are two distinct creatures sharing the same flesh. This leads to complications from the get-go, as this sort of thing is uncommon and considered dangerous in the aliens' society.

Wanderer is kept under close watch by a Seeker, one of the alien police force meant to destroy the human resistance and keep the peace. And if that wasn't distracting enough, she can't get Melanie out of her head. Melanie desperately tries to hide her memories of her past, as she has loved ones she does not want Wanderer to know about. But Wanderer eventually breaks through Melanie's defenses and learns about Jared and Jamie.

Jamie is Melanie's younger brother, and Jared is her lover. Because they share the same brain, all of Melanie's memories become Wanderer's. And because they are so tightly fused, Wanderer can't help but fall in love with Jared, too.

This leads to a shaky alliance between Wanderer and Melanie, as Wanderer wants to find Jared and Jamie as desperately as Melanie does. And unfortunately for the both of them, finding Jared and Jamie only leads to more problems.

This is a book that is comfortable focusing on relationships. It is touted as possibly the first love triangle involving only two bodies, and that is a fair assessment. Over the course of some 600 pages, we are treated to the heart-wrenching story of two women -- one human, one alien -- who can't help but be in love with the same man. Wanderer begins to assert herself among the humans, begins to blend into the community, and we watch her as she overcomes what is basically racism on the part of the surviving humans. She is blamed for the crimes of her people, though she would change it all if she could. Her love for Jared and Jamie is that strong.

I really enjoyed this book. But it's not perfect. For one, though there are external conflicts throughout the story (conflicts not involving the characters and their relationships), it seems that these outside conflicts are resolved too quickly and too easily. I wanted to see more problems thrown into the plot. The book is certainly long enough that it could have withstood a bit more of that sort of storyline complication. But despite this feeling, I was drawn along with the book until the very end. And while there is a certain amount of closure to Wanderer's story, there is definitely an open door for Ms. Meyer to create a sequel.

I hope she gets around to that very soon.