A Review of Stephanie Meyers' The Host
A Science Fiction Novel by the Best-Selling Author of Twilight
Feb 27, 2009
From love-struck vampires to body-snatching aliens, Stephanie Meyers is a master of illuminating the humanity within monsters. She takes the most fantastical stories and infuses them with a level of realism and believability that is often lacking in works deemed to be modern 'literature'.
Strong Characters With Big Problems
Unlike Bella from the Twilight series, Melanie Stryder has no doubts about her worthiness for the man she loves. She is independent, has strong opinions about what is right and has willingly taken on adult responsibilities despite her age. Like Bella, Melanie is motivated by love and would rather die than put her loved ones in danger.
Wanderer is exceptional for one of her species. She has taken many forms and lived a long and varied life. Like Melanie, she is strong and independent and yet she is searching, although she doesn't know what for. Two strong characters forced to share the same body and inhabit the same mind. This is the set up for The Host.
A World in Peril
It would seem almost hopeless to set a novel on an Earth in which the fight has already been lost. How could a small band of resistors, disorganized and spread thinly across the face of the Earth possibly expect to win against an enemy that wears human faces and continues human lives, long after the humanity has been wiped from their bodies.
And yet, Meyers manages to infuse her story with hope. There is a determination to her characters that cannot be denied, a human spirit that refuses to be downtrodden and that will continue to fight, even when the odds against them must seem insurmountable.
A Loathsome Enemy
No war is justified unless the enemy is suitably hateful. Meyers induces the requisite shudder with the insidious nature of her alien invasion, a colonization that is virtually undetectable until it is too late. She increases the repulsion factor through the character of the Seeker, a thoroughly reprehensible and single-minded character whose only goal is to wipe out any last remnants of the human species.
Shades of gray are introduced when the lack of humanity in the Seeker is cleverly juxtaposed against the awakening of human emotions within Wanderer and Melanie's growing awareness of the aliens' general abhorrence of violence and their belief that they are rescuing the human species from itself.
With this latest offering, Meyers has once again woven her magic, creating a pacy, suspenseful exploration of humanity and what it means to love. With just enough violence to keep the guys satisfied, this should also please readers who like their science fiction with a romantic twist.
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