The Host: A Novel

The Host: A Novel
By Stephanie Meyer
Published by Little, Brown and Company
May 2008

I began this post in November 2008, after finishing The Host for the second time. Something in it reflected whatever pain I was living through right then enough to leave me crying. I just read it a fourth time and it still moved me to tears, which may be praise enough.

Stephanie Meyer of Twilight fame came out with a novel for an older crowd and instead of vampires, we get aliens. In a twist on Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the Host looks at a post-invasion world through the eyes of a newly landed alien. When all goes according to plan, the aliens, or souls as they call themselves, happily inhabit a human's body (aka a host). However, when our protagonist (the Wanderer) is placed in her host, she finds that she isn't alone.

What happens next is a touching look at what it means to be human. Comparable perhaps to Edward E. Hale's The Man Without a Country, Meyer presents us with an introspective look at what we take for granted. A surprising shift from the teenage angst found in her earlier series, I look forward to more soulful writing like The Host.

Oh dear, no pun intended.