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 enlarge | Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $25.99
Buy New: $16.49
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Rating:  562 reviews
Sales Rank: 45
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 624
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.5 x 2.1
ISBN: 0316068047
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780316068048
ASIN: 0316068047
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
 Typical Stephenie Meyer Book September 4, 2008
No one can deny that Stephenie Meyer has a fantastic imagination. This book, about peaceful aliens who require bodies to host them, is a great concept. The author pulls the story off quite well in fact.
I liked how the book made me ponder between a peaceful society that could be and the violent society we live in now. The characters are real and endearing, especially Ian and Jeb. I liked the adventurous bits - Melanie wandering through the desert, the raids, the seeker.
So why did I rate it only 3 stars?
1) The emotional drama throughout most of the book. Even though the alien, known as Wanderer, is in control of Melanie's body - Melanie still has a strong presence in the mind. Melanie being madly in love with Jared - who HATES the alien that took over his love - makes life so *emotionally* difficult for the alien that it's depressing to read. That's all well and good except tht it doesn't let up. It's this way through the whole book! It's this emotional drama that made New Moon difficult to read - Bella being so devastatingly heartbroken over Edward leaving her. (This is why I say it's a typical Stephenie Meyer book - drama, drama, drama).
2) The alien talks about other hosts & worlds that she lived on. No problem - but I just found it difficult to believe; ie being a bat or a flower... or someone who eats flower people. Not your typical aliens. Give the author kudos for imagination, but believability? Not really.
As iritating as the book was at times, it was still a good read.
 Different, but not for the good September 4, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
THE HOST is a book that I hesitated to read. First of all, because while I do find S. Meyer's TWILIGHT series an amusing read, I wasn't sure if her raw talent would get her far in the Sci-fi department.
I gave in and started reading eventually.
... And I was subjected to the biggest flaw that existed in the Twilight series as well. To put it simply, and harshly, S. Meyer is a mediocre writer. We'll get back to that later.
THE HOST is an original idea, wrapped around cliches. A rebel called Melanie Stryder is found by the 'Seekers' of the alien race (called the Souls? Original.) They insert one of their hibernating souls into her, Wanderer, expecting Wanderer, or Wanda, to completely take over the body. Essentially, Melanie would be erased. But she's not and always a constant factor in Wanda's presence.
Wanda, under the influence of Melanie's strong emotions (or the emotions of any human being), goes out to find Jamie, Melanie's brother and a man named Jared.
All of this is pretty original. Wanda's battle with Melanie at first and the friendship that forms between the two of them is a nice read, as well as the initial (and continuing) distrust of the community Wanda stumbles upon.
But as said before, Meyer writes in a mediocre fashion. Her prose is dreadful, at best, she over-repeats words, and is apparently incapable of writing a decent book without hundreds of pages where absolutely nothing happens.
Shorten the book at least 250 pages, give the woman a thesaurus and a good editor and this would have been a good read. Instead, it's a 612 page read where at the end of it, I wondered what on earth the plot was.
 Interesting read...well worth your time September 4, 2008
I was surprised this book held my interest because I do not tend to enjoy SciFi type scenarios. I believe the reason I kept reading (besides the fact that the book was well written) had to be the psychological battle the main character endured throughout the novel. The idea of literally battling between two minds was really interesting to me as a psychology major.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for something new and interesting. The characters will hold your interest and the story will keep you reading late into the night if you aren't careful.
 I love Ian!! September 4, 2008
I really loved The Host. I stayed up very late a couple nights because I couldn't stop reading! The story is very interesting and held my attention all the way through. And I really enjoyed the ending, which can be rare even with quality novels.
I fell in love with Jered, Ian, Melanie, Wanda... Such great characters.
The first 2 or 3 chapters were a little confusing for me but once you get past it, the story really starts to make sense.
I can't wait to read more from Stephenie Meyer. She's awesome!
Glad I kept at it! September 3, 2008
When I started this book, I had the entire "Twilight" series under my belt, so it came as a bit of a surprise to me that "The Host" was classified Science Fiction at my library. And I have to tell you, the first 150 pages, I just wasn't grooving along all that well.
Fortunately, I mentioned this to another reader, and she encouraged me to keep at it, that it would get a lot better.
And it really, really did.
I was going to give the book four stars based on having to work so hard to get into it, but the rest of the book redeemed itself and made it so worth reading. (I felt the same way about Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series, and after two false starts, got through to the good stuff, and it's now one of my favorite series, so there you go. I just don't like giving up on things!)
The book was creative, thought-provoking, and (once I got started) very interesting. The end was terrific, although I would have liked to see it tweaked a little in the direction of what *I* had been planning for Melanie/Wanderer -- but that, too me, shows how invested in the characters I was.
A good read, one that will leave you thinking a bit.
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