The Host came up as a movie perhaps a month back, starring Jake Abel, Saroise Ronan and Max Irons. I read this book 4 times. I love Stephenie Meyer's way of stringing words into sentences and the plot's really awesome. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Summary: The story starts off with the world being taken over by Souls, silver "pesticides" that are non-violent and peace loving in nature. They inhabit and take over the mind, controlling the human body and living in it. Humans have become their hosts. Wanderer is one such silvery creature, placed into the body of a human, Melanie. Usually, the human mind should disappear. Wanderer's case is a rare exception. She can still hear Melanie in her mind. Melanie is still conscious. Together, they find Melanie's Uncle Jeb and his group of survivors hiding underground in the outskirts. Jared, Melanie's boyfriend, lives there too. The whole group is wary of Wanderer because she isn't human. Many times, she was almost killed by Kyle. Kyle lost his girlfriend, Jodi to the Souls. Eventually, Wanderer (Jeb calls her Wanda for short) falls in love with Kyle's brother Ian. When Melanie's brother, Jamie was in a critical state from an infection, Wanda inflicted harm on herself so that she could go to the hospital and steal medical supplies without raising the suspicion from other Souls working there. She gains the trust of more people and saves Jamie too. The nature of Souls is to put others above oneself. Wanda feels that she should return Melanie her body and move to live in a different planet because she is depriving Melanie of her life. Ian protests against this. Wanda is removed from Melanie and placed into another body. Then, Melanie and Jared are happy together. Wand and Ian are happy together too. Not long after, they meet another group of humans who lives with a Soul too.

Personally, I really like the relationship that develops between Melanie and Wanda. It is gradual and believable from distrust to friendship and possibly even sisterly love. Melanie grows to understand Wanda. They match each other well. Melanie is more of a hot tempered person, whereas Wanda keeps her cool most of the time. Melanie is more prone to violence while Wanda is a non-violence person. These two characters complement each other well in the story.

I think that Jared portrays more of human nature, skepticism. For him to believe that a Soul could do good and sacrifice for someone else not of its species was like believing that pigs fly. When Wanda inflicted wounds on herself to go to the hospital, it seemed like he was in complete disbelief that a Soul would do that for a human child.

Wanda has a great effect on others, influencing them with the selflessness that exudes from her. She's one of my favourite characters from the book.

There was a stark contrast between Souls and humans. While humans ruled Earth, there were wars, disputes, and many types of crimes. The Souls brought about peace and serenity to Earth, everyone lived in harmony together. It's like a whole caring and sharing community. Yet then again, when we meet Jeb's group of humans underground, it showed us that not all humans were evil and violent. There were those like Doc who was empathetic and passionate about saving lives, Jeb who chose to place his trust in a Soul who had taken over the world he lived in, Melanie who was reluctant for Wanda to leave though that meant that she could have her life back (she didn't want Wanda to sacrifice for her), etc. All these unselfish acts and portrayals of kindness and love made humans seem not as different from Souls after all. I read the book and thought, there's still good in this world besides the evil. :)

Stephenie Meyer included the theme of how having a body is a gift. Humans tend to take their bodies for granted, abusing it and inflicting harm on it. The Souls who do not have bodies, learn to treasure and care for their host bodies. People only start realising how their bodies are gifts when the invasion of Souls happens. We are blessed with bodies unlike the Souls and we should treasure what we have, not wait till it is gone. 

Besides loving the characters, the storyline's really good too. Not some typical alien invasion story but one that does have substance.

So, yes. I would definitely recommend this book!! Remember, The Host by Stephenie Meyer!!!

-Sheryl

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