Stephenie Meyer - "The Host"

     Boy, does this girl know how to write a love triangle or what!?!?  I read all of the Twilight books, and have to admit that it was the kind of reading that goes something like: "One more chapter," and the next time you look up and it's 4 a.m., and you wonder how that happened and how you're going to peel yourself out of bed in a few hours, all the while debating if it's worth it to even TRY and sleep because you will be tired no matter what at this point, and if you forgo the iota of sleep you may or may not get you will probably be able to finish the book completely which would give you an excuse to go to the used book store and buy the next one, hoping you don't run into anyone you know as you fiend for the next little bit of the story...
WHAT?!?!?! It's not like it was that way for ME?!?!  It was merely a hypothetical situation.  (or was it? - you decide...) 

     I didn't feel the need to utterly devour The Host the way I did the Twilight series, but it's still worth the read.  Stephenie says this is her first novel for adults, but honestly, it's not too far off the "teen scene."  There is a little less "high school" going on, and a few more in-depth themes woven throughout the work.  It's a beautiful blend of the sci-fi and romance/adventure genres.  I'm not a huge sci-fi reader, but despite the alien invasion premise, the story is very easy to relate to.  It's set mostly in the desert of Arizona, and centers around a group of humans who have managed to not only survive the invasion, but also to escape detection.  Though it is a bit of a stretch to relate to hiding from aliens, it's not too much of a stretch to imagine yourself hiding yourself and your family from bad guys.  That seems plausible to me; I've never had to do that, thankfully, but I could imagine what it would be like.               The Host: A Novel

     Right off the bat Ms. Meyer does a stunning job of constructing a love story, as twisted and triangle-shaped as it may be.  It's not an original idea to write about "body snatching aliens," but it is a novel idea (pardon the pun) to make the body snatching alien "go native" and join humanity's side (at least as far as I know).  I like the how the love triangle is constructed and complicated by the fact that it's between three bodies, but four entities.  It will make you think!

     It was, I felt, a little redundant in some areas of the plot.  The plot definitely moves forward at a fairly paced jaunt, but it seems to linger a little in some seemingly random places.  I feel like the book could have been about a hundred pages shorter, but, hey, I didn't dream up the story.  I like all the inner monologue that takes place throughout the story.  There is a lot of it due to the fact that one of the main characters only exists inside another character's head/body.

     My recommendation is to read it for yourself.  I don't think it's in my top 10 or anything, but it's not all that bad.  It's an interesting idea for sure, and it really gives sci-fi another facet, that's usually missing (the love story...I don't want to be THAT girl, but I also don't really crave sci-fi in general.)  I feel like she's made science fiction a little more "female friendly."

     Let me know what you think!