The Host
I haven't read any of this author's previous works (to be honest, um...they did not sound good). And yet, I felt compelled to pick this 600-page tome up, and guess what? It's getting a 5-star rating. It's THAT GOOD.
Seriously. If you're like me and was all, "Um, the chick that writes about the emo vampire teen love, this is not so much my bag," you will be happy with this.
Earth has had an alien invasion. Six years ago a parasitic, peaceful species (they call themselves "souls") colonized Earth by inserting themselves into the brains of human beings. Now life is peaceful and calm.... except for the rogue humans still roaming around in hiding.
Our narrator, Wanderer, has lived on a bunch of different soul-colonized worlds before being lodged in the body of 21-year-old rebel Melanie Stryker. Supposedly the original humans get wiped once a soul moves in, but in Melanie's case, she's still firmly present in Wanderer's head, along with her memories of her boyfriend Jared and her brother Jamie, who Melanie tried to protect. As it turns out, who the body loved before it was taken over has an effect on the soul...and Wanderer finds herself loving the absent J-boys as well. So Melanie talks Wanderer into going looking for them...and they find a hidden human enclave run by Melanie's survivalist Uncle Jed.
Uncle Jed may be a parasite-hater, but he seems to pick up right off that something's different about Wanderer, and helps ensure her survival among the humans. Though a slight majority of them continue to hate/distrust/fear her, others get to know her better. And some get very close to her...which leads to a 3-body, 4-person romantic something-angle between Melanie's Jared and the guy who gets to know Wanderer (later named Wanda) better.
It's definitely interesting to watch the dynamics between Melanie, who's tough as nails and a bit bloodthirsty, and Wanda, who does not condone any murder under any circumstances (which leads to choices with intriguing consequences for her), and obviously can't lie for crap. But they're both loyal as all hell to their family (or "family") and will do anything to protect them. It is also interesting to see how bodily feelings affect the hosts in general- how they will be tied to people the original owners knew, and what happens if the host has feelings for someone else. And what can one lone soul do if she thinks that the takeover was wrong? This leads Wanda to make some daring moves...
And the ending? It's beautiful. I'm rooting for the author to tell another story in that world, particularly the story of uh, someone you meet at the very end.
5 stars, baby. Totally awesome.
I am soooo looking forward to reading this!
Posted by:Marg | May 16, 2008 at 03:07 AM