Blog Tour Review: The Host

 

Title:  The Host

Author:  Stephenie Meyer

Review Copy Provided by: Hachette Book Group

About the Book:  Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.

Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves-Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.  

About the Author:   Stephenie Meyer graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English literature. After the publication of her debut novel, Twilight, booksellers chose her as one of the "most promising new authors of 2005" (Publishers Weekly). She lives with her husband and three young sons in Arizona. 

My Review:  I enjoyed the Twilight series, ate it up in fact, but this one, not so much!  When this tour was offered to me, I was excited to read another novel by Stephenie Meyer.  I know that some have criticized her writing, but I have enjoyed it.  She writes a good story, but this particular one wasn't for me.

I guess I am not really a sci-fi, alien invasion kind of girl.  The storyline is good, a species that invades humans and more or less takes over the world; I love the concept.  I just couldn't follow this one.  I had a hard time keeping up with what was going on, between Seeker, Healer, Wanderer, Melanie, etc.  About the time I would catch up with what was going on, something would happen that would get me lost again.

I have to admit that I have abandoned this one.  Maybe I'll pick it up again at a later date, who knows.  I teach my students that it is okay to abandon a book, but you have to give it a fair chance.  My usual rule of thumb is at least 75 pages, but with this one, I went well over 100 and just couldn't do it.  Every night I picked it up and read 10-15 pages, but there was just no connection for me.  I even read 2 books in between trying to read this one, thinking it would help.  Many people have loved this book, so if this is one you want to read, please do so and form your own opinion.