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The Host: A Novel | 
| Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $25.99
Buy New: $14.95
You Save: $11.04 (42%)
New (28) Used (3) Collectible (1) from $12.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 7
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 624
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 2
ISBN: 0316068047
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780316068048
ASIN: 0316068047
Publication Date: May 6, 2008 (New: This Week)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW - EXCEPTIONAL VALUE - EXCELLENT BUY - QUICK SHIP - SECURE PACKAGING
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Amazon Best of the Month, May 2008: Stephenie Meyer, creator of the phenomenal teen-vamp Twilight series, takes paranormal romance into alien territory in her first adult novel. Those wary of sci-fi or teen angst will be pleasantly surprised by this mature and imaginative thriller, propelled by equal parts action and emotion. A species of altruistic parasites has peacefully assumed control of the minds and bodies of most humans, but feisty Melanie Stryder won't surrender her mind to the alien soul called Wanderer. Overwhelmed by Melanie's memories of fellow resistor Jared, Wanderer yields to her body's longing and sets off into the desert to find him. Likely the first love triangle involving just two bodies, it's unabashedly romantic, and the characters (human and alien) genuinely endearing. Readers intrigued by this familiar-yet-alien world will gleefully note that the story's end leaves the door open for a sequel--or another series. --Mari Malcolm
Product Description
The author of the Twilight series of # 1 bestsellers delivers her brilliant first novel for adults: a gripping story of love and betrayal in a future with the fate of humanity at stake.
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.
Featuring what may be the first love triangle involving only two bodies, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel that will bring a vast new readership to one of the most compelling writers of our time.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 30 more reviews...
 BORING!! May 12, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It took me a total of three days to read Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. I loved this series and I was very excited for this book to come out thinking it would be another great read.
Far from it! I have spent the last six days forcing myself through the pages of this book. I love reading and have not enjoyed a book less than this in a very long time.
I would not recommend this book to anyone.
 Wonderful book May 12, 2008
I've stayed away in the past from Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, but "The Host" was a very welcome adult piece of fiction. I loved it and hope everyone reading this buys it as well. Great writing and great job.
Editor of Michele Cozzens' award winning women's fiction A Line Between Friends
 Enjoyed The Host May 11, 2008
This may be the first review I have written, but I just had to respond to the comment that all the good reviews were just "written out of loyalty to Stephanie". Yes i love the Twilight series, no, I feel no need to say i like a book just to be loyal to the author. I am a 37 year old single mom (my son brought home a borrowed copy of Twilight that I devoured in 1 night, now I own all 3)I bought the Host at Walmart Friday night and I finished it this morning (would have finished it sooner, but I had cleaning to do yesterday). Personally, this will go on my "will read again" shelf.
If this review makes anyone read this great book, then I've done my job! May 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I never really like doing reviews but after finishing this book I had to let others know how wonderful it is, to spread the joy, as the saying goes. Have you ever felt that happy and satisfied feeling when you get to the last page of a book, yet leaves you thirsting for more, for it to never end? I felt that feeling after reading the Twilight Series and this book doesn't disappoint either, so much that I can't stop smiling.
I must admit that I was a bit hesitant before reading this book because 1.) Twilight was so good I wasn't sure that Stephanie Meyer could top that and I didn't want to be disappointed and 2.) After reading the synopsis I felt like this wasn't my type of book, I mean aliens taking over Earth? I'm not a sci-fi type of reader (despite Twilight and Harry Potter) and felt that this storyline was a little too far out there for me to enjoy. But I told myself to have a little more faith and asked myself what was the worse that can happen. I am wholeheartedly glad that I went through with it; once I started I couldn't put the book down, except to sleep last night.
Why did I love this book you ask? Well I couldn't help falling in love with Wanderer, Melanie, Jamie, Ian, Jared and the list goes on. I found myself immersed in Wanderer's and Melanie's journey and internal struggle. Stephanie definitely knows how to write so as you feel like you are there, like you are the characters, feeling what they are feeling, the love, the hate, the hope, the despair. Other reviews have said that this book is slow and contains too much detail so that it drags in places, but I respectfully disagree. I believe that the descriptions are beautiful and vivid and necessary to enjoy and understand the story thoroughly. I admit that it's not an action packed book, but it is an amazing story, and those who have more patience and appreciation for something deeper will most likely agree. This book is a perfect mix of suspense, drama, and romance; I forgot that I was reading a sci-fi book. I don't know what else to say because I don't want to give anything away (Personally I don't like when reviews do that: giving more of the plot away like a spoiler; I believe that the synopsis on a book is just enough info for someone to know before reading). Anyways, just read this book and I am 99% sure that you will love it just as much as I did. I hope that Stephanie Meyers continues this story because it was just that good.
 an alien gone native May 11, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Stephenie Meyer has described herself as being "anti-human" in response to critics accusing her Twilight stories of being anti-feminist, just short of misogynistic, behind a glittery group of vampires that seems to take up everyone's attention. After writing The Host, Meyer might want to change her tune.
The main premise is this: earth has been invaded, its human occupants no more than host bodies for tiny aliens. Melanie Stryder is one such human, forced into cohabitation with an alien called Wanderer. Only, that's not how it's supposed to go. Melanie was supposed to disappear, and Wanderer, struck by memories of Melanie's past and a seemingly impossible future with Melanie still inside her head, begins to change. She flees her alien society, striking out for the Arizona deserts on the memory that Melanie's humans -- in particular, a brother and a lover -- are there. She is blindly chased by one of a feared group of Seekers, the aliens' version of law enforcement, a woman with secrets and an agenda of her own.
To get the critique out of the way first, I will say that this book is overly long and quite slow. It meanders through the first three hundred pages as surely as the main character does, getting lost in several places along the way. The plot has been done before: Body Snatchers and Animorphs come to mind. There's nothing new about alien invasions, and when Meyer tries to explain the history of the "feathery ribbons" that took over the world with smiles on their hosts' faces it seems hokey and overdone, almost a waste of time. I couldn't find myself caring about their previous host worlds, and in fact Meyer makes such worlds seem like Disney World rides rather than functioning systems there for the taking.
But that's the first three hundred pages. It's a marathon of a slow start, but the story builds to a satisfactory climax. What Wanderer finds in the desert challenge her notions of what it means to be human, what it feels like to fall into love, into friendship and family. That is the strength of the story, above the science fiction and the two men she must negotiate between -- one in love with Melanie, the other with Wanderer (four people, three bodies, a problem if ever there was one) -- pushing Wanderer to finally make a choice as to her place and meaning in this world.
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