Keith Stevenson reviewed The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Review of 'The Host' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
With The Host Stephanie Meyer intended to write a nice love story. And that is the grounds upon which the book should be judged rather than as a piece of fiction that could add something new to the ongoing Science Fiction dialogue.
In 1951, Robert Heinlein wrote The Puppet Masters which is surely the classic telling of this familiar SF trope of alien bugs that slowly infiltrate humanity, taking over their bodies one by one until it’s too late for anyone to do anything about it. This is basically the premise for The Host but it is really only a backdrop to explore what the blurb trumpets as, ‘the first love triangle involving only two bodies’. Everything is subservient to the familiar path of boy meets girl, various obstacles are put in their way but love triumphs in the end. There were some nice touches in exploring the weird situation …
With The Host Stephanie Meyer intended to write a nice love story. And that is the grounds upon which the book should be judged rather than as a piece of fiction that could add something new to the ongoing Science Fiction dialogue.
In 1951, Robert Heinlein wrote The Puppet Masters which is surely the classic telling of this familiar SF trope of alien bugs that slowly infiltrate humanity, taking over their bodies one by one until it’s too late for anyone to do anything about it. This is basically the premise for The Host but it is really only a backdrop to explore what the blurb trumpets as, ‘the first love triangle involving only two bodies’. Everything is subservient to the familiar path of boy meets girl, various obstacles are put in their way but love triumphs in the end. There were some nice touches in exploring the weird situation that Melanie Stryder finds herself in — her body taken over by the alien Wanderer, while her mind lives on, captive but refusing to fade away and give up her love for Jared — but nothing too deep. And Meyer, who has proven in her Twilight series (reviewed elsewhere in this column) that she will do anything to avoid even the hint of a sad ending for any of her characters whatsoever, stays true to form. The problem with such a stance is that it robs the climax of The Host of any real weight. No one has to pay the price for their decisions or actions.
But even prior to the end, there were a few other things that threw me out of the narrative, one being the fact that the three points of this love triangle aren’t easily identified with. After a fiery start where she struggles against the ‘soul’ invading her body, Melanie is just a bit wet, moaning over her plight and weeping incessantly for her lost love. Jared, the love interest, is violent, prone to rages, pretty much grumpy whenever he’s not actually shouting and fairly immature. And Wanderer is just too blooming self-effacing and nicey-nice to be true. In fact she is, it seems, representative of her race (with a very few exceptions) which made me wonder how in space they became such a successful invading force and bent so many planets to their will? The remaining ‘rebel humans’ are pathetically ineffectual too. Surrounded by billions of alien invaders they never think to arm up. They have only one shotgun between them and that’s pretty much the case for the whole story. And their plan should they be caught by the souls while out on a food raid: take a cyanide pill. It doesn’t really bode well for the survival of the race, does it? Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I’m more your kind of ‘go out in a blaze of gunfire taking as many of the alien scum with me as I can’ kind of guy. The other thing that bugged me is that, weighing in at over 600 pages, The Host drags things out far longer than it really should. Lots of people will buy The Host on the strength of the Twilight series’s popularity. Meyer has had a dream run publication and publicity wise so far. I’m not sure, this book will help.
