Book Review: The Host

On a scale of 10pm to 4am, with midnight being "I gotta sleep, I'll finish this later" and anything after 4 being pretty much "I have to finish this before I go to sleep", I give this a 2am.

Stephenie Meyer knows how to write a compelling story! Say what you will about her female leads (and I will!), but she knows how to hook a reader by setting up impossible relationship dilemmas. Not too heavy on descriptions and packed with internal dialog—just the way I like it.

You can tell Ms. Meyer's sweet spot is this self-sacrificing female voice. And she loves a manly-man who can wrap his big arms all the way around a fragile woman. She also seems to enjoy a good sexually charged make-out scene amongst willing and loving partners. For my part, I don't mind the girly-girl/manly-man romance, but I would welcome a little character growth on the female's part away from being totally reliant on a fallible human (or unhuman) male, and towards being able to stand on her own. Wanderer (or Bella!) completely surrendering herself to attempt to save her man and others, though exhibiting the ability to make her own decisions, ultimately is just falling over and dying as opposed to resolving to make it with or without them. Meyer unapologetically commits to her agenda, though, so I guess I gotta respect that at least. I was glad Mel was more kick-ass, though.

Jared was my favorite character. I think his motives and views were well-described and interesting, and his actions in line with his character. He was emotional and not infallible, but calculating and decisive—a decent foil for Wanderer who wouldn't do anything to save her soul*.

I also enjoyed the pacing of the story. I was surprised that, despite it being a long book, at no point did I feel I had floated into the story doldrums. Actions and realizations compelled the plot forward and kept the wind in the story sails.

Lastly, I would have expected at least some baby drama from a group of humans living alone together in a cave for a long time. Did I miss the part where Uncle Jeb laid out the procreation rules, a la Tuvia Bielski in Defiance? Or had Jared eventually procured some condoms? At least Pet's body is mature enough to reproduce should Meyer need the offspring in the sequel to have long-lasting, cross-body love for Jared**, despite Jamie imprinting on it at birth***.

*pun intended
**Host joke
***Twilight joke