The Host by Stephanie Meyer Review

Rating: 3/5

To be honest I was continually a little bit conflicted with this book, there were parts which I thought were fantastic, and other parts that felt a bit off the mark to me. However, I do think this is probably the best Stephanie Meyer book I've read and it far exceeds the Twilight Saga in terms of quality and I enjoyed it a far bit.

To start off with I've got to say, even after all these years I still enjoy Stephanie's style of writing, it's very easy to read and it usually flows well; and whilst it may not critically be the best I don't have a bone to pick with it. Although, I do have a bone to pick with the structure/time sequencing of this book. I felt we just had massive time gaps in places and I was kinda left floundering and trying to make sense of it, the most obvious one of these was at the beginning of the book between chapter 3 to 4 and I don't know if I missed something, but there was no indication that months had literally passed by this point. It just left me confused and a bit frustrated. However, saying that the world building in this book is fantastic and it's done in such a clever way through teaching so it doesn't feel like there's these big information dumps and it's still interesting, and I've got a very clear idea of what is what in this world and I love it.

I really enjoyed the characters of both Wanda and Melanie. Wanda was really interesting to learn about because of her past lives, and whilst she may have been a typical weak female character in the sense she didn't condone violence, I liked how there was strength in her sticking to her morals and her stubbornness - no matter how stupid she could be. But my god her obsession with Jared drove me up the fucking wall. Melanie was great, I loved the fact she was this running commentary that often provided some sense in the narrative, despite the kinda of insta-love she had for Jared which was weird and I still hate. Overall, they were both good characters, I mean maybe they were a bit long-suffering, but I enjoyed reading about them and they didn't make me want to hurl my book at the wall so it's all good.

Talking about Jared though, what a dickhead. I don't care if he thought Melanie was dead and Wanda was this awful parasite you don't even treat animals the way he treated her. I can't stand him. I really can't understand why anyone would find this man attractive - all he does is mope and treat Wanda like shit for over half of this book. Even when he does start to sort of redeem himself it's only because he seems to have this glimmer of hope Melanie is alive and well - he doesn't treat Wanda well because he's a good guy it's because there's a chance his little insta-lover is alive. He's just a bad guy, I don't like him.

However, I did like Ian. What a precious guy. I mean, there were moments where he annoyed me, he could be slightly over bearing and protective of Wanda but he had good intentions. He was the first one to point out Jared was treating Wanda as if she wasn't even an animal, and I respect that - he cared for her before he even knew her properly and it didn't feel too insta-lovey either. As the book went on, I liked him more and more, and there were moments where I wanted to punch Wanda for not accepting his care because at some points it was only him and Jamie he treated with SOME respect. However, I think it's important to kinda say, I may have only liked Ian because he's one of the few least dickhead-y guys in this book.

As for the plot of this book, I mean it wasn't bad but it wasn't fantastic. There were sections in the middle that just lacked any action whatsoever and it kinda felt like we were waiting around for nothing at times. Yet, when there was action in the plot it was good, I really enjoyed everything that happened and it was interesting, unfortunately sometimes that didn't happen enough and that dampened my experience of the book a bit. Overall, the plot had a lot of potential and at times, Stephanie just missed the mark with it.

Also, I'm unsure on this ending, it's kinda weird, and I think that's because this could be part of a series; Stephanie Meyer hasn't been too clear on whether or not she will carry this on and that feels like a lazy writer to me. You either commit to a story that takes place over a series, or you don't - it's not that hard. The ending was quite open for that reason and it would have been fine if she hadn't said you might write more, but now she's said it I'm not satisfied. OH AND ALSO what the hell as that at the end with Wanda's new body? The great thing about Melanie and her body is she's strong and ruthless - as you would be if you were facing extinction, but suddenly Meyer has to ruin this by putting Wanda into a 'special snowflake' body - you know the type, they couldn't even lift the Order of the Phoenix because they're too weak. That just really gets to me. Especially when Ian, her love interest is in his twenties, and Wanda is now in a 17 year old body it's kinda weird - Meyer seems to have this thing for old men with teenage girls and it grosses me out.

Saying all this however, I am interested in how this would play out if there were sequels so I would definitely read on, I just don't know if I could manage not killing Jared for being such a dick. I'm not sure if I would recommend this, but I would definitely recommend it over Twilight - it is superior in most ways. Overall, I found the book enjoyable, but it's not some masterpiece that will revolutionise your bookshelf and I just wish it could have been better because it could have been really good.