The Host by Stephenie Meyer - Review

MAY CONTAINS SPOILERS

I was first introduced to Stephenie Meyer in 2009 when I saw the Twilight movie and got hocked . I think the day after I viewed the movie, I went to Target and purchased the first book in The Twilight Saga and the rest was history. At that time I was 12 and I thought The Twilight Saga was the greatest creation ever, but today I would rather scratch my eyes out then to sit through a Twilight movie, let alone read the books again! They are such a bore to me now. So you could see why I was quite sceptical to start reading The Host. However earlier this year I made an impulse purchase and bought The Host and now reviewing this book, I'm so glad I did!

As much as I like to picture characters in my head, I also like it when there is a movie made off from the book so I have a clearer face to picture in head as I read the book. I find knowing what the characters look like whilst reading the book make me enjoy the movie more because the characters look exactly how I pictured them. This was the case with me whilst I read The Host because the movie had already been made by the time I was reading it and I know what the main characters looked like from trailers. Two characters I did not see in these trailers and I got the picture were Jamie and Pet (Wanda's new host). However when I watched the movie this morning and I was more than thrilled with who were cast to play these characters. Especially Wanda's new host, I thought she was so small and petite, just how she is described in the book. 

Earth has been invaded by a species called Souls, they take over the minds of human hosts whilst leaving their bodies intact. Since this species has arrived the world could not have been anymore perfect; there are no wars, no hunger, no unnecessary pain or illnesses. The Souls are a kind, caring and intelligent race. But do these good qualities justify what the Souls have done to the human race? There is only a handful of humans left on Earth and the Souls call them Rebels. The book follows Wanderer or Wanda as she is called later in the book, a Soul who was put into Melanie Stryder's body, a rebel human that was caught. However Melanie refuses to fade away, showing Wanda visions of the man Melanie loves, Jared and her brother, Jamie. Wanda slowly realises that she is falling in love with these humans and decides to set out and try to find them with Melanie's help. Along this journey things don't go exactly as they planned, but the only thing left for Wanda and Melanie to do is to keep moving forward.

This picture above, slightly leads into my favourite part of The Host and this being the Wanda and Ian relationship. When Wanda/Melanie were found by Jeb and the other boys out in the desert and taken back to the caves, I never ever pictured Wanda and Ian to have a connection. I always thought Jared would find a way to love both Melanie and Wanda, so he could be with the woman he loves. But this just didn't satisfy me. 

However it wasn't until Melanie bought it to Wanda's attention that Ian may be interested in her, that I even thought of an idea such as that. I jumped straight into the "Team Ian" bandwagon, even though there was no real love triangle to choose from, just different relationships to love. I was so hocked on Wanda/Ian that I caught myself smiling at the little things that happened between them both.

I loved how Ian could see Wanda for her she truly was and not just a soul inside a humans body and how he defended and protect her against any one, even his own brother. And I loved how Wanda finally found a placed and someone to who she belonged to. At the end of the book my heart was breaking because I thought the Wanda/Ian relationship was going to end when Wanda choose to give Melanie her body back. So I was so happy when everyone went against Wanda's decision and found a new host for her.

I would highly recommend The Host by Stephenie Meyer for anyone who is the slightest bit interested in reading this book to defiantly do so. I know this would not be every ones cup of tea, but it is defiantly a enjoyable read and one everyone should at least try once.  

Overall I give it 4 out of 5 stars. 

★ ★ ★ ★