The Host

The Host

Author
Stephenie Meyer

Plot summary
Melanie "Mel" Stryder is one of the few "wild" humans - rebels who have evaded the alien souls that have taken over the Earth. With her younger brother Jamie and the man she loves, Jared Howe, Mel is on the run from aliens, called souls, who hunt down humans in order to use their bodies as hosts. Souls are creatures that rely upon host bodies to survive. After an "insertion" into a human body, they erase the human occupant and establish a claim over the body and mind. Wanderer is a soul who has lived on eight different planets previously, with Mel being her ninth host body. Upon waking inside her new body, Wanderer is shocked by the power and vividness of human emotions, memories, and senses, and quickly learns that Melanie is not willing to give up the entirety of her mind.

The Seeker, who is in charge of Melanie's body, starts to worry about Wanderer's apparent lack of control over Melanie's mind. Wanderer is bombarded with Melanie's memories and her powerful yearning for Jared and Jamie, and soon finds herself feeling strong love for Melanie's former companions. She becomes desperate to find out whether they are still alive. On a road trip to Tucson, Melanie remembers her Uncle Jeb telling her about a secret hideaway he once made, and which Jared is aware of. Wanderer sets out to find the hideaway, with a vague sketch of the path from Melanie's memories, and is found by Jeb on the verge of death. She is taken to the hideaway, a complex of caves in which a group of rebel humans live, but is treated spitefully as they consider Wanderer a parasite in Melanie's body. Many of the humans believe she should be put to death and attempts are made on her life, most notably by Kyle O'Shea, despite the protection provided her by some of the humans, including Ian, Jeb, and Jared (who experiences powerful, conflicting emotions towards his alien-possessed lover). Over time, Wanderer, now becoming known as "Wanda", becomes a part of the group's routine by working, eating, and becoming an unofficial history teacher by telling stories after evening meals about her experiences in former hosts on other planets occupied by the souls. During this time, Ian, Jamie, and many other humans befriend Wanda. The Seeker, still not convinced that Wanderer was killed in the desert, returns in a helicopter, but is unable to find the caves. Kyle tries to kill Wanda by throwing her into a boiling hot, underground river. Due to Wanderer's vigorous defense, he is unsuccessful and is about to fall into the river himself when his intended victim saves him. A tribunal is held and it is decided that Kyle is allowed to stay, though many of Wanda's friends are upset about this decision, particularly Ian, who believes that Kyle deserves to die after his plot to kill Wanda. Meanwhile, Ian begins to fall in love with Wanda. After discovering this, she is confused with her own feelings since she has been deeply infected by Mel's love for Jared.

The humans realize that Wanda can be of use to them as a raider, because she is trusted by other souls. Following a raid in which the Seeker is caught, Wanda decides to reveal her biggest secret: how to remove a soul without killing either the human or the soul, a procedure that Doc had been attempting unsuccessfully. She promises to teach Doc under two conditions: first, they must send the souls to new planets without harming them, and second, Doc must remove Wanda's soul from Melanie's body and bury Wanda, because "she does not want to be a parasite any longer". Wanda successfully removes The Seeker and sends her to another planet, and the body the Seeker was in is revived. Wanda then teaches Doc how to take out the souls himself.

Ian is enraged at the idea of Wanda ending her life so that Jared can have Melanie back. He forcibly takes her to his cave, where she realizes that she loves him, but sneaks away from him after he falls asleep. She has Doc remove her from Melanie's body, believing that she will die thereafter, according to their agreement. However, she awakens in a new human body whose original owner was possessed as an infant and therefore has no suppressed human personality, and it is revealed that Jared and Ian forcibly prevented Doc from carrying out the agreement and that most of the humans want her to stay as one of them. The book ends with the rebels discovering another group of humans who also have a soul among them. This discovery suggests that humanity and souls together may still have hope for the future.

The worlds mentioned in the book are the Vulture World, the Dragon Planet, the Summer World, the planet of the Flowers, the Singing World (Bats), the Spiders, the Fire World, the world of the See Weeds, the Dolphins, the Mists Planet, the Bear World, the Origin, and of course, Earth.

Characters
Wanderer/Wanda
Wanderer is the invading soul that inhabits Melanie Stryder's body. She received her name due to the number of planets she has lived in, having never settled on one she truly liked. She is later nicknamed "Wanda" by Mel's Uncle Jeb and her brother, Jamie. Like all souls, she is naturally inclined to do good and is disgusted by violence. She feels incredibly guilty about the unrest her presence causes amongst Melanie's loved ones, and throughout the book she puts others before herself. She feels an initial affection for Jared, Melanie's lover, and Jamie, Mel's little brother, due to the memories she was fed by her host, and eventually develops her own relationship with both of them. She also grows to love her host, Mel, like a sister, and, when Mel appears to have disappeared from the body they both inhabit, is incredibly upset by her apparent disappearance. She eventually forces Mel to reawaken and promises to give her back the control of her body. She falls in love with Ian O'Shea and feels guilty that she was unable to reciprocate his feelings earlier. Wanderer is around a thousand years old and looks like other souls—a luminous, silvery, "living ribbon" entity—but because she inhabits Melanie Stryder, she bears all of Mel's physical characteristics. Later in the book she is implanted in the body of another girl, who is petite and delicate with golden hair, freckled skin, silver eyes, and a dimple in her chin, formerly named Pet. In that body she cannot do much for herself, in the book saying she was always given the easiest jobs but half the time having the work pulled out of her hands anyway.

Melanie "Mel" Stryder
Melanie is a 20-year-old human who managed to escape capture by the invading souls for years, living on the run. Eventually she is captured, and a soul known as Wanderer is implanted in Mel's body. Mel continues to fight after Wanderer is implanted in her body, speaking to Wanderer and feeding her memories of the people she loves in hopes that Wanderer will one day lead her back to them. Mel likes the feeling of being physically strong and berates Wanderer for neglecting to keep her that way. She has a temper and may be considered volatile compared to docile Wanderer. Melanie is passionately in love with another human, Jared Howe, and shares a strong mother-like bond with her younger brother, Jamie. She grows to care for Wanderer deeply as a sister, as well. Melanie is described as pretty, tall and athletic, having naturally tan skin, long dark brown hair, and hazel eyes.

Ian O'Shea
One of the rebel humans, his prejudice against the souls had driven him to a point in time when he had almost killed Wanda. He had a change of heart when he and Jared had discussed the Seeker. One of the first characters to also see through his hate of Souls. He believes that she is an innocent girl who does not deserve to be punished because she inhabits Melanie's body. Ian O'Shea is one among the humans to treat Wanda with anything but hostility. He eventually falls in love with Wanda and is shown to be extremely devoted to her. Ian does not get along well with Jared Howe, due partially to Wanda's affection for Jared, partially because of jealousy over Wanda and Melanie, and partially because Jared was cruel to Wanda at the beginning of the book. Ian is the only person who understands how Wanda thinks, and feels responsible for her since she is so self-sacrificing. He is very protective of Wanda. Ian is described by Wanda as being "kind enough to be a soul but strong as only a human could be", He is described as beautiful, having pale skin, black hair, and striking dark blue eyes. He is also described as being very tall, muscular, and strong.

Kyle O'Shea
Ian's very stubborn brother. During most of the book, he holds a fierce hatred for Wanda and tries to kill her. He is described as looking almost exactly like Ian, and can also sound like him when he is calm. He had a girlfriend named Jodi who was caught and implanted, and he tries to rescue her by removing the soul from her brain. Jodi does not regain consciousness, and so he replaces the very innocent soul named Sunny (Sunlight Passing through the ice) who has grown to love Kyle through Jodi's memories. Kyle is also described as being very tall and strong and muscular.

Jared Howe
Jared is Melanie Stryder's lover. Circumstances always improve for the rebel humans he runs into, due to his great skill. He is seen as loving and somewhat excitable in Melanie's memories, though the loss of her renders him very bitter. He bears a grudge against Wanda, treats her cruelly, and is unable to empathize with her for most of the book. He eventually develops a closer relationship with her in addition to his extreme devotion to Melanie. He is somewhat of a rival to Ian O'Shea, because Ian sees Jared as a competition for Wanda's affections. He is described as physically beautiful, with tan skin, sienna-colored eyes, and sun-bleached hair.

Jamie Stryder
Jamie is Melanie's younger brother and is 14 years old when he first meets Wanda. He develops a relationship with Wanda due to her closeness to his sister and eventually, he develops a strong brotherly bond with Wanda herself. He considers Wanda "angelic" and enjoys her stories about other planets. He is very close to Jared, though their relationship becomes tense due to Jared's cruel treatment of Wanda. Jamie is shown to want to be treated like a man and when he falls ill he is uncomfortable with the coddling he receives and yearns to go on raids with Jared and the other men. He is described as being the only person not to have difficulty with Wanda's transfer into a new body, possibly always seeing Mel and Wanda as two distinct beings due to his very open mind. Jamie is described as having shaggy black curls, warm chocolate brown eyes, and sun-browned skin.

Uncle Jeb
Jebediah "Jeb" is Melanie's eccentric uncle. He was one of the first humans to suspect an alien invasion, and thus constructed an elaborate hide-out in caves beneath the Arizona desert. Mel and Wanda believe that he's "crazy like a fox". He believes that Wanda can fit in with the humans, and therefore puts both her and the others in very uncomfortable social situations. However, he remains convinced that no one will hurt Wanda due to his habit of strolling around with a gun and warning others that they are in "his house, his rules". Despite his flighty demeanor, he seems to have a handle on everything in the caves and tends to give very good advice. He is described as having a wild beard and eyes the colour of faded blue jeans.

Doc
A tall, slim human rebel that has medical training and serves as the rebels' doctor. He is shown to be compassionate and emotional, though he initially makes Wanda uncomfortable as he seems to view her as more of a science experiment than a person. Eventually he and Wanda become friends and he stands up for her against others multiple times. He has alcohol problems and often gets drunk to drown his sorrow when he fails at a medical task. He has a shaky relationship with Melanie's cousin Sharon; though the issues are not specified, they appear to resolve them at the end of the book. His real name is Eustace.

The Seeker
One of the invading souls. Melanie and Wanda's relationship is initially based on their hate for the Seeker, who is described as being irritable for the usually gentle souls. She mocks Wanda for not being able to completely drive out Melanie's spirit. It is later revealed that this is because of her insecurity at not being able to fully drive out the spirit of her body's former tenant, similar to Wanda's predicament. When her invading soul is driven out, the host body remembers her name - Lacey.

Magnolia "Maggie"
Jeb's sister and Sharon's mother. She shows extreme hatred towards Wanda and never accepts her. Sharon follows her mother's lead. When Wanda is reborn in Pet's body, Maggie cannot maintain her former rigidity around Wanda, but still shows signs of dislike.

Sharon
Jeb's niece, Maggie's daughter, and Melanie's cousin. Like her mother, she shows much hatred towards Wanda. Her hate drove her to the point where she could not be happy for Jamie's healing and pounced at Jared for leading Wanda outside the caves. Her feelings toward Wanda soften the slightest amount when Wanda is reborn in Pet's body, because of the body's beauty. Sharon has a shaky relationship with Doc, after Maggie set both of them up together.

Personal reflections
‘The Host’ is a completely different genre from the Twilight series, which shot Stephenie Meyer to fame. To be honest, I think The Host is better written than the Twilight saga, but it might be my biased after listening to so many critics taking a hard turn on Bella Swan and the Cullens. But, I must admit, The Host takes on a clever spin involving Armageddon and war without being too predictable. The portrayers were well written, and the story line (quite flawless). The Host is one of my favourite books of all time.

The part when Stephenie Meyer wrote about Wanderer being pursued by the Seeker reminded me of how much these ‘aliens’ were more prisoners than inhabitants of Earth. Then, when she was accepted into the human hideout in Tucson, the way Wanderer was treated by Jared and the rest reminded me of how inhumane we humans can be sometimes. So the whole conclusion I can put here is, I can see why the aliens think it better for them to rule Earth. These souls are way tamer and more virtuous than humans will ever be. There won’t be war or controversies or strikes or anything that causes pain and misery. If you look at the situation from a different, unbiased perception, the souls’ arrival could very well save Mother Earth.

That’s how Stephenie Meyer’s writing made me ponder.

The initial animosity towards Wanda by the humans in the shelter clearly proved my point. Some would even go as far as to murder a person, or at least, someone they consider a ‘parasite’. Another thing that surprised me was Wanda’s friendship with Melanie eventually. Their friendship exceeded all boundaries and broke all rules, but they were steady friends nonetheless, and I actually quite like how they had had their own inner arguments sometimes, especially when it came to Jared and Ian.

The part of the story towards the ending was actually quite sad, like all sacrifices are. Just when Wanda was starting to feel comfortable among these humans, she realised she was just an add-on to the community, and a particularly troublemaker, especially since she left quite a disaster in her wake following her arrival. I admit, I cried at the time. Well, at least I wasn’t the only one. It was touching that Wanda wanted to sacrifice herself after showing Doc the secret to removing a soul from one’s body.

Fortunately, though, there was Jared and Ian who prevented that from happening. Also, these showed something that the souls do not have –passion and determination. Well, humans can be silly and crazy in some ways, but when they are good, they do good better than the souls do.

In the end, Stephenie Meyer wrote that there still might be hope for peace between humans and souls. I was immensely glad to hear that, and truly believed –and hoped for- it.

Rating
9/10