I have to admit... I loved the Twi series. Mainly, because I'm a hopeless closet romantic and her shiny Vamp is the guy of my dreams. (yeah, yeah - he's a vampire. But he's so completely delicious...) Bella annoyed me to no end; I found her to be insufferable. The rest of the characters were very interesting. But her writing was very childlike. I give her tons of credit for dreaming up the premise of the book, but I also recognized a lot of her ideas from other sources. Not very creative. The reading was like eating junk food; yummy, but didn't contribute anything to my overall health. Still, I read the books and they are among my favorites when I'm looking to be lazy and just enjoy something. She's quite skilled at showing emotional responses, at coming up with gestures and of course - the biggie - tons of foreplay. She teased through the entire novels, until Breaking Dawn, prolonging the .... well, nevermind. I know this thread is about The Host - I'm finally there. I went to purchase The Host not too long ago, and then decided against it. What I read on the book flap completely repelled me. I'm not a big sci-fi fan to begin with, and I just couldn't get interested in the whole concept. I'm quite shocked that she went from a vampire/werewolf love story...to aliens. Huh? From the posts I've read on this thread, I still don't have an interest in reading it. I think it's just not my cup of tea...though I will be interested in whatever she puts out next.
I would recommend it. I thought of it as Meyer's attempt at an adult romance rather than one for teens. It's still relatively mild but much more mature in its own way. I also agree it had quite a slow spell in several places. I usually have a hard time with believability in books that include an alien influence but this was very well put together in that respect.
Spoiler I read The Host in one night; it was good and it was not good. I give Meyer props for a good idea--I love a messy confused romance as much as anyone. But I found Wanda totally off-putting and slightly disturbing. The hero of the story out and knocks her on her a** and it totally doesn't faze her? It doesn't make her think, "Oh, maybe Jared's not in love with me right now and I should stay away."? That's not love, that's pitiful desperation. I'm sorry, but there's nothing romantic about that. That said, I did enjoy parts of the story. I think symbiotic life is a cool concept and she had it together there. Her plot premise was much stronger than it was in Twilight. If you need an easy read for entertainment, this probably the way to go. Meyer seems to me to have a lot of potential, and her novels are getting better. (At least I think so. ) Good for her!
i love all of stephanie myers books the twilight saga are my real favourites. I love her style of writing
Perhaps this isn't a good 2nd post, so please forgive me if I'm out of line. I'll learn as I go... I haven't read this book, and probably won't. I picked up Twilight during a power outage, and read most of it by candlelight in one evening. It was a struggle, as I often found myself thinking, "Get to the point already!" I'm not a fan of Stephenie Meyer's writing style. Twilight had a great story, and interesting characters...but to me, it read like a teenage romance novel. It felt like reading my daughter's Junie B. Jones books. Maybe it's because I'm a guy and don't understand the significance of lunchroom staring contests, I don't know.
Hello all newbie here! I thought I would jump in head first since I finished reading The Host a few months ago. The story gets better as it progresses but it still was not something I would read again. Through the first several chapters I almost stopped reading it. But I gave her the benefit of the doubt and finished the book. The story line is an interesting idea but I felt in some areas that the story just dragged. I like a book that makes me not want to stop reading it because I HAVE to find out what is going to happen next. The Host did not do that for me. I really think that the Host got as much publicity as it did because of Twilight. If this would have been her first novel, then I do not think it would have done near as well.
I agree. I think it wasn't a bad effort though, considering she had a lot to live up to since twilight.
I absolutely adored it. It was so much more mature than the Twilight series, which was a contributing factor. It was such a creative idea, too. Once again, SM put a creative, fresh new twist on an old theme. 5 stars and 2 thumbs up from me!
It took me awhile to get into it, but once Melanie found the cave, I couldn't stop reading. Haha. I liked it much better than the Twi Saga, it was just different, the plot was so creative, she actually inspired me to write up a Scifi myself, called 'The Neonian' I really enjoyed it, I hope she makes a sequel. ~F*H*L
I'm really hoping she makes a sequel; I heard that she was done with the sequel to it by now. Not sure if that's true, though.
I just read that The Host is being made into a movie. I didn't enjoy the book, but I'm excited about the movie since the writer and director for it--Andrew Niccol--is the guy who wrote and directed my favorite sci-fi film, Gattaca. He also wrote the script for The Truman Show, another movie I liked.
I loved The Host, as I have told several people before. It's so much more creative than Twilight, and the characters are a pleasant change from the Twilight Saga's characters. That being said, I agree that she does get very wordy in parts. The book could be trimmed down nicely if she stopped beating around the bush. I also agree that the story was about the characters......which isn't bad, because at the end you felt like you really knew them. However, backstory, like about Melanie and Jamie, and how Jeb built his hideout would be awesome. I really liked the story though--very creative, new spin on the old idea of aliens on Earth.
The lead character wasn't bad but the book as a whole falls short. There is plenty of drama, but little in the way of action or suspense. Nothing really happens in this book. It's basically 350 pages of story stretched out into a 619 page book. Meyer must have gotten paid by word count.
Spoiler allert (sorry) Browncoat, it read like a teen romance novel, because thats what it is. I was sceptical about the Twilight Saga when it first came out, but when the movie went in the cinemas I was like 'if the movie is that good, the book is going to be so much better' so I borrowed the books of one of my friends (hi CuteKid) and I really enjoyed them - and realised that Hadwick litterally butchered the Twilight movie - so I went out and got my own copy of the books. When I got my Twilight books, there was a deal where you could get The Host half price if you brought all four books, so I did, and I read it. (heres the actuall point of the post :0) ) I really enjoyed The Host, as someone said, Meyer's getteng better with each book she writes, and The Host was the best written so far. I like the way Ian loves Wanda, and Jarad loves Melanie, but there the same person, and I like the way Meyer has put a creative twist on the very boring aliens-take-over-the-world concept. It may be a long book, but I liked it, so, all in all, I would recomend it to anyone. By the way... Cant wait for the Sequal and the movie to come out :0) Fantasy Girl xx
I actually loved that book. I liked the other ones too but I thought the Host was fantastic. I liked that it was character driven, I think it made it more compelling.
One of the reasons I liked it was becase it showed that Meyer could write other stories besides the Twilight series and still be pretty good. It showed that she wasn't a one-trick pony, unlike some other authors out there.
Personally, I just couldn't do it. I got about a third of the way in and I just failed to persevere. It could be because I kept wondering if it would ever read like the supposed adult novel it was claimed to be, or maybe because I found the whole love triangle with two bodies kind of, I don't know, strange. A lot of you seemed to think it was great. Maybe if I'd stuck to it I'd might have liked it. Maybe I'll pick it up in the near future. Who knows? For the time being, I'm just saying that I couldn't do it.
So true. I was so pleased that she tried something new and a lil different to the twilight series. I really liked it. The two characters were quire distinct despite being in the same body and I really loved the plot. I'll admit it was a bit wordy but that isn't a problem specific to her and I think its well worth reading if you can get past those pointless bits.
I heard it has a more abusive relationship than in Twilight. And "It's scifi for people who don't like scifi". I want to hurt this woman.
If you take into account the disturbingly abusive relationship in Twilight, than I have no reason to doubt that assessment.
