Stephenie Meyer has yet again painlessly brought a fantastical world to life. This time it wasn't vampires or any mythical creation of her own, it was something that each of us contain within ourselves, the soul. A mysterious journey through the distinct worlds of human and soul societies, Meyer has created another different ambience in which she envelopes the reader.
Although she has already tried the one-girl-two-guys plot in her soon to be quadrology, The Host does not lose its audience due to repitition. Maybe it was the success of the theme that allowed her to repeat so comfortably.
The Host has its two main characters trapped within the same mind, the host Melanie and the initially unwanted predator Wanda. It was unusual for any host to survive for as long as Melanie did, but the humans invaded later had stronger wills to survive. In a quest to hide their secrets from one another, both create walls within their shared mind, trying to block the other out. But a common enemy, the seeker, brings them together. The coalition soon transforms into an unusual friendship, headed by the mission of finding Melanie's loved ones. Despite their differences in ideology and lifestyles, they reach stalemate when it comes to dealing with Melanie's painful memories of Jared and her younger brother Jamie.
The journey of escaping the grasps of the seeker, finding Melanie's family and fitting into the space no one would provide her with, Wanda felt like an outsider in a world in which her kind was the majority. The acceptanceof strong emotions as part of her being was a big step for Wanda, but being accepted as an identity on her own was bigger. But not everyone who matters to Melanie is able to willingly accept the pest.
The clash of Melanie and Wanda's personalities as well as their compromises make the book an interesting read. The book is full of emotion from the first page despite souls being immune to the very concept on their own. It emphasizes the strength of the human and what is unique about them. Yet at the same time it magnificently highlights their hostile nature and consent to violence as their ultimate weakness, which leads them to their downfall.
It is almost a philosophical image of what the human world is truly about; the concepts of love, hate, anger and revenge all part of the circle of life. But the most important aspect, being balance. With her twilight series turning into a string of movies, Meyer's fame is sky-rocketing. The Host adds to her credibility as an author able to put life into unwarranted and uncharted worlds. An effort that should grasp its audience just the way her previous books have done

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