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Friday, May 9, 2008

The Host

The Host
Stephenie Meyer
3 1/2 Stars


I am a little disappointed with this book. I am not sure what I expected but this book was not it. I am not going to spoil everything, but I cannot guarantee that this is spoiler free.


One - it took me a long time to get into the story and plot. About 300 pages to be exact. I don't like turning a book down and not finishing it so I just kept telling myself to give it another 100 pages. The plot really picks up for the second half but I really struggled during the first part.


Two - Characters and development. I had a hard time falling in love with Jared. I know Melanie was in love with Jared before the book began, but Wanderer wasn't and before I knew it and before many memories, she was in love with him. I felt no connect to Jared and then wham, she was in love with him. Seemed a little fast for me. Then we met Jared - and he was so mean to her. I really had a hard time with this as well.
Three - The book really seemed similar to the Uglies series to me. I kept thinking Uglies over and over. I don't know if anyone else that has read that series and this book feels the same, but that is how it felt to me. Uglies was an interesting read, but not my favorite.
Four - I did love Ian, he was so gentle and kind and came around a lot faster at the beginning then the others. I was so sad for him near the end I wanted to cry. I was so mad at Jared and Melanie for taking over. It took only a few pages later and I was happy again for Ian.
Five - The ending, a little strange. I was predicting this from the beginning what would happen and it was just a matter of time until they all figured it out. It is the only way that everyone could have been happy. A little strange, a little unnerving, but again, the only way we all got a happy ending. (I actually thought it would be Kyle's girl, but I was happy with that ending as well.)
So there you have it- I would recommend reading it, just know that it's slow to begin with. It's not my favorite Stephenie Meyer book, but it's a good book.

4 comments:

Anne Marie said...

I finally finished reading it. I do agree that some of it moved kind of slow. I think the book would have been improved by speeding up some parts and cutting out 100 pages or so. Totally agree with you on Jared. He was never really created to be a character you could love. I still really enjoyed it, but I do not love it the way I love Twilight.

The Perry Family said...

I decided not to read this one as I was looking at it at Walmart last week. I can't get into a slow book, hence I swapped Uglies, Pretties, and Specials on Paperbackswap.com without even reading them. Just can't wait for Breaking Dawn!

Nicole *Ü* said...

I actually fell in love with it pretty quickly, although I do agree that there wasn't much development for Wanderer falling in love with Jared. I think that could have been expanded much better, but the rest of it I loved. Of all the Stephenie Meyer books, this was my favorite. So sorry to the Twilight fans, but I just haven't loved those books like everyone else seemed to. I liked them and enjoyed them and can't wait for the 4th book and the movie; I just didn't see why everyone was so obsessed with them.

Susan said...

I didn't LOVE this one either, even though I really like the Twilight series. I thought this one was much more generic. It did remind me of the Uglies series, which I liked but didn't love. I also agree with you about Jared - I didn't like him at all.

I still think The Host is a good read, just not as good as I was expecting.