The Host is set on Earth sometime in the future when it has been taken over by souls who are implanted into the bodies of humans. However there are a few remaining humans who are rebelling against the invasion and live in fear of the souls.

Wanderer, a ‘soul’ who is implanted into the body of 21-year-old Melanie Stryder, narrates the story. Melanie’s body became available after she committed suicide to evade capture by the souls. Wanderer, so named for her time spent roaming other inhabited planets, is given the special assignment of using Melanie’s memory to track down the last of the humans who have yet to be implanted. It is believed that her experience on other planets will assist her in this difficult task.

Wanderer’s mission becomes more difficult as her host, Melanie, rallies against the use of her body. While it is usual for souls to access the memory of their hosts, it is very uncommon for the host to remain in control of their mind. Melanie is able to prevent Wanderer from seeing certain memories and convinces Wanderer to search for Jared and Jamie from her former life.

After losing her way searching, Wanderer is found in the desert by Melanie’s Uncle Jeb and taken to secret human hideout. The humans are terrified of Wanderer, despite her body looking familiar to them. They believe Wanderer will make contact with other souls and turn the humans over for implantation.

The focus of the book is lies with Melanie’s love for Jared being felt by Wanderer. This relationship becomes tangled when Wanderer begins to have her own feelings for Jared. The love triangle becomes a quadrangle when one of the humans shows an interest for Wanderer.

The Host separates mind from heart, and body from soul to create complex relationships between characters. The complexity evokes an emotional response and left me thinking of the characters long after I had put the book down.

My only criticism of this book is its length. At 617 pages it requires some patience before the story heats up. But perseverance is duly reward by exceptional characters and a well-structured plot. Although this book has been marketed for adults, it wouldn’t be such a stretch for a young adult audience, given Melanie is 21 and the sexual relationships throughout the book are on a par with those in the Twilight series.

As in the Twilight series, The Host is essentially a love story between different species, but true science fiction fans may be disappointed because the genre references are not intrinsic or even significantly important to the plot. There is less ‘world-building’ as seen in the fantasy genre, but there is clearly a battle between good and evil, even if at times it is difficult to determine with which side your loyalties lie. The science aspect is strong in the methods used to preserve souls who are between hosts and the souls seem to have a simplistic but effective approach to medical care. The Host, with its lack of technical references, builds a bridge for fantasy readers or the uninitiated to move into science fiction.

Image courtesy of Little, Brown and Company