Review: The Host by Stephenie Meyer May 19, 2008

The Host marks Stephenie Meyer’s first attempt at writing fiction for adults. Meyer is best known for her highly successful (and highly addicting, I might add) Twilight Series which is geared towards a young adult audience. Within The Host, Meyer abandons her vampires and werewolves to embark upon the world of aliens. The story opens with Wanderer, a soul (the name of the alien species), as she is being implanted into the body of Melanie, a rebel human. The world as we know it no longer exists and humans have become an endangered species after losing the war with the souls for dominance over the Earth. The few humans that remain must hide; those who are found will be used as host bodies for the souls or something much worse. The humans who have been implanted often fade away, but Wanderer is shocked to find out that Melanie has not faded away and has no intention of doing so.

In fact, Melanie resists giving her body over to Wanderer. The two minds must learn to co-exist within the same human shell. Melanie’s memories begin to drive the actions and decisions of Wanderer. Melanie’s love for her brother, Jamie, and her boyfriend, Jared, will begin to haunt the thoughts of Wanderer until she too will fall in love with them both.  In the end, it will be the desires of Melanie that lead Wanderer to find love, adventure, danger, and a family. This novel is a story of difficult choices and sacrifices that will surely touch your heart. 

Meyer does an excellent job of bringing both of these personalities to life. As a reader, I was often torn between which character I supported most! However, I will admit that I really didn’t get into the book until about half way through. The beginning drags a bit, but if one has enough patience to stick it out, I promise the plot does pick up. As a fan of the Twilight series, I think my reaction was influenced by my response to those particular texts.  I fell in love with the plot and characters of Twilight almost from the very beginning. There was never a dull moment for me while reading and I expected the same from The Host. However, The Host took a bit longer to pull me into the plot.

Rating: 8/10

Favorite Characters: Wanderer, Ian O’Shea, Jamie, Jeb

To learn more about The Host, visit Stephenie Meyer’s website:

http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/thehost.html

There is also a site through Meyer’s publishing company dedicated to The Host:

http://www.thehostnovel.com/

Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (Contains Spoilers) May 18, 2008

City of Bones follows the experiences of teenager, Clary Fray, as she learns of a secret world that contains faeries, vampires, werewolves, and demons. Lurking amongst this group of supernatural beings are a rare race of people who stem from a union between humans and angels – the Shadowhunters. Shadowhunters are placed upon the Earth to track and kill demons as well as other downworlders who get out of line. Witnessing the killing of a demon lures Clary into the world of Jace, Isabelle, and Alec – a group of teen Shadowhunters.  Clary quickly learns that she must rely on this strange group of people for her basic survival. Throughout the novel, she also learns that life is not always what it appears.

In my opinion, Clare has done an excellent job of weaving a very poignant tale. However, I couldn’t help but dredge up images of Star Wars as I read. For example, Clary and Jace, the two main characters have this attraction to one another that is so intense only to find out later in the book that they are brother and sister. They have both lived their whole lives not knowing that the other existed. They probably would have liked to have knowledge of this fact before they made out! My brain immediately began shouting Luke and Leah! Jace and Clary are also constantly trying to protect the other from their father who low and behold turns out to be the villian. However, neither of them know he’s their father until the end of the book. I am curious to know if anyone else had this sort of reaction while reading the book.

In spite of the Star Wars parallels, I did enjoy picturing the word that Clare created. She does an excellent job of creating vivid images that suck the reader into her version of New York City. The invisible society she creates within the modern world provided some hope that perhaps there is a bit of magic amongst us. I am interested to see where she takes the plot line in the future. The second novel in the series, City of Ashes, is currently on book store shelves. I have a copy, but have not yet begun reading it. The third novel in the series, City of Glass, is set to be released in March 2009.

Rating: 7/10

Favorite Characters: Clary, Jace, Simon

To learn more about Cassandra Clare, you can visit her website:

http://www.cassandraclare.com/bio.html

To learn more about the Mortal Instruments Series, you can visit the following website:

http://www.mortalinstruments.com/

 

My Favorite Reads… May 8, 2008

This blog will contain numerous book reviews in the future. Therefore, I thought it might be useful to list some of my favorite books here. I hope to go back and create reviews for each of the books. As I continue to read, I will continue to add more titles to this list. Titles listed in bold have completed reviews.

* Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

* New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

* Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

* Morganville Vampire Series by Rachel Caine

* Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

* The Great Gastby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

* To Kill a  Mockingbird by Harper Lee

* Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

* Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

* The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

* The Blue Bloods Series by Melissa De La Cruz

* The House of Night Series by P.C. and Kristin Cast

* Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare

* Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattilo Beals

* Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

* Dracula by Bram Stoker

* Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier