3 posts tagged “the host”

So much for using The Host to bridge the interminable gap between now and the time Breaking Dawn, the fourth -- and final, sob! -- in the Twilight saga, is released in August.

As is so often the case, I couldn't pace myself.

I can't say that I liked The Host better than any of the Twilight books, especially Twilight, which is my clear favorite, but it is at least as good.

It's hard to aptly describe the plot without giving too much away or being too confusing, but I think my BSG correlation is pretty accurate. Battlestar Galactica with a smidge of a not-cheesy, more-hopeful Red Dawn thrown in for good measure. (If that's not a unique description, I don't know what is.)

At several points throughout the story, I found myself thinking about BSG, though, and how I immediately started sympathizing with Sharon, and especially Helo, the human in love with a "toaster," moreso than anyone else, even though the series is told from the human perspective and therefore we are supposed to hate the Cylons. Sharon remains my favorite character. (Which reminds me -- I really need to catch up on last season.)

Stephenie Meyer does a superb job with the first-person narrative. I liked Wanderer better than Melanie, and really, better than all of the humans, just as I liked Bella better than any of the characters in the Twilight series and get really, really annoyed at all the Bella bashing that seems to take place in the rabid fandom. (I know I posted last year sometime as to why I loathe, despise and abominate fandoms.)

Jared is no Edward Cullen, that's for sure, and really, he doesn't play nearly the all-consuming role Edward does. Stephenie mused that if a movie is made, she sees Jared as being very Matt Damon-esque, and that fits. Although if the movie is made -- and I can't see why it won't be, especially given the projected success that the Twilight franchise is supposed to achieve -- I don't think even Damon can play 26.

But yeah. Give The Host a chance. It's fantastically entertaining and has equal parts action, adventure, suspense, romance, reflection and angst. Stephenie does an excellent job at weaving in pertinent themes like individuals vs. community, prejudice vs. acceptance, love, sacrifice, honor, and probably half a dozen others.

I went to bed last night having read a mere 48 pages of The Host.

I woke up this morning at 9 a.m. and started reading again. (I'm sick with horrid allergies, a fever, and a lovely hacking cough.)

It is now 3:41 p.m. and I'm at page 437. Just 182 pages left.

I cannot for the life of me put this book down, even though my brain is begging me to take a nap. Or at least take some more medicine for this beyond irritating cough.

Anyone who likes Battlestar Galactica should definitely read The Host. The story is so similar, except that it's like it's being told from, for example, Sharon's point of view as a Cylon.

So awesome.

Stephenie Meyer is so my favorite author.

I knew it would begin with the end, and the end would look like death to these eyes. I had been warned.

Not these eyes. My eyes. Mine. This was me now.

Stephenie Meyer's new book, The Host, dropped Tuesday. I put myself on the waiting list at the library a few weeks ago, and I was perfectly okay with being 11th. I mean, I admit, I wasn't all that enthused to read it. After all, this was wholly separate from the Twilight series. No Edward. No Bella. No impossibly, epically, gut-twistingly angsty romance. No life-and-death situations whereupon death would be more welcome than spending eternity without the one your heart yearns for...

Wait...where was I again?

Oh, yeah. The Host. So anyway, even though I'd heard really good things about it, I still was leery. I mean, it's being described as sci-fi-ish. I'm always leery of the sci-fi genre, even though I have discovered jewels like Battlestar Galactica and Firefly amidst the weird puppet-y Farscape stuff.

And then I got to work, sat down to count drawers and compile the morning deposit, switching on Glenn Beck as I always do. Five minutes after I did this, he starts raving about Stephenie Meyer. His daughters love Twilight, and so he's become quite familiar with the series as well, and then he proceeds to read the first few paragraphs of Chapter One of The Host, including the above excerpt, and I stopped everything I was doing to listen.

And then instead of going to the bank, the other store, and back to the main store to continue about my day, I made a quick detour to Barnes and Noble to pick up my own copy.

I am hooked. So yeah. There will be no vacation recap, no pictures -- I probably won't even unpack (!!) until I'm done.

I'm only on Chapter 2 and although I already know it won't top Twilight -- I'm not sure anything ever will -- it's going to come dang close.