The Host

By Stephenie Meyer

608 pages

Characters-

Wanderer/Wanda- Wanderer is a soul that goes to earth as her 9 th planet.

They call her wanderer because she has been to so many planets but has
not found one that she can call home. She is about a thousand years old
and looks like a silvery ribbon but she looks like her host Melanie because
she is in her body. All souls are good and honest and hate violence.
Wanderer puts herself before others all thought the book.  She is
nicknamed “Wanda” by Uncle Jeb so that she will have a more normal
name while living with the humans. At first, Wanderer feels love towards
Jared because of Melanie’s love towards him but then she later falls in love
with Ian. She also begins to love her host Melanie. In the end of the book
she is taken from Melanie’s body and implanted in the body of another
young girl so that Melanie can have her body back but Wanda can still live
with and help the humans.

Melanie Stryder “Mel”- Melanie is the host body that Wanderer lives in.
She was on the run from souls with her little brother Jamie and her
boyfriend Jared but she was eventually caught  and had a soul implanted in
her brain. Normally the human disappears from the mind entirely but
Melanie keeps fighting to stay alive and speaks to Wanderer and they
share their memories. At first Melanie hates Wanderer for taking over her
body but they soon develop a sister-like relationship. Melanie is in her 20’s.
She is pretty, tall, tan, and has long hair until Wanderer cuts it off.

Jared Howe- Jared is a really talented rebel human. He always helped Mel
and Jamie and kept them alive until Melanie was captured. The book
describes him as beautiful with tan skin, sun bleached hair, and hazel
eyes.  He is so in love with Melanie that he practically hates Wanda for
taking over her body but later forgives her because he realizes its not
Wanderers fault. Melanie shows Wanderer that he is a loving person but
once Jared and Wanderer meet, he is mean and bitter towards her.  Jared
kisses Wanderer in one part of the book because he wants to kiss Melanie.

Jamie Stryder- Jamie is Melanie’s little brother. Melanie kinda has a

mother like relationship with him because they lost their parents.  Jamie is
one of the first humans to overcome his hate towards souls because he
starts to really like Wanda and she tells him stories all the time about other
planets that she has lived on. Jared took care of Jamie when Melanie was
captured and together they found the human hide out in the desert. He gets
mad at Jared for treating Wanda badly in the beginning. Jamie cuts his leg
on a raid and almost dies when it becomes so infected.  Wanderer goes out
and finds Heal and saves his life.

The Seeker-  Pretty much everyone in the book hates the seeker. Seekers
are souls that go out looking for other humans to implant more souls in.
Seekers are the only souls that know how to lie. The seeker is mean to
Wanderer and criticizes her for not being able to get Melanie out of her
head.  She makes fun of her for it and mocks her. In the end of the book
though, you find out that this is because the seeker was also not able to get
her host body’s spirit out either.  Wanda teaches Doc how to take souls out
of humans using the seeker.  The human that comes back after the seeker
is equally annoying and spoiled. Her name is Lacey. The seeker gets put in
a cyrotank and sent to another planet.

Pages 1-200:

The first of the book was kinda cheesy and had a lot of love quotes. I
like the one from Jared where he says, “You and I won’t lose each other, I
will always find you again. No matter how well you hide. I’m unstoppable.” 
It’s cool because it really shows his devotion to always be with Melanie. He
really loves her and would do anything for her.  It’s sad that Jared and Mel
are separated because I know what it’s like being away from my girlfriend.
A lot of the things in the beginning I could relate to me and her. Like when
Melanie says, “He squeezes my hand, and my heart punches against my
ribs. It’s like pain, this pleasure.” Its crazy the way that someone else can
make you feel.  Even when Wanderer has taken over Melanie’s body,
Jared still loves her. In one part he is talking to Ian and says, “ ‘That girl in
there…’ Jared said slowly. ‘Yes?’ ‘That body doesn’t belong to her.’ ‘Your
point?’ ‘Keep your hands off of it.’ A low chuckle from Ian, ‘Jealous Howe?’”
Jared is pissed that Ian starts to love Wanda because he still thinks that
Melanie’s body is his.  Ian loves Wanda for who she is not for her body so
he thinks its okay to love her but I think its pretty dumb to kiss another guys
girl.  I also like the quote in this section when Wanderer says “Anger is so…
ugly.”

Pages 200-400:

 In this part of the book a lot of things happen. One of the saddest
parts was when Walter died. Everyone was really shaken by his death
especially Wanda. She sat by him as he died and helped to comfort him. 
One thing she said to him after he died was, “‘There was no hatred in your
heart, That you existed is proof that we were wrong. We had no right to
take your world from you, Walter.  I hope your fairytales are true.  I hope
you find your Gladdie.”  This part of the book really made Wanderer feel
guilty for the souls taking over earth. I think that the souls probably just
thought they had the right to inhabit whatever planet they felt like. I guess
it’s kinda like how humans in real life think they can build houses and roads
and stuff wherever we want. Nobody really thinks about the animals and
their homes that we take away by building our own home on top of it.  If you
think about it, everything that a person does on the planet is taking away
from something else.  Even like the birds and bugs that live in the tree’s
that are cut down to make books like The Host and to write papers like this
one.  Nobody cares about the little bugs and I guess that’s how the souls
felt about the humans. They just wanted a place to live so they took it from
the humans and the earth and all the other planets they lived on.

Pages 400-608:

“Tell me something, Doc. What’s your real name?” I wanted to answer all
the little puzzles before the end. Doc sniffed and wiped the back of his
hand under his eyes. “Eustace. It’s a family name, and my parents were
cruel people.”  I liked this quote because it’s funny.  Wanderer wasn’t sad
even though she knew she was about to die. It’s kind of crazy because she
decided to give up her life for everyone else.  She was a really good person
and that’s why every one wanted to keep her around.
          I also like this quote: “‘Um,’ Doc said in a mild voice, ‘medically
speaking, I’m not sure that was the most helpful thing for his condition.’ ‘But
I feel better,’ Jared answered sullen. Doc smiled the tiniest smile.  ‘Well,
maybe a few more minutes of unconsciousness won’t kill him.’”  I thought
this was an awesome quote because Jared wasn’t going to take crap from
Kyle even though he was being a jerk to Melanie/ Wanderer.  It was cool of
him to stick up for them.

Rating-

          Overall, I enjoyed reading The Host.  On a scale  of 1-10 I would

probably give it an 8.  I was able to focus on the story and not get lost in big
words and unimportant details.  I would recommend the book to other
people; guys and girls.  A lot of people think that Stephenie Meyer’s books
aren’t for guys to read because of the romance.  But even though it was
pretty cheesy and lovey dovey, I thought the Host was a pretty interesting
good book that anyone could read.