I have this book in my eBook-shelf since
for-e-v-e-r. I really don't know what took me so long to pick this book and
read it. I knew that the movie adaptation will be coming soon but I normally
shrugged this off and pass.
Then the first week of February came and I
was in a book-sale killing time which I normally call it my ME time during
weekends. I was randomly picking books when a copy of "The
Host", came tumbling down and landed on my hand. At first I was skeptical
if I should buy it or not since I already got the eBook version of it on my
iBook. But still the idea of having the actual book in my hand was too hard to
resist. You know, despite of this electronic revolution that
we have in this new age, still, nothing can beat reading with a tangible book
in your hand. The smell of the paper, the nostalgia, the feeling of flipping
the pages, it's just different.
So I ended up purchasing the book in a
lower price and went home.
I started reading it. At first, I
found it hard to think that this book is actually written by Stephanie Meyer,
the author who started the Twilight Mania. Well, I don't really hate that
series, I admit that I literally devoured those four books and even watch the
movie. But as many readers said - we should not be judging the book by its
movie in which I definitely agree. The movie adaptation can be awful,
especially when the actor portraying the lead role murder the character that
you grow to love but that doesn't mean that the book is equally distasteful.
Now, I don’t normally read post
apocalyptic or post-invasion whatever type of genre. The first dystopian world
I encountered is that of the Hunger Games and Oh yeah! How can I forget that
wonderful book called Warm Bodies? I love that book!
Though there are others that I braved
myself reading but I am not going to talk about it right now.
Okay back to The Host. I am intrigue with
the premise of the story. A worm like alien with a size of a thumb
called the Soul, inserted in a human body (The Host) for it to have access of
that body and gain total control. That’s how this little alien succeeded its
invasion and won the planet Earth. Humans are in the brink of extinction
because The Souls are targeting them to make a Host of their bodies. But just
like the old stories of Alien Invasion, Humans will not easily give up without
a fight. They will always fight back. Technically, that’s the entire story goes…
But what makes this book tick for me is
how the characters are woven together. A lot of reviews online claimed that
they are undeveloped, they maybe are but as I always said, I am not a critical
reader and as long as the novel entertains then that book served its purpose.
I like those main characters of the alien
Wanda and the host Melanie. Though the two of them are trapped in Mel’s body,
still, you can easily see the difference between the two. Then there is Jared
and Ian and Mel’s uncle Jeb and many more – humans that are part of the
resisting colony. Now, Wanda is a Soul, an alien, but the longer she stays with
the human the more she become attached to them and even fall in love to one of
them. She also realized that she is becoming more of them than being the Soul
that she is. She understood the human ways of existing. Wanda’s struggle is
very enthralling for me. Her inherent goodness and self sacrificing won her a
spot in the human colony. She is genuine and I think her principle is more
human than alien. When I finished reading the book, I am still longing to know
more about the characters. I am happy to learn that Stephanie Meyer decided to
continue writing this book in a series. I will definitely wait for the next
installment.
Yeah, I've seen the movie too... I dragged
my partner to the movie house just to watch it. Well, apparently I ended up explaining almost every sequence
to him while watching. I have to say, I enjoyed it and the lead actor Saoirse Ronan who I think looks like a young
version of Cate Blanchett did a great job portraying Wanda/Mel, so is that hot
dude called Max Irons as
Jared (drools).
Xoxo
