This was a really really good book! At the beginning i was a little confused but i kept reading, determined to figure it out, and i figured it out about 5 chapters into it. So my advice to any potential readers is that you don't give up just because you get confused! ( )

The Host is an amazing book. It's science fiction, but it's focused mostly on the love story. The characters are wonderfully developed, and the concept is interesting and original. The story is suspenseful and gripping. The book itself seemed a little too long, but a sequel to this would be amazing. One of my favorite books. ( )

I can't get over how much I enjoyed this book! It seems a shame that it will probably be overlooked by many people because of it's connection with the Twilight series - which it is very different to.

Although not an avid science fiction reader, I have read my fair share (Asimov, Heinlein, Harrison, Clarke....and others) - so I was looking forward to this book, hoping it would be as well written as the Twilight series, but also hoping it would be very different.

I wasn't disappointed. It did take me a while to get into the story, and it is perhaps a bit over long - but it's an excellent story, well set up, well written, which can't fail to drag you in.

Melanie is one of the last humans on Earth, the majority of humanity has been taken over by the 'souls', aliens you use other lifeforms as 'hosts'. When she's captured and a 'soul' is given her body, the hope is that she will lead the aliens to other remaining humans - but it doesn't quite work out like that.

Melanie is strong, she refuses to give in to the invasion of her body, still yearning for the man she loves, Jared, who is still in hiding. Wanderer begins to realise that she too loves the human - and so their journey together begins.

I've seen fan made film trailers for this book on Youtube that make it seem like a horror, but to me it's a love story - both Melanie and Wanderer are fighting to find the man they love. It's a story about the resilience of human spirit, and the need for friendship and companionship.

It's a great book, even if you weren't interested in the Twilight novels, or you don't like science fiction, I'd still recommend that you try this book - it's worth the effort.

Bought on Green Metropolis.
30th September - 21st October 2009 ( )

Innuendo: this is a very romantic book but it's not inappropriate... it's hard to describe. There is some kissing. Birth control is briefly mentioned in the beginning of the book but nothing happens.

Violence: it's a disturbing story but it isn't too graphic and handles everything very well. There are surgeries and some punching.

Swearing: I think there are only about 3 mild swear words in the entire book.

Drinking, Drugs, or Smoking: They use alcohol as a painkiller for a sick patient because nothing else is available. One other man gets drunk.

Age appropriate: I really really really liked this book. I'd have to say 16 and up because of the storyline and also because it's adult fiction... younger teens really shouldn't read it. ( )

I am one of only a few people on the planet who can't stand Stephenie Meyer's TWILIGHT series. So I was a little leery of picking up THE HOST, afraid that I would dislike it as much as I did the first book in her other series. Thankfully, I gave it a chance, and now I'm very glad I did.

THE HOST is science fiction, but it's so much more than that. And it's also a love story, but, again, it goes far beyond the normal romance of many books out there today. I don't want to give away the entire story (to read what it's about, just check out the blurb), but I will say that THE HOST covers just about everything, from the invasion of Earth by a different species of being, to the ethics of mind control and morality of killing, to how far one person will go to be with the one they love.

My only complaint about the book, and the one that kept it from being a 5 Star read, is that the story drags on FOREVER. THE HOST could have been told, just as wonderfully, in about 150 less pages.

Overall, though, this was definitely worth my time, and I'll be happy now to at least give a chance to anything else the author publishes. ( )