The Host

Lately it seems as if the only thing anyone can talk about is how wonderful The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer is, but what about her other book 'The Host'?

In my opinion it is a better book than Twilight. The plot is more interesting (aliens taking over the bodies of humans), the characters are more mature (grown up problems instead of teenage drama), and the love story is much more complicated (love triangle with only two bodies?).

No one talks about 'The Host' anymore, and I have to tell you... I've read it multiple times now. I wish Stephenie would do more in the science-fiction genre (and I don't even particularly like sci-fi).

If you haven't read it, or you have read it but need some refreshing, the plot roughly goes like this:

The earth has been taken over by body-snatchers. The only surviving 'humans' are in hiding only going out when their supplies run low enough for them to chance be caught. Jared and Melanie are part of these last hold-outs.

Melanie gets taken and her body is given to Wanderer, a pretty nice alien whose view we read the story from.

But Melanie just won't go away. She fights to hold on to her brain and the secrets she knows about where the rest of humanity is hidden. She smothers Wanderer with her love for Jared until Wanderer can't handle it anymore and goes in search for him.

And so the story begins... Wanderer, Melanie and Jared fighting each other in the midst of hostile humans and conquering aliens.

The song I chose for the this conflict could be used for either Melanie or Wanderer since both are smitten with Jared. I'm quite fond of Jared and Melanie's love so I like to think of it as their song.

Mariah Carey's 'Thank God I Found You'

"I would give up everything
Before I'd separate myself from you
After so much suffering
I've finally found a man that's true
I was all by myself for the longest time
So cold inside
And the hurt from the heart it would not subside
I felt like dying
Until you saved my life

Thank God I found you
I was lost without you
My every wish and every dream
Somehow became reality
When you brought the sunlight
Completed my whole life
I'm overwhelmed with gratitude
Cause baby I'm so thankful
I found you"

Melanie:

'He seems to realize how brittle I am, how close to breaking.

"Will you wait for me here, then?" he asks in a gentle voice. "I'll be very quick. Let me get us some more food."

"Us?"

"Do you really think I'm going to let you disappear? I'll follow you even if you tell me not to."

I don't want to disappear from him.

"I..." How can I not trust another human completely? We're family--both part of the brotherhood of extinction. . . '

Jared:

"Mel?" he asked again, the hope he didn't want to feel coloring his tone.

My breath caught in another sob, an aftershock.

"You know that was for you, Mel. You know that. Not for h-- it. You know I wasn't kissing it."

. . .

"If you're in there, Mel..." He paused.

Melanie hated the 'if.' A sob burst up through my lungs, and I gasped for air.

"I love you," Jared said. "Even if you're not there, if you can't hear me. I love you."

Wanderer:

"I felt all the eyes in the dark room on my face as Jared now held hand out, palm up, toward me.

. . .

I stared at him wide-eyed, stunned that he was speaking for me, that he was speaking to me, that he was using my name. Melanie was in shock, too, torn in half. She was overjoyed at the kindness in his face as he looked at us, the softness in his eyes that had been absent so long. But it was my name he'd said...

It was a few seconds before I could find my voice."

Books: The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Music: Thank God I Found You by Mariah Carey