The Host, by Stephanie Meyers

Stephanie Meyers is an author who you may not have heard of -- at least if you're male and/or over 30. She has written an immensely popular set of vampire/romance books collectively called "The Twilight Series", which begins with the book "Twilight". That book will be out as a film this fall, and the fourth and final book in the series comes out in September with "Wedding" parties being held at bookstores around the country. Recently a news media item asked whether Ms. Meyers was the next J. K. Rowling.

Admittedly, I haven't read any of the books in that series. Having read a bit about that series in customer reviews on Amazon.com, I explored a bit further and found she had written another book, called "The Host". The description of the book sounded interesting. Science fiction rather than fantasy, I decided I wanted to read it. I got a chance to try it out when a friend of mine visited and was able to lend me a copy.

In "The Host", earth has been quietly invaded and taken over by parasitic aliens. The invasion took place an undetermined amount of time ago, however it was recently enough that people who were adults during the invasion are still alive. The invasion happened slowly, and no one even realized the earth was being invaded until it was too late to prevent it further.

Into this world comes Wanderer, an alien who has lived in eight previous hosts on eight different worlds. Wanderer is placed into an adult host named Melanie. Melanie fights against being taken over, and Wanderer can often hear her speaking in their mind. Eventually the influence of Melanie leads Wanderer to search out Melanie's brother Jamie, and Melanie's love, Jared. With Melanie's help, Wanderer finds Jared and Jamie with a small resistance group. The bulk of the book is about Wanderer/Melanie living with the resistance group.

Within the group, Wanderer find friends and enemies, some in surprising places. As the book continues, we learn more about Wanderer and her past, and about the parasites and their history -- and their reasons (or rationalizations, depending upon your point of view) as to why they choose certain species as hosts.

This is not an action/adventure book. In fact, more than anything, it's a story of a growing friendship between two very unlikely people, and it's a love story. It's a moderately long book, and there was a time near the middle when things had slowed down enough that I was getting a bit bored, but within a chapter or two things picked up again and I finished the book just a day later after a bit of (unfortunate) late night reading.

As with some other books I've picked up and read recently, this really isn't the type of book I normally read. The science fiction aspect is, in a way, rather small, as it's the personal interactions the are important in the book. While it is a love story, sometimes it's hard to figure out who it's a love story about. maybe I was wrong above. Perhaps, more than anything else, it's the story of a person in a place completely foreign to her, trying to understand whether or not she belongs.

What stood out most for me is just how good a person Wanderer is. She may be an alien and an invader, but she is almost everything we value in a human. One character is angered by just how self-sacrificing Wanderer is. When, at the end of the book, she is willing to die and sacrifice herself for a friend, we, as readers, must look and ask ourselves just what the right answer is -- and whether there is a right answer.