Sometimes I yearn for the good old days. By “good old days” I mean the times of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. The good old days where men were men, evil stepmothers dreamed up dreadful ends for their stepdaughters, and monsters were monsters and did monster things. Things have become so complicated! Now that we’re in the 21st Century, we have monsters who don’t really know that they’re monsters, (which I’ll admit isn’t exactly new), and this book chronicles the fall of one particular monster who is “programmed” by a secret cult to think she is evil and doesn’t deserve to live. Shocking, I know.
Here’s the setup: The Earth has been taken over by a race of parasitic aliens who take over the minds of their hosts. Despite being parasites, the aliens, who call themselves “Souls,” are altruistic, compliant, and compassionate. The Souls resemble centipedes and medically insert themselves into the back of the necks of their hosts. When a Soul takes over a body, it absorbs the memories of the host, and very often continues the life of the host. Because the Souls are altruistic and well-behaved, they have created a utopia on earth. Everyone helps one another, there is no more war, and there is no longer any need for money. There are still some humans left hiding out and the Souls have members called “Seekers” who hunt them down.
Enter one female from each species: Melanie and Wanderer. Melanie is one of the last humans who has not been absorbed by the aliens. Wanderer is a special Soul who earned her name by living on almost all the other worlds that the Souls have taken over. My OCD is making me list the ones I remember: She has been a giant thousand-eyed undersea flower, a bat-like flying creature, something resembling an ice bear, and, and, I think a spider? And other things. Melanie is a freshly-caught rogue human and she becomes host to Wanderer. Something goes wrong, however. Wanderer can’t fully shut Melanie out of her mind. Wanderer soon finds herself falling in love with the man Melanie was in love with, and is compelled to seek him out.
Here’s where the cult comes in. Under the influence of Melanie, Wanderer goes looking for Melanie’s boyfriend and brother. While searching for them, Wanda is abducted by a secret cult. The good news is that she finds Melanie’s boyfriend and brother. The bad news is that they’ve been absorbed and brainwashed by the cult as well, and take an active part in Wanderer’s programming. The cult lives in a large series of underground caverns, which is where the majority of the book plays out.
Meyer definitely did her research on brainwashing. Wanderer is subjected to the typical mind control techniques that cults use to program inductees. She is purposefully malnourished, deprived of sleep, and ritually abused (both physically and emotionally). Wanderer is held captive by the cult, and is forced to live like an animal for many of the early chapters as part of her programming. The leader of cult, Jeb, comes off as a kindly old man but is in reality the brainwashing master.
Once the spirit of Wanderer (who has now been renamed “Wanda” by the cult) has been totally broken, she is given nicer quarters and introduced to manual labor. Wanderer unfortunately sees manual labor as a way to gain the love of the cult members, many of whom still pretend to dislike her. The cult members begin to “love bomb” Wanderer, prey on Wanderer’s fears by telling her that the Seekers are out to get her, and also play “good cop, bad cop” with her in rather clever ways to keep her emotionally unbalanced.
Since Wanderer’s host, Melanie, is still present, we spend the book hoping that one of the two will catch on. Instead we watch in growing horror as Wanderer and Melanie continue to make bad decisions, like accepting physical abuse from people who claim to love her. I don’t want to spoil the whole book, but let’s just say that I was tied up in suspense, wondering if Wanderer would come to her senses, or if she would end up ready to drink the Kool-Aid.
Meyers is the perfect blockbuster writer. She knows how to pace a story, how to create cliff-hangers, and how to keep a reader turning the pages. To me, the first three quarters of The Host were really fascinating. I say three quarters because at some point the melodrama got a little too thick for my tastes. I haven’t read any of the Twilight Saga books, but when I started reading The Host, I could see why they are so popular.
Creepy Factor: 2 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 5 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 1 out of 5
Funny and/or Strange Factor: 2 out of 5
Final result: Stephanie Meyer tackles the very first “monster gets brainwashed by human cultists” book that I’m aware of. The Host is quite the page-turner. I ended up wishing that more of the action happened outside the caves, but also see that it wouldn’t work so well for what she was trying to do with the book. I’m also kind of scratching my head over the language on the book cover, which states that it’s about a love triangle.
The Host by Stephanie Meyer – Back Bay Books – 2008
Buy The Host now at Amazon
Thanks for reading another one of my book reviews, and thanks to the Hachette Book Group for the review copy. See you next time!
RSS Feed
