The Host by Stephenie Meyer is a science fiction thriller, where an alien race of parasites takes over earth, and uses humans for host bodies. Humans tried to fight back against the parasites in the beginning but eventually lost, leaving only a handful of humans left, struggling to maintain their true human nature and keep their spiritual existence as well.
The story picks up after the majority of the world has been infected, and controlled by these parasites, and follows two companion characters. Melanie Stryder, a human, and Wanderer, a soul who has recently been inserted inside Melanie who is now her “host”. Her host, Melanie, was a part of the human resistance, but upon being hunted down by aliens, she jumped down an elevator shaft, committing suicide.
Melanie’s body is taken and healed by the aliens, who then insert Wanderer inside her. Melanie, still struggling to retain her own souls dominance over her body fights against Wanderer to control the body. Wanderer is eventually able to control the body, but still is not fully able to suppress Melanie’s strong will and memories.
Wanderer is supposed to notify her superiors of any resistance from within the host, but Melanie suppresses her enough to hold her from telling the aliens. Wanderer begins to invade Melanie’s memories and discovers the memory of her little brother Jamie and the love of her life, Jared.
Wanderer and Melanie develop a friendship of sorts because they have to coincide in one body together, and Wanderer begins to sympathise with Melanie over what her people have done to their world. Wanderer also begins to develop similar feelings of love for the memories of Melanie’s loved ones, Jamie and Jared. Eventually this leads to the two of them embarking on a journey to find the two of them, if they are still alive and haven’t been turned into host bodies.
Wanderer eventually discovers a group of rebel humans, led by Melanie’s Uncle Jeb. The rebels, who include Jamie and Jared, capture her and she then spends the majority of the story held in their captivity, until she is released and has a change in heart towards the humans. She begins to integrate into the human community the rebels have developed, and becomes a helpful asset to them.
The integration of Melanie’s memories into Wanderers mind have allowed her to develop strong feelings for Jared, which creates a strange love triangle between her, Melanie and Jared.
The main theme of this story causes you to reflect on what it truly means to be human. Wanderer allows us to see both the good and bad natures of humanity from her perspective.