The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Synopsis from Goodreads: Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.

Number of pages: 619

My review: Okay so forget that Stephenie Meyer wrote this. Forget about Twilight, and forget all other biased opinions you have on that whole franchise and Stephenie Meyer herself. Done? Okay, when you DON'T consider all that this is a pretty decent book.

However, when you DO consider that, then it's definitely a step above Twilight, but still not as good as some other sci-fi novels. 

The main problem I had with this book was it moved impossibely slow. I truly think that a third of the book could have been cut out and I would have enjoyed it just as much; probably even more. Let me break it down for you:

The beginning was pretty good. I liked the buildup and all the introductions. There was enough there to keep me interested and keep me reading.

Fast forward about 200 or 300 pages? The story starts to drag on and on and on and on and- well I think you get the idea. It tried to be exciting and have little plot buildups here and there but it just didn't work. I wanted the story to move a lot faster and I almost gave up on the whole book because the middle chunk was slowly killing my brain cells.

Now, the last quarter of the book? Really good. Things start picking up, there's a little more action, a little more romance, it was good. Not great, but a solid "good".

The last 50 pages? Excellent. Best part of the whole book and made the boring middle part totally worth the read. Finally something was happening, and there was A LOT more conflict and romance going on. If the whole book had been like this I would easily have given it 5 stars (As it is, I only gave it 4 on Goodreads).

I still think Stephenie Meyer needs to work on her writing skill (and definitely the chemistry between characters) but it definitely surpassed the Twilight saga, and all that horribleness, that I hope to never return to. 

I definitely can't wait for the movie and hope that it's a little more exciting than what I drudged through in the middle 300 pages of the book.

What are your thoughts on the book? The trailer looks fantastic so are you going to go see the movie? Leave a comment below with your thoughts!

See you soon!

P.S. If you're currently reading through The Host and feel a little frustrated, listen to the audio book, that helped a ton and was how I managed to pull through until the end! Also, I'm definitely "Team Ian".