The Host

I'm a big fan of the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. Her books are what YA is all about. Originally, I had an intense aversion to this book. I mean, it is a vampire romance, but it's much better than you'd expect. Anyway, I decided to buy her next book, The Host. It is the first of her novels to be printed as an adult novel. In my opinion, it feels very much like her YA novels, and I don't see exactly what is so adult about it. She could have had it published at Little, Brown under the YA category without me seeing the difference. I suppose that she's trying to reach a wider audience.

For those of you who haven't heard, The New York Times has removed children's books from its bestseller's list. They are instead on their own list. I suppose that it because some writers for grown ups got witchy about authors for kids (such as J.K. Rowling). This of course is ridiculous. To separate a single category is like taking out Jazz, Country, or Rock music from winning grammy's because they are not 'serious' music.

But enough ranting. As I've already said, this title is very much like the rest of her works. Her plot isn't driven as much by events as it is by character realizations. Emotions are the main device driving you through the novel, which I don't mind. Meyer does quite well with first person, introspective sorts of work. She's also not afraid to gray things out. While you may initially classify things as black and white at the beginning of the novel, Meyer has tried very hard to slosh the black and white into grayscale.

I will say one thing I was a little disappointed in was the details on the medicine... It seemed much too easy, and any real science buff will be scratching their head wondering what the mechanics of Heal, Seal, and Clean are and why they need specialist for this medicine when a kindergardener could administer it. The lack of detail explanation and the simplicity of it, I think, will turn off true science fiction fans. Science fiction is usually very heavy on explaining things; We want to know not just that it worked but how it worked. Science fiction is different than fantasy. Take the vampires she wrote about in her previous books. I don't care how vampires work biologically that much, because I know that vampires don't exist. They're outside explanation. Science fiction is about what we may be capable of within the usual scientific limitations.

One other note, I think I wouldn't have minded the unhappy ending. Those of you that have read it will know what I'm talking about. I feel like she tacted on the last bit, making a magical solution, where she should have just let it be. She let the character be saved at the last minute, and as an author, I've got to protest against that. Your characters have to solve their own problems, through their own cleverness, but I'll let it slide just this once, because it did make me stop crying at the tragic ending. What can I say? I'm a big softy.