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''[[The Host]]'' is a 2008 [[Science Fiction]] novel by ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' creator [[Stephenie Meyer]], and was both her first sci-fi work and her first adult novel. It takes place [[After the End]], where a successful infiltration-style [[Alien Invasion]] means the [[Puppeteer Parasite
This means trouble for Wanderer of course, since not only are human senses and emotions more intense than any other body she's ever experienced, so too are human memories more ridiculously vivid - and Wanderer finds herself inevitably growing to love Melanie's man Jared and brother Jamie, even though she's never met either. Eventually she even grows to consider Melanie herself a friend, despite originally wanting her to disappear. This combination leads her to risk absolutely everything to find Jared and Jamie... which gets more than a little awkward when she actually ''does'' succeed in finding them, only to be kept as a prisoner since, duh, she's one of ''Them'' now. Just to let you know exactly where all this is kind of headed towards, the novel's premise is often somewhat accurately summed up as being "a love triangle with two bodies"; "somewhat", because by the end of the book it's actually more like a [[Love Dodecahedron|love quadrangle]] with ''three'' bodies. (Apparently SMeyer is somewhat incapable of writing a story that does not include some sort of complicated romantic entanglement. [[Not
It turns out to be an odd entry into the SF genre, though, because the aliens are actually [[Ape Shall Never Kill Ape|"altruistic" and "kind"]] by nature, but unfortunately suffer from a ''seriously'' inverted case of [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]. They're clever when it comes to technology and have "peacefully" conquered countless worlds and many of them have lived for literally thousands of years in different hosts... but it's yet to occur to them that, you know, maybe their hosts might deserve to have free will too. Which makes things more than a little uncomfortable once Wanderer realizes that she actually considers humans to be likable in their own right, and becomes torn between being loyal to her own species and betraying them for the sake of largely unrequited inter-species love.
The [[The
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* [[Aliens Speaking English]] - but only the ones who've got human hosts, and only because their host would have known it first (assuming that the host ''did'' speak English, of course. The story's set in America, though, so for our purposes it's a moot point).
* [[And I Must Scream]] - Happens in a few cases, although generally it seems that the human's mind is destroyed upon them being possesed.
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** Perhaps this is an indirect tribute to [[Orson Scott Card]], a Mormon author who {{spoiler|created an alien species who also reproduces in a way that is fatal to the mother. Only grosser. Really.}}
** Or perhaps these aliens are [[Expy|expies]] of the [[Animorphs|Yeerks.]] Silvery-gray in color? Check. Control other species' minds by wrapping their bodies around them? Check. Reproduce via suicide? Check. Definitely not copies, though, for two reasons: One, Yeerks are slugs, Souls are insects. Two, Yeerks are [[Exclusively Evil]]. Except for some...
* [[Blue and Orange Morality]]: It's [[Utopia Justifies the Means]] and [[Humans Are
* {{spoiler|[[Body Surf]]: Wanda ends up doing this when her friends swap her into another vacated body.}}
* [[Chickification]] - {{spoiler|Wanderer is a strong, intelligent Soul who has been on more worlds than most and is held in high regard among the Souls. She once defeated a Claw Beast on the planet of the Bears, transplanted a friend into it on the spot, and [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|rode it into the city.]] At the end of the book, she's implanted in the body of a petite young blonde girl and can't even carry her own sleeping mat without the help of her man.}}
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* [[Expy]] - The protagonist, Melanie seemed to remind me of someone from another book Meyer has written recently... I just can't put my [[Twilight (novel)|finger]] on it.
** Naturally, it follows: Say Melanie's full name out loud. Now say the author's name. [[Author Avatar|Do you hear it?]]
** Also, the Souls themselves, who are a rehash of a very old idea.<ref>[[Stargate SG-1|The Goa'uld]], the parasites from ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', the Bodysnatchers, the [[Animorphs|Yeerks]] - all of which were (knowingly or not) inspired by ''[[The Puppet Masters]]''.</ref>
* [[Extreme Doormat]] - Wanderer. Even the human colonists eventually get annoyed.
* [[Fantastic Racism]] - implied, in that it never occurs to the souls that maybe they shouldn't be taking over the minds of every species they run across and essentially wiping them out. One species commits mass suicide to escape them; rather than rethink their system the souls cheerily continue infesting the ones who didn't escape in time, pausing only briefly to regret the waste of host bodies.
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* [[Honor Before Reason]] - Wanderer, who lies, badly and obviously, in order to protect the life of a guy who ''repeatedly tried to kill her.''
** She also tries '' {{spoiler|to trade her life}}'' to save the life of the Seeker, who has hounded her for months and {{spoiler|killed one of her friends}}.
* [[Humans Are
* [[Humans Are Special]] - See "[[Sense Freak]]" entry below.
* [[Human Popsicle]] - Or, rather, Alien Popsicle. The Souls go into suspended animation when traveling between worlds, since the trip can take up to a century.
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[[Category:Romance Novel]]
[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]
[[Category:The Host (novel)]]
[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
[[Category:Literature of the 2000s]]
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