The Host

Title: The Host
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Sci-fi, dystopia, speculative fiction
Source: E-book, owned


Finally! I finally reached the end of this book. I don't mean that in the negative way that it sounds...but just in that surprisingly this novel took me ALL of February to complete. That being said, I did wholly enjoy this novel and am glad I finally gave it a chance.

Before I go into likes and dislikes I need to tackle the subject of author vs. known writing style. I am guilty of doing something I'm not particularly proud of in my identification as a reader....I judged a book by the author's other books. You see, I read and sort of enjoyed Twilight. It was a light fluffy read that if I ignored everything I knew about vampires (which is a lot) and just enjoyed the jr. high crush feeling it fostered, I could enjoy it. I am not however a Twilight fan. Overall, it was ok. I've read significantly more interesting young adult novels and am not completely sure why these novels have received the popularity they have. But this is not about Twilight. This is about The Host. Honestly, if I'd been given this book without a cover, I would have never guessed that it was by Ms. Meyer. For this novel, her writing style changed and grew. The world was well-fleshed out, the characters were fully developed and capable of great changes (no limp rag Bellas here), and the story had a consistent arc and plot development. There was never a moment where I thought it went too long or should have ended sooner. I pre-judged this novel, and for that I'm sorry.

What I liked:

1. I found it interesting that our main character was actually a combination of two characters. Wanderer/Wanda is a kind being who is enjoying her species ability to join with and explore the lives the are taking over. Melanie is a human rebel. She has the strength, training, and of all things...the nerve to stay alive and unjoined. These two women have to learn to live together, work together, and love together...when they shouldn't have to.  Notice that neither of these women is a push-over or easily manipulated. It's awesome to have a 2-1 strong female lead.

2. The little details of the world building blew my mind. On the human side, there were things like people who were pre-prepared being considered crazy. Now they are the leaders. From the Soul side, there are details such as being trusting to the extreme or the easy to read labels.

3. Parts reminded me of other sci-fi entities that I enjoy. For example: The way the Souls bond to humans is initially explained to be very similar to how the Goa'uld join with their hosts.

What I disliked:

1. Length. This was not the novel to read on an iPhone e-reader. Holy will-it-ever-end-I'm-reading-on-quarter-length-pages Batman! I know this is silly and personal, but it may have been an easier read, for me, if I had this one as an actual paper book.

2. Some of the world building was so complete that some details weren't well explained or were assumed to be known. This primarily happened in descriptions and talk about the various planets that the Souls have come in contact with.  Some had great explanations and others were glossed over. It sometimes made it hard to keep everything straight in my mind.

Overall: I enjoyed this novel and am glad I finally gave it a chance.

 

**This novel was originally intended to be reviewed for Blogs with Bite, but I missed the due date. 

***This novel qualifies for the speculative fiction challenge ***

Apologies

As it gets closer to the end of the month, I feel I have to offer my apologies and explainations to the followers of this blog. I pretty much disappeared for this last month. It wasn't really intentional, I just got bogged down in February. For the shortest month it sure feels like it has been going on for several weeks longer than it should have. I can't really explain it. Don't worry though, I have been reading. I have one book to review (Lightning Thief), one to finish (The Host ((freakin' long book that has taken me all of Feb. to read....I'm still not done)), and two ready to go for reviews (WoW Stormrage, The Twilight Gospel).

So, long story short...I'm sorry about the lack of posts and I promise March will be much better. I love you all...thank you for sticking with me!

New Blogs on the Block

 

I'm being featured over on Larissa's blog. You should go check me out. ;)

Score!

I have much love for the VNSA booksale! Open one weekend a year there are thousands....thousands of books....some gently used, others in not quite so good of conditions. Other than having to fight through other readers who apparently have the time and patience to consider every single book title their eyes touch on....it's awesome!

My finds today:

 

These were the coolest find ever! Usually we don't go to the Saturday part of the sale. Because of this, I had no idea that the volunteers look for and bundle sets of books. Lucky for me, this lovely bundle of Janet Chapman's Highlander books was just waiting to be picked up. I now have the entire series to date!  My not-so-secret crush on time-traveling Highlanders is all a flutter!

 

I've read The Golden Compass a couple of times. The rest of the series is on both my reading list and my husband's. Because of this I couldn't pass up this bundle either....plus the set cost me all of $4. This makes my bank account very happy.

It wasn't all perfect. I get all flustered around hordes of people who just don't pay attention to the fact there are other people in the world. Happily, other than a few moments of wanting to choke the person inching along the table slower than a snail, I've decided that for-fun readers are friendly people. Also, the apparently inability to alphabetize any of the fiction is eternally frustrating.  There were also some books by a favorite author of mine that I should have grabbed, but I talked myself out of them as I wasn't sure if I had one or all. I got home, checked, and realized I didn't have any of them. But there will be other sales, and now that I'm aware of my lack of these books, I'll be on the look out for them.

Thank you VNSA!

The Selfless Gene by Charles Foster

Title: The Selfless Gene : Living with God and Darwin
Author: Charles Foster
Genre: Religious, Non-Fiction
Source: Received for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers in exchange for a honest review.


What if both religion and science are correct? Who says the world has to be only one and not the other? Mr. Foster is a Christian who walks in that gray area between the two and is angry at the extremists on either side of this great debate.

What I liked:

1. As another Christian who believes that God is large enough to have included evolution in His grand plan, it is refreshing to read the thoughts of someone else who feels that way.

2. Though the arguments and positions for both sides are well researched and given equal time within the book it was challenging to read. Sometimes it was the scientific explanations. Sometimes it was the extremist view points I don't agree with. It was always an interesting challenge.


What I didn't like:

1. Mr. Foster never seems to take a definite stance. Admittedly, most of the comparisons do come down on the side of God, but there is never a straight foreword statement of position. He spends a lot of time explaining each side and proving how the extremists are incorrect, but very little is said about how they could work together or be part of the same whole. This is disappointing.

Overall: I'm glad I had the opportunity to read this book, but I don't think it will be a great ground-breaking bridge between the extremes of religion and science. There is a lot to think about in the book and it is worth reading to get a taste of all the viewpoints involved in this debate.