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Day 09 - A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
The Host by Stephenie Meyer

I was apprehensive about reading this book after Twilight - which I had my moment with and then gradually went off. But this book is so far from Twilight it’s ridiculous; Meyer’s writing is far better and the story and the characters are brilliant.

My favourite thing about this book by far is the relationship between Melanie and Wanda - the development from hatred to sisterly love is really well done. The character development blew me away, mostly I think from Ian - who went from trying to kill Wanda to being the one who protected her and falling in love with her. Another character who showed a lot of growth was Jared, perhaps more so than Ian, because he had a real reason to hate Wanda - she had taken the body of, and as far as he was concerned, killed the girl/woman he loved, and in the end he fought for her, he gave her what she wanted most in her last moments, because he loved her - not like he loves Mel, but enough to care about her. The bashing on Jared annoys me - in my opinion he is the best character in the book.

The film looks incredible and I personally don’t mind that they’ve made a few changes - like the seeker’s appearance, but I am gutted that some characters, like Walter have been cut. But the casting looks awesome - Saoirse looks brilliant, along with everyone else. And I love that the boys - Max and Jake - are so strongly enforcing the ‘love box’ because this story is not a love triangle, it’s far more complex than that, along with the other lessons about prejudice and humanity.

I see a lot of comments from people dismissing this film because of Stephenie and the apparent love triangle, which is really frustrating, because it really is a brilliant story and the film looks amazing - so give it a chance - it surprised me.

2 months ago

#30 day book challenge #the host #jelanie #owanda #Saoirse Ronan #love box #melanie stryder #wanda #jared howe #ian o shea