Book Review

[vdansk]

It is fashionable, among my friends and acquaintances, to disdain Stephanie Meyer. After all, her _Twilight_ series appeals to the hoi poloi, the common masses, that "less than us" segment of the population. We are above that, above them.

An interesting prejudice, particularly given the nature of her stand-alone novel, _The Host_.

The basic idea has been done before, by Heinlein and myriad imitators, and by Hollywood as well. Aliens take humanity over from within, wearing us like clothing. If that concept were all that this novel had going for it, it would be a pale and paltry thing. This concept, however, is only the premise, the background, for a novel about identity, about love, and choices, about memory, about the essense of humanity and conscience. She blurs the line between hero and villain, between protagonist and monster, and mixes cruelty and kindness, beauty and pain into an alchemical brew that is more than captivating.

It is not flawless; the heroine, being who she is, is perhaps too good a soul for us to fully identify with. The human characters are perhaps too realistically human, and flawed, for comfort. Still, picking up the book, now read twice, at any point, I am easily captured for an hour at a time, re-reading, re-empathizing.

I want to write like this.

Comments

[deva-fagan.livejournal.com]

Twilight wasn't for me for reasons I won't go into here, but it's overwhelming mass appeal is actually the reason I *respect* it. A book that touches off that kind of response is something special, even if I may not care for it. The argument that something that appeals "to the masses" is inherently lesser because of that appeal is one of the most infuriating and ridiculous statements out there, imo.

Glad to hear you liked the Host -- perhaps I will give that one a shot!

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

Setting aside the fact that it reads a bit too much like the teen masturbatory fantasy - I agree that Meyer is a talented wordsmith, and capable of spinning an interesting tale. But so are many other writers, using the same formulae - Mercedes Lackey springs to mind at a comparable talent. Twilight, Arrows of the Queen, and Magic's Price all have the same essential formula: A talented, attractive central character is under appreciated by everyone around him/her, including by their own family, and therefore are somehow karmically eligible to be granted some elevated destiny, as well as being irresistible to persons of power.

Lackey at least makes the people earn it as part of the journey - Tara and Vanyel must master their gifts, and generally speaking pay a price for them. In Twilight, the heroine simply *is* (and is lovely and talented, and therefore shunned by all without the background to make that believable), but doesn't do anything but be his mate. I'm not sure that's a tale worth recommending for our children. The measure of a story's appeal to me is whether the central characters earn the reader's respect. It lies in their action, and not the passive acceptance of a "destiny".

Anyway, a well-written tale that catches at your emotion can be a pleasure to read, even if it's a guilty one.

[vdansk]

Oh, the twilight saga combines teenage angst with Mary Sue; I do indeed consider it a guilty pleasure, and that's not how I want to write. The Host is a completely different matter, and I strongly recommend it.