The Host
Tags
Summary
The story is set in the near future: Earth has been invaded by an alien species called "souls." They resemble silvery centipedes and must parasitize human bodies, erasing the host's original mind and then living on through the human body. The parasitized "humans" are organized as "Seekers" to hunt down the last survivors. Humans are thus reduced to hosts with nothing but a shell, while those not yet parasitized hide in caves and deserts, surviving by flight.
The protagonist, Wanderer, has lived eight lives on different planets; this time she is implanted in the body of a young woman, Melanie, tasked with extracting the location of the human refuge from Melanie's memories. But Melanie refuses to surrender her mind, her thoughts full of her former lover Jared and her brother Jamie. Gradually Wanderer is drawn into this intense emotion and falls in love with someone she has never met. Two consciousnesses share one body, moving from conflict to cooperation and setting out on a road of flight and searching: for the body, for survival, for love, and for the fundamental question of "who am I."
The novel blends the alien-parasite science-fiction premise with romance and ethical choices. Through the eyes of a pair of "symbiotes," it portrays the extreme predicament of human survival, and also the many sides people reveal when fighting for the basic right to live: fear, suspicion, forgiveness, and love.
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- 喜欢《暮光之城》、想读作者更成熟作品的读者
- 对“寄生与身份”题材感兴趣、又怕硬科幻门槛的读者
- 喜欢以情感与伦理抉择为核心的长篇小说的年轻读者
- 想找一本厚实但分章短小、适合假期连续阅读的小说读者
Not a good fit for
- 期待硬核科技设定与严密世界观的科幻迷
- 不适应长时间第一人称内心独白式叙事的读者
- 偏爱快节奏动作、反感感情线占比过高的读者
Reading tips
- 先接受“两个意识共用一副身体”的叙述视角，读进去后代入感会迅速建立。
- 留意叙述者语气的变化，那是全书理解角色成长的关键线索。
- 全书六百多页，可按章节分块阅读，不必强求一口气读完。
- 读完后不妨想一想：如果你是漫游者，会做出同样的选择吗？
About the publisher
Jieli Publishing House is a publisher focusing on young people's reading, with a distinctive strength in making classical literature and classic works accessible to a broad readership. Its catalogue contains 224 titles, with common categories including classical literature, classic works, history books and science fiction. Representative books include the Chinese classics series such as Dream of the Red Chamber: An Appreciation Edition, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West, illustrated editions of foreign classics such as Eugénie Grandet and Around the World in Eighty Days, and history titles such as Records of the Grand Historian: An Appreciation Edition. Its authors and editors include classical writers Cao Xueqin, Gao E, Luo Guanzhong and Wu Cheng'en, editors Zhao Huaxia, Wang Yiqing and Chen Xiaohui, and foreign writers such as Balzac. The press uses appreciation and illustrated editions to lower the threshold for reading classics, serving both exam-related and extracurricular reading needs; as public information is limited, other publishing features are not discussed here.
Contents
- Copyright Page
- Prologue
- Memory
- Eavesdropping
- Resistance
- Dream
- Realization
- Following
- Facing
- Falling in Love
- Discovery
- Transformation
- Dehydration
- Failure
- Judgment
- Dispute
- Guarding
- Mission
- Visit
- Warning
- Abandonment
- Release
- Naming
- Breaking the Ice
- Confession
- Tolerance
- Guilt
- Return
- Hesitation
- Ignorance
- Betrayal
- Simplification
- Need
- Ambush
- Doubt
- Burial
- Trial
- Belief
- Longing
- Touch
FAQ
这本书和《暮光之城》有关系吗？
没读过科幻，能读懂吗？
简体中文版有哪些版本？
这本书是系列的第一部吗？
Comments
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About the author
Stephenie Meyer, born in 1973, is an American novelist. A graduate of Brigham Young University in English literature, she spent her early years mainly in Connecticut and Arizona. Meyer rose to fame with the vampire romance series Twilight, which includes Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, and the later Midnight Sun, and is categorized as popular fiction and foreign literature. Her works often center on adolescent emotions, weaving romantic entanglements into fantasy settings with direct narration and intense atmosphere, giving her wide influence among young readers. The library holds seven of her works, all different editions or collections of the Twilight series. Beyond this series, public sources note that she has also written adult novels such as The Host and The Chemist.
