The Host

The Host is bestselling author Stephenie Meyer’s first science fiction novel, published as Meyer was wrapping up her Twilight series. Published in 2008, The Host blends science fiction, romance, and psychological drama. Meyer sets the novel in a dystopian future where Earth has been overtaken by parasitic aliens called “souls.” These souls inhabit human bodies, erasing their consciousness.

The novel focuses on Wanderer, a soul who takes over the body of a human, Melanie Stryder, who refuses to fade from consciousness. Melanie slowly reveals her life to Wanderer, and Wanderer begins to share her love for her brother, Jamie, and Melanie’s soulmate, Jared. Via this premise, the novel explores themes of The Power and Complexities of Love, The Meaning of Survival, and The Transformative Power of Empathy.

This guide is based on the 2010 Back Bay Books Kindle edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of graphic violence, suicidal ideation, illness, sexual content, substance use, addiction, child sexual abuse, and death.

Plot Summary

Wanderer is a “soul”—an alien who must inhabit the body of a host species in order to survive away from her home planet (called “the Origin”). She is unusual in that she has already lived on eight other planets, including the Origin. Now, she is on Earth and has been implanted inside a host human, Melanie Stryder, a human resistance fighter. 

A Seeker (a soul tasked with capturing host bodies) wants Wanderer to review Melanie’s memories for information about where other humans may be hiding, but Wanderer cannot access the memories. This is unusual, as she has never been blocked from a host’s memories before. Moreover, Melanie soon begins speaking to Wanderer, and she seems to grow stronger in the months that Wanderer inhabits their body. 

When Melanie inadvertently shares memories of her brother, Jamie, and her lover, Jared, it makes Wanderer love them. Melanie and Wanderer eventually go searching for them, hoping that Jared and Jamie found their way to Melanie’s uncle Jeb, who realized that souls were colonizing the planet early on and left hints regarding a secret hideout for human survivors. Melanie and Wanderer nearly die in the Arizona desert, but Uncle Jeb finds and saves them, bringing Wanderer into a cave system where a pocket of humans survives undetected. 

The human survivors view Wanderer as an enemy and attack her several times. Two brothers named Ian and Kyle even attempt to kill Wanderer, but Jared and Jeb stop them. Meanwhile, Jamie grows close to Wanderer, recognizing that she is not a monster, and Jeb works to integrate her into daily life within the caves. She tries to be useful, but Jared remains suspicious that she is actually a Seeker intent on infiltrating and destroying the community.

Over time, Ian and a few others begin to view Wanderer with curiosity rather than suspicion. Jeb convinces Wanderer to tell stories of her time on other planets, and she is surprised that many humans in the caves are interested. However, when Jared returns from a raid, he is furious to find Wanderer moving freely and attempts to kill her. Jamie intervenes, and Jared backs down. Knowing that Wanderer claims Melanie is still present in her body, Jared tries to test Wanderer by kissing her. Melanie takes control of the body and punches Jared, which is the first moment when Jared considers that Wanderer is telling the truth.

One day while Wanderer is bathing, Kyle attempts to kill her, but his effort backfires, and she ends up having to save his life. At the tribunal deciding his fate, she lies to prevent Kyle from being executed or banished, and the community votes to keep him. Around this time, Ian admits to Wanderer that he cares for her. She is unsure of her own feelings: Wanderer does care for Ian, but Melanie’s body does not react to him the way it does to Jared.

When a raiding party returns, Jamie is injured. Wanderer can tell the humans are hiding something from her, so she goes to the hospital and sees that the doctor, Doc, has been conducting experiments: He attempted to pull the souls out of two host bodies, and the bodies of the souls are strewn around the room. Wanderer is disgusted and horrified, retreating into the darkest part of the caves. Jeb ultimately says he will not allow Doc to do any experiments for the time being, which persuades Wanderer to come out of hiding. When she does, she finds that Jamie has gotten sick from his injury.

Melanie and Wanderer are both horrified, wanting to go on a raid to get medical supplies. Jeb tells Wanderer that she cannot—it is clear the community still does not trust her—but Jared sneaks her out of the caves, and they complete the raid themselves: Wanderer goes to the hospital and steals supplies that they bring back and use to save Jamie. Wanderer earns most of the humans’ trust after this and begins joining supply raids.

When Wanderer and the others return from a raid, they learn that the Seeker hunting Wanderer found the community. During the ensuing firefight, a man named Wes was killed and the Seeker was captured. Wanderer does not want the Seeker killed, even though Wanderer finds her repugnant. To persuade the humans to let the Seeker live, she makes a deal with Doc that she will show him how to separate the souls from their hosts without harming either. In return, she has two conditions: The souls must receive safe passage to other planets, and Doc must remove Wanderer from Melanie’s body and allow her to die. 

Doc agrees, and Wanderer separates the Seeker from her host. However, Ian realizes Wanderer plans to be separated from Melanie and is furious with Wanderer. Wanderer tries to get him to understand and admits that she loves him. Ian insists on a tribunal to decide, and Wanderer agrees, but she knows it changes nothing: She’s already secured Doc’s promise. When Ian falls asleep later, Wanderer sneaks to the hospital. Jared intercepts her, but he does not stop her. She tells Doc he must keep his promise, and she falls unconscious as he does. 

Later, Wanderer wakes in a new body. She finds out that Jared made Doc put her in a cryotank (where souls without bodies sleep) so that Jared, Jamie, and Melanie could find a host body for her. The soul within it was sent to another planet, and there does not seem to be a human inside anymore. Ian and Wanderer kiss in her new body, and she does not feel any conflict. She loves Ian and wants to be with him, and he feels the same.

When they go on a raid later, they encounter another group of humans. They find out that there are other human resistance pockets and that one group even has a soul helping them, like Wanderer.