Laura Hewson reviews The Host, Her Fearful
Symmetry and The Little Giant of Aberdeen
Country.
Stephenie Meyer is best known as the author of the
hugely popular Twilight series for teens, now being
made into equally popular movies.
The Host (Hatchette, $29.99, pbk) is her first adult
fiction book but still works for teens, blending science
fiction and romance without getting too racy (Meyer is a
Mormon).
Aliens have almost entirely colonised Earth, invading not
just our cities and homes but also our bodies, completely
extinguishing the previous human occupants.
Despite this, the new inhabitants, called souls, are
peace-loving and live communally - there's no need for
violence, money or lying.
But when seasoned traveller Wanderer is put into the host
body of rebel human, Melanie, there's a problem.
Melanie refuses to be extinguished and fills Wanderer's mind
with images of Jared, the man she loves, and of her younger
brother Jamie.
Being human also comes with some unexpected emotions and
challenges that lead Wanderer to question her own kind and
their methods.
With a mutual enemy working against them, Wanderer and
Melanie are forced into an uneasy truce and gradually become
friends.
This growing friendship between the two-in-one is fairly
satisfying but it isn't until they meet up with a band of
rebel humans that the story really takes off.
Wanderer and Melanie must try to win over the rebels, avoid
being killed and try to resolve an unexpected love triangle
(or square if you count them as two people).
I can't put my finger on why, but this book had me hooked and
I read it almost entirely in one sitting.
It was well paced with enough rewards and character
development to keep me going.
I also had no idea how it would end - a real bonus these
days.
Word is that Meyer is planning more in this series and I'll
be keeping an eye out for them.
Also
following a popular book and movie (
The Time Traveller's
Wife) is
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey
Niffeneger (Random House, $38.99 pbk).
When Elspeth dies, her younger lover Robert is crushed, her
estranged identical twin sister on the other side of the
world is regretful, and her nieces inherit a small fortune as
well as a new life in London (along with a strange set of
conditions).
But Elspeth doesn't go to a better place.
Instead, she finds herself existing as a shadow of her former
self in her old apartment and starts determinedly working to
re-establish her strength.
Much of the early story is build-up to the arrival of her
nieces - also identical twins - but this took too long for me
and though much is made of how they creep people out with
their strange sameness, they never really do anything to
warrant the excitement.
I felt this was a missed opportunity and couldn't connect
with either Julia, the strong twin who wants to stay together
forever, or Valentina, the quiet, sensitive one yearning for
individuality.
Once they arrive in London, relationships become complicated,
secrets are revealed and a dangerous plan is hatched (with
fairly predictable results).
The story plodded for me.
Too much of the action was in the one apartment and the
building of tension was just too slow and unsatisfying.
I found the sub-plot of Elspeth's neighbours, Martin and
Marijke, much more compelling, as his obsessive compulsive
disorder becomes increasingly hard to live with and leaves
her no choice but to escape.
The
Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker
(Hachette, $27.99, pbk), was a quirky little book that I
enjoyed more than I thought I would.
The unusual heroine, Truly Plaice, was a big baby and grows
into an even bigger woman - some may even say a little giant.
She's doubly cursed with having an exquisitely beautiful
older sister who never appears ruffled and doesn't mind
leaving her old life and freakish sister behind when their
parents die.
When her sister is trapped into marriage with local bully
Robert Morgan, the latest in a long line of Dr Robert
Morgans, Truly begins to think perhaps she doesn't have the
worst of it in life.
Truly deals with her physical and social handicaps with good
grace even when faced with ridicule and the unwelcome medical
attentions of Dr Morgan.
Flashbacks share the miseries of her early years and travel
even further back to a time before the arrival of the first
Dr Morgan, when the town's medical woes were looked after by
Tabitha - a talented herbalist whose secrets are believed to
have somehow survived her.
Sometimes flashbacks can be intrusive and slow a story down
but these were woven well and were welcome for the extra
information they imparted.
This is a thoughtful little book about differences and
superficial beauty, forgiveness and self-acceptance.
It's also an interesting look at medicine, both herbal and
modern.
• Laura Hewson is online deputy editor for the
Otago Daily Times website.
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