The Host – Stephanie Meyer

Genre: YA / Science Fiction

Not being a big Stephanie Meyer fan I was not looking forward to reading this but as the suggestion came from a friend with decent taste in literature I thought I’d give it a go and I'm glad that I did.

Basically, ‘parasites’ from a far distant planet invade earth and use human bodies as hosts to survive, as these small silvery creatures cannot survive as they are on their own.  Enter Melanie, a teenager, who plays host to one of these creatures, Wanda.  Only Melanie’s personality doesn’t allow her to be possessed and we watch as Melanie and Wanda first fight each other and then fight for each other.  We see how they both fall in love and make friends and how these friendships blossom and bloom until Wanda becomes ‘one of them’ and the story ends.

Although much better written than Twilight, I found the open ended ending horrible as there is no real closure as to what happens to the characters, and I’m sure everyone would love to know.  Despite my initial resignations about reading this, the thought that I’d have to gouge my eyes out, and the few paragraphs and chapters that I felt I needed to plough through, I was quite surprised and actually rather enjoyed it, despite it taking me almost two months to finish.

The Mallen Litter (#3 of The Mallen Trilogy) – Dame Catherine Cookson

Genre: Fiction (Historical) dealing with class issues

#3 The Mallen Litter

Katie Bensham marries a man 20 years her senior and their only child, Lawrence, has Down’s Syndrome (one can sense the discrimination that this child would have faced and it is heart breaking).  Barbara and Dan have triplets and Ben, whom the novel focuses on, is a typical Mallen and displays the streak.  His mother pretty much hates him as he resembles the man who fathered her.  During the war, Ben suffers severe shell shock and ends up at High Banks Hall, which Anna has turned into a nursing clinic.  Ben’s carer is the beautiful Hannah Radlet, the daughter of Michael and Sara, and they fall in love.  In the end it is the sweet natured Lawrence that helps bring them together.  Barbara and Michael rekindle their love and have an affair while Dan has an affair with the nanny of his children and she bares him a daughter.

And again the editing done to the novel leaves much to be desired as there are spelling and grammar errors, but again I suspect that is because the copy that I read was one of the first edition paperback prints from the late 1970s.  I found this book the most gripping and struggled to put it down.  It is by far my favourite of the three as I love the way she ties up all the loose ends.  The biggest question I kept asking myself was whether Ben and Hannah's love would conquer their family problems and put an end to the bad luck that comes with the Mallen Streak...  And I'd love to tell you, but that would spoil the story so you'll just have to read it yourself.

The Mallen Girl (#2 in The Mallen Trilogy) – Dame Catherine Cookson

Genre: Fiction (Historical) dealing with class issues

#2 The Mallen Girl

This novel follows the life of Barbara Mallen, the daughter of Thomas Mallen and his niece (also Barbara, who died in childbirth).  Barbara is born deaf and carries the cursed Mallen streak.  She is in love with her cousin, Michael Radlet (the son of her Aunt Constance).  We watch as she grows up and falls deeper in love with Michael, resulting in a lot of jealousy and wickedness.  This causes her to maim Sara Waite, whom Michael then marries.  We meet the Bensham family who move into High Banks Hall, and Miss Brigmore is their Governess.  This sets the foundation for the final novel in the series as Barbara marries Dan Bensham and Miss Brigmore (Anna) marries Mr Harry Bensham, after his wife dies.

This is the second Cookson novel that I have read and again the editing that has been done leaves me weeping as there were a few spelling and grammar errors this time round too (again I will blame this on the fact that the copy I read was one of the first edition paperback prints from the 1970s.  I didn't find this novel as wonderful and entertaining as the first one but rather a bit dull and tedious instead.  The story line was still good and I'm hoping it has laid a good foundation for the last novel in the series.

The Mallen Litter, Book 3 in the trilogy, will be the topic of my next blog post.