Souls (Stephenie Meyer)
Souls (Original title: The Host ) is a science fiction novel by Stephenie Meyer . It was published in English in May 2008, and 750,000 copies were sold in the same year. The story takes place on the earth taken over by aliens - called souls - and is told from the perspective of the soul Wanda.
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The action takes place on earth in the future. Aliens, which humans call souls, have populated the earth and built a new system there. By the time the story begins, most of the human body is already harboring these souls. If one of the human bodies dies of old age, the soul is removed by so-called healers and either implanted in a new body or sent to one of the other occupied planets with the help of a cool box and spaceships.
The few surviving people hide in forests, caves and deserts. The book is about 19-year-old Melanie Stryder, one of the last people and a rebel. After she is discovered and pursued by seekers (who, as her name suggests, are looking for the last real people in order to implant a soul in them too) in an abandoned hotel, Melanie first tries to escape them. But since she quickly realizes that this is hopeless, she jumps into an empty elevator shaft in the hope of trying to perish, so that no soul is used for her, which Melanie's little brother Jamie, who is on the run with her, betrays could. However, Melanie survived seriously injured and was taken to a hospital. There her body is healed and a soul named Wanderer is used. While in most cases the old self of the host body is extinguished very soon, Melanie defends herself against the alien and so remains in her body. From then on, Wanderer is influenced by Melanie's memories and feelings. It soon becomes clear that Melanie is not ready to give Wanderer her body.
Meanwhile, the seeker who is assigned to Wanderer and who is hoping for important information about the rest of the insurgents from Wanderer begins to become suspicious. She follows Wanderer and urges them to uncover all of Melanie's memories. Wanderer, however, begins to be more and more interested in Melanie and her feelings, which are now also hers. She feels Melanie's love for her companion Jared and her little brother Jamie and soon feels the same. Both are tormented by the question of what has become of the two. Melanie remembers her uncle Jeb, who spoke of a shelter. After stumbling upon the uncle's clue by chance, she can persuade Wanderer to look for him, perhaps to find Jamie and Jared there.
While searching for shelter, hiker gets lost in the desert and is found half dead by Melanie's uncle. He takes them to a large underground complex of caves in which 35 people have already sought refuge. Since hikers can be clearly identified as a soul through their shining eyes and the implantation scar on their necks, they are locked in a small room. First of all, people fear that Wanderer is a seeker and could betray them all. After a while, however, she begins to befriend some of the people who gradually take sides with hikers and protect them from physical attack. Among them is Jamie, who at the time actually had taken refuge at Jeb with Jared. Over time, Wanderer, now called Wanda, became more and more accepted by people. She gets her own place to sleep, helps with gardening and tells about other planets and their species. She becomes friends with the others, especially with Jeb, Ian, who falls in love with her after a while, and Jamie, who still sees her as his sister Melanie and finally realizes that she is still there. Wanda is drawn to Ian too, but Melanie's feelings for Jared are stronger and confuse them both.
Ian's brother Kyle distrusts Wanda and tries to kill her, but fails. Meanwhile, after some of the souls initially sent search parties to find the missing Wanda, the seeker has not given up. She stubbornly returns to the desert again and again. When Jamie falls down with a knife and sustains a deep wound, Jared and Wanda illegally make their way to civilization. To get medicine for Jamie, she needs an injury. She asks Jared to hit her in the face with a thick stone with full force, which he reluctantly does. She also cuts a deep wound in her arm to see how Jamie's leg can be healed. Then she stumbles to the hospital, allows herself to be healed and memorises the exact process. Her face becomes flawless again, there is no trace of the injuries Kyle and a few others inflicted on her. All that remains of her deep cut is a pale pink, barely visible scar. When the healer 'Knits Fire' brings her a mug of water, Wanda steals many of her medication in her absence. They return and the group's doctor, called Doc for short, helps Wanda cure Jamie. From then on, Wanda is no longer a prisoner and goes on a prey tour with the people. During one of these, the seeker discovers the hiding place and kills Wes, one of the humans, but is overwhelmed and captured. Since Wanda doesn't want the seeker to be killed, she reveals to Doc how he can separate the soul from the host without injuring either of them. Wanda would like to have fulfilled two conditions for this secret: On the one hand, the future freed souls should not be killed, but sent to another planet, on the other hand Wanda would like to be removed from Melanie's body and next to Walters (Walter was a human being and Wanda's friend, but died disease, presumably bone cancer) and Wes' grave. Doc then removes it from Melanie's body, but does not kill it, but implants it in a new body, whose original self has not returned. Jared and Melanie are now happily reunited, as are Ian and Wanda. During a prey tour, they discover a new group of people who have also gained a soul as a friend. The book ends with the hope that there will be more survivors and that the two species may have a chance together after all.
filming
The producers Nick Wechsler, Steve Schwartz and Paul Mae Schwartz acquired the film rights in September 2009. Directed by Andrew Niccol . It was released on March 29, 2013 in the USA and on June 6, 2013 in Germany.
Individual evidence
- ^ StephenieMeyer.com: The Host . Retrieved October 24, 2007.
- ^ Stephenie Meyer By the Numbers . Publishers Weekly . May 12, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2008.
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517260/