The Journey from Vampires to Aliens
By: Nicole Maharaj
Tags: Books And Authors, Fiction, Self, Philosophy, Books

Ironically, The Host exceeded my expectations, especially with how let down I was with the Twilight series. I loved who they cast as Melanie/Wanda and I especially loved Jeb. All three characters were spot on with what I imagined in the novel, as were basically everyone minus, Ian. For me, no one could really replace the novel Ian, and the fact that I had seen that particular actor in Number Four earlier that year might’ve made me slightly bias when it came to his portrayal of Ian.

Photo by Nick Dunlap on Unsplash

The Host is a novel I re-read almost every year, sometimes twice with how much I love the story. This is probably why the author, herself started to write more stories in the science fiction genre.

After this year when she finally released the much anticipated Midnight Sun the story of Twilight told from Edward’s point of view, I remembered immediately why I loved the Twilight series for so long.

I first started to read the Twilight series in High School, when I myself was starting to think about writing my own novels.

The love story between Edward and Bella was something that I aspired to. Bella loved Edward with the intensity of how much Edward wished to protect Bella.

Ironically my favorite novel in the series is New Moon. The one novel that Edward and Bella were apart. This isn’t because I didn’t like them together. I love Edward and Bella, but one thing I’ve always loved is female characters having to save their significant other. I grew up on Disney, and the many different Fairy Tales were almost always a Prince who came to save the girl of their dreams.

In New Moon, not only does Bella lose her Edward, she has to face a life where she may be forced to live forever without him. One of the ways she can face that is through her friendship with Jacob. Jacob shows Bella many things, like how to ride a motorbike and the finer things like La Push beach and dry humor. Towards the very end of the novel, however, Edward tries to take his life forcing Bella to journey all the way to Italy where she is both able to save Edward and meet the dangerous Volturi.

One of my biggest issues with the Twilight series is how Bella lets things happen to her. She is depicted as being strong, but in many ways, Bella isn’t strong. She is strong to take care of all the other people in her life, no matter if they are vampires, werewolves, or human. But when it came to her, she always put herself last. In New Moon, she believed Edward when he said that he didn’t love her because she had never believed that someone like Edward ever could.

In Twilight she put Edward and his whole family on a pedestal. One that she could never reach as a human. She didn’t see herself as an equal to the Vampires.

Throughout the Twilight saga, this theme plays out, until eventually Bella herself is turned. When she turns, Edward is still surprised to realize that he can’t read her mind like all the other Vampires. It’s only until Chapter thirty-one of Breaking Dawn that Bella discovers she actually is what is known as a shield, a powerful defensive ability that had manifested even when she was human. Finally, an answer to why she has always seemed so different, and why Edward could never read her mind.

Points of View

One of the best things I discovered upon reading Breaking Dawn is just how much more we would’ve gotten in the Twilight Saga if Stephenie Meyer had chosen to write more points of view. The fourth installment of the series, Breaking Dawn was separated into three Books. The first seven chapters were told as usual from Bella’s point of view. But finally, in the eighth chapter, we see that Book Two is written completely from Jacob’s point of view.

Photo by Mounish Pedagandham on Unsplash

Which I have to say is completely refreshing, and extremely amusing. The second page is yet another Preface this time in Jacob’s view.

Life sucks, and then you die. Yeah, I should be so lucky — P.143 Breaking Dawn

Jacob is full of anger and sarcastic quips. Reading from his point of view gives us a whole new perspective on the Werewolves of La Push. Jacob was always a favorite for many of the Twihards, so it’s not surprising that for the last book the author would delve into his mind. I think she did this really so we could fully understand the imprint bond, as it becomes more important later in the novel.

I’ve always preferred novels that alternate different viewpoints or are written in the third person. Or a complete retelling of a beloved chapter or book from another character’s perspective. Stephenie Meyer has successfully rewritten Twilight two more times in the past couple of years. On the tenth anniversary of Twilight, she released an alternate version of Twilight where there was a gender reversal of all the characters. Including an alternate ending that could’ve changed the tone of the entire Twilight series.

Most recently this year amid the Covid-19 craziness, Stephenie Meyer released the long-anticipated Midnight Sun, a version of Twilight completely redone in Edward’s viewpoint. I’d long been waiting for this book ever since she released a couple of chapters on her website when she first started writing the manuscript.

Midnight sun was beautifully well done and gave us some much-needed insight into a bunch of gaps from the original novel. It also gave us some insight into Edward’s character which was quite interesting.

With his ability, he often seemed like he was quiet in the novel when in fact, he was actually listening to his siblings who were talking to him through their minds, used to him replying without them saying a word out loud. It explained more about Alice as well, as we actually got to see what it was like for Edward to be able to see her visions.

Similarly in The Host, many of Wanda/Melanie’s interactions were done in her head, a lot of times both of them fighting with the other, over courses of action. This is only made more amusing when Jared kisses Wanda in Melanie’s body, or when Ian and Wanda start falling in love with the other. I think this novel was the most outlandish triangle love story because it was done with two women, that were the same person technically as they were sharing space in the same body.

I would’ve loved to have learned more about how their lives changed when Wanda was able to get her own body, or even a separate novel comprised of all her many misadventures on different planets. Where Bella was quiet, and let others fight for her, Wanda/Melanie fought tooth and nail throughout their whole experience with both the seekers and eventually the Humans.

The Host is unique in that way, and while I loved the book I had my own reservations about it being made into a movie, but thankfully I needlessly worried as The Host (movie) followed most of the plot of the novel. Unfortunately, it did leave out one of my favorite scenes, Kyle’s trial, and the game after it. Of course, if every movie followed the novel to a T. We would have a lot of five hours or even ten-hour movies in the world.