The Host Chapter 49 and 50

Here are some troubling facts: A sequel to the Host is almost done, and a third one is coming. And Smeyer wants Matt Damon for the movie. THERE'S GOING TO BE A MOVIE. Kill me now. And, I suppose this information about sequels potentially destroys the ending, but it really doesn't. You'll understand when you read the recaps today.

Also, something else I want to talk about. This is supposedly Smeyer's first "adult" novel. Please. I've read YA novels way worse than this. Let's make a list:

Watership Down (The Black Rabbit of Inle story is scary, Bigwig almost dies in a trap, Efrafa is basically WWII era Germany with a sadistic ruler, a warren is being kept basically so they can die, humans poison all the rabbits in the Sandleford Warren, shall I continue?)

Anything from Narnia. Like when Aslan dies in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Or when Puddleglum burns his foot in the fire in The Silver Chair. Or when everyone dies in The Last Battle.)

1001 Nights by Cameron Dokey- The king is so angry at his wife's betrayal that he marries a woman every day and kills them after 24 hours.

Any fairy tale ever written.

Cirque du Freak. I guess it's not that scary. It just freak me out for some reason.

Um, can someone say Animorphs?

The Redwall series was worse than this too, I think. There was A LOT of death in that book series.

Chapter 49- Interrogated

So Wes is dead and Wanderer’s all, “I killed Wes!” but it’s a typical overreaction. Wes was just a red shirt. Get over it. Although, I am surprised that she finally killed someone off, and it wasn’t someone we didn’t care about, like the mythical Carol or Brandt.

All of us but five were gathered in the kitchen now that the truck was unloaded, eating some of the perishables we'd picked up on the final shopping trip–cheese and fresh bread with milk–and listening to Jeb and Doc as they explained everything to Jared, Ian, and Kyle. Where the hell are you keeping these perishables? It’s not like you have a plethora of refrigerators down there.

Brandt now bore a smooth, pink, circular scar in the hollow space beneath his left collarbone. The bullet had missed his heart and lungs by a hair and then burrowed halfway through his shoulder blade trying to escape. At first I read this as the bullet went through his left cheekbone, and I was like, “whoa, how does that work? First Smeyer screws up physics, and now anatomy!”

Remember how at the beginning everyone’s like, “Zomg, she’s so strong and experienced and fascinating” because she had been on like, ten planets or whatever? How did she ever survive? She’s such a dumb fuck.

And I guess somehow Wanderer knows that the Seeker is alive and here, but I don’t know how she knows this. Is she prisoner? Is she lurking in the caves, biding her time? I don’t know. Okay, never mind, she’s in the caves lurking. And she has a rifle and a Glock. Is this the same Glock that was mentioned before, or is that honestly the only gun that Smeyer knows? Let’s check. Nope, it’s the same Glock. Okay never mind, she’s not lurking. She’s been kept prisoner. Fuck, this story is confusing.

Without a doubt, I did not want to talk to her. I was terrified to ever see her face again–a face that, no matter how I tried, I could not imagine looking frightened.
But if I told them I had no desire for conversation, Aaron would shoot her. It would be like I'd given him the order to fire. Like I'd pulled the trigger. Oh shut up. You want her dead, don’t you? Well then, let Amos Aaron pull the trigger.

I couldn't avoid the imagined tableau. Aaron, the Seeker's gun in his
hand; the Seeker's body slowly crumpling to the stone floor, the red blood pooling around her… Do you like it when the red water comes out?

“She's a complainer,” Jeb told me in a low voice as we walked back toward the hole. “Not quiet like you were. Always asking for more–food, water, pillows… She threatens a lot, too. 'The Seekers will get you all!' That kinda thing. It's been hard on Brandt especially. She's pushed his temper right to the edge.” Well, since he’s obviously non-corporeal, that won’t be a problem.

So the Seeker’s this complaining bitch, and kind of reminds me of Cruella de Ville.

Now Wanderer’s all jealous because the Seeker has a nice little bed mat and she’s allowed to walk around and Brandt refers to the Seeker with a feminine pronoun and she was kept in this whole. Dammit, that’s the least of your worries right now. Anyway, they keep describing her as little and Wanderer says she’s like Jamie’s size. I cannot stop myself from imagining Kristen Chenoweth.

Wanderer asks why the Seeker just kept hunting her and the Seeker goes on a diatribe about how evil humans are and then backs down when the guns come up. I wish we could have an actual villain. The way Smeyer portrays the Seeker, she’s like a big bully who is formidable unless someone stands up to her. I don’t know, I’m sure I’ve read books with villains like that, but the Seeker is just pathetic. I blame Smeyer.

Wanderer’s having an internal monologue. She hates the Seeker and wants her to die but she doesn’t want her to die because I BELIEVE then she’ll feel like it’s her fault that the Seeker died. She’s deciding how to save her.

Wanderer is now referring to everyone as her family very suddenly. Kind of how in Breaking Dawn everyone started calling Jasper “Jazz” despite the fact that they had never done that before. It also reminds of that nice tour guide in Montserrat, who was like, “Okay, family!” I loved her and I felt bad that I kept falling asleep because what she was saying was so interesting, but I was only getting like five hours of sleep a night.

But… but what if I could do both? What if I could save her life and keep everyone here safe at the same time?
A heavy wave of nausea rolled in my stomach as I saw the answer I'd been trying to believe didn't exist.
The only wall I'd ever built between Melanie and me crumbled to dust.
No!Mel gasped. And then screamed,NO!
The answer I must have known I would find. The answer that explained my strange
premonition.
Because I could save the Seeker. Of course I could. But it would cost me. A trade. What had Kyle said? A life for a life.

Is she going to explode into motherhood? But we have like ten chapters left. How can she sacrifice herself?

Chapter 50- Sacrificed

But even as I tried to look at the happy ending, I couldn't escape the horror of this choice. This was the secret I should die to protect. The information I'd been desperate to keep safe no matter what hideous torture I was put through. And the mysterious secret that was mentioned once and then never again.

In true Smeyer fashion, she has to drag on and on. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS DAMN SECRET?

But if she kills herself, isn’t she killing Melanie too? You’d think this would be more morally troubling than letting someone else kill someone that she hates.

Why does it feel like this is turning into some kind of veiled Jesus Christ allegory?

And on and on and on without saying what this frakking secret is. I’m going to choke a bitch, seriously.

Never mind, she won’t kill (I accidentally wrote “sell” for some reason) Melanie. She will set her free. And I guess the secret is how to remove Yeerks without killing the host. Or something.

Ah, Ian,I moaned. A new pain twisted through me, surprisingly close to my heart. Oh, shut up already. You KNOW you’ll never love him as much as Pedobear. Also, he hasn’t had a personality for a couple of chapters now.

Now she’s describing her body for some reason.

My feet flexed and pointed slowly, to the rhythm of my breathing. In and out. Flex and point. It felt nice. Someone explain to me what the FUCK the point of that sentence was.

Again, if she’s killing herself now, what is going to be in the other ten chapters?

Apparently Doc and Sharon were together, but I don’t remember this being mentioned. Sharon got really pissed that he helped heal Jamie (her psychology is WACK) and she moved in with Maggie. So now he’s been sleeping in the hospital.

“You can't kill them–the souls you remove. You must give me your word–your promise, your oath, your vow–that you will give them safe conduct on to another life. This means some danger; you will have to have cryotanks, and you will have to get those souls onto shuttles off-planet. You have to send them to another world to live. How the frak is he supposed to do that? If I was him, I’d just be like, “uh huh…uh huh…yup…I’m totally just going to kill them.”

Also, she kept talking as if she was going to kill herself but she’s not. I guess she’s just going to go inhabit someone else. Boo hoo, at least you’re still alive. Also, why does she have to die to save the Seeker? I don’t get it. Okay, so she doesn’t want to leave earth but she doesn’t want to steal another body so she’s going to die.

So yeah. Now they’re going to find cryotanks. Again, how can we get ten more chapters if she’s dead?