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''The Host'' is a romance novel by Stephenie Meyer. The book is about Earth, in a post apocalyptic time, being invaded by a parasitic alien race, known as "Souls", and follows one Soul's predicament when the consciousness of her human host refuses to co-operate with the takeover of her body. ''The Host'' was released on May 6, 2008,〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work = )〕 with an initial print run of 750,000 copies. An international version of the novel was released on April 2, 2008, in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia and Hong Kong by the UK publishing division.〔(Twilight Lexicon | ''The Host'' in multiple forms )〕 It was translated into Norwegian, Finnish, Estonian, Catalan, Chinese, Japanese, Croatian, Arabic, Czech, Dutch, Persian, Swedish, German, Polish, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Hebrew, Turkish, Slovak, Vietnamese, Lithuanian and Danish among others. The prologue and the fourth chapter of the book can be found on Meyer's official website.〔(''The Host'' excerpt )〕 ==Plot summary== A species of parasitic aliens called "Souls" have invaded Earth, deeming the humans too violent to deserve the planet. When a Soul is implanted into a host body, the consciousness of the original owner is erased, leaving their memories and knowledge. "Wanderer", a Soul whose name comes from her living on eight previous planets, is placed in the body of Melanie Stryder. However, Melanie's consciousness is still alive and begins to communicate with Wanderer. Wanderer uncovers some of Melanie's memories, mainly about her younger brother, Jamie, and her boyfriend, Jared Howe. Through Melanie's memories, Wanderer begins to love Jamie and Jared. One day, Melanie inspires her to follow a series of landmarks to find her Uncle Jeb, hoping that Jared and Jamie are with him. Jeb comes across Wanderer and realizes that Melanie's body has been taken over but still leads her to his hideout: a network of caves housing more than thirty people, including Jared and Jamie. Most of them want Wanderer to be killed, but Jared stops them, unable to bear the thought of Melanie's body being harmed. Over the following weeks, Wanderer slowly becomes a part of the community and is given the nickname "Wanda". Eventually, Jared and some of the others come to believe that Melanie is still present inside Wanda. Another of the humans, Ian, develops romantic feelings for Wanda, who is confused. Wanda soon learns that the humans are trying to cut Souls out of their human hosts, but so far the Souls and the humans have all died from each attempt. When a cut on Jamie's leg becomes infected, Jared sneaks Wanda out of camp so that she can obtain medical supplies from the Souls. This attempt is successful, and Wanda is soon allowed to go on another raid in order to procure food for the camp. Not long after, Wanda decides to tell Doc how to remove Souls from bodies properly and asks him to remove her from Melanie's body, then let her die. She declares her love to Ian before undergoing the procedure. To her surprise, Wanda wakes up in a new host human whose consciousness has not returned. In her new body, Wanda gains wide acceptance from the humans and is free to be in a relationship with Ian. Months later, Wanda is heading on a raid with Ian, Jared, and Melanie when they meet another group of humans who have a Soul named "Burns" in their group. The story concludes with Wanda and Burns agreeing on the strangeness of Earth. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Host (novel)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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