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autumnwitch14's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Colonisation, Genocide, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: War, Cancer, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, and Child death
Minor: Alcohol, Self harm, Gun violence, Mental illness, Body shaming, Suicide, Torture, Dysphoria, Grief, and Bullying
beckyyreadss's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I wanted to read this book as I am wanting to read more books from authors I’ve enjoyed over the years. Twilight got me into reading so many moons ago and my copy of Twilight is so battered because it is such a comfort read for me. This wasn’t it for me and I can see why it didn’t become a series.
This book is based on Melanie Stryder, and she is refusing to fade away. Her world has been invaded by an unseen enemy that has taken over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. But Wanderer, the invading soul who has occupied Melanie’s body, finds its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. As Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of Jared, her boyfriend who lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a name she’s never met. Soon Wander and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.
I liked Melanie and Wanda in this book, I thought it was interesting about two sides being in the same body and how both boys could tell when they were fighting in her brain. Also, Jamie was just adorable and when I thought Stephenie was going to kill him off, I was getting ready to quit this book. I’m so glad he was alive and well and the only reason I would want this to be a series is for Jamie to have his own love story because he deserves the world. I love Jeb as well; I wanted him as an uncle he was so adorable and the way he is like it’s my house my rules and that’s final. I know a lot of people complain about the size of this book, I don’t know if there is an updated edition because this book was 318 pages and it felt like it was wrapped up in a nice neat bow by the end.
As much as I liked Melanie and Wanda in this book, the whole love triangle/square thing was weird. Melanie disappeared so Wanda got Jared to make out with her even though she liked Ian but couldn’t like Ian because Melanie liked Jared. It just gave me a headache sometimes throughout the book. Even though I didn’t get the bigger version of the book, there was times where it felt like information was repeated like we knew Kyle didn’t like Wanda and Wanda didn’t know how to feel and Melanie was in love with Jared, but it was just repeated, and it wasn’t needed. I don’t really do aliens books as well, those books and space theme books just hurt my head.
Overall, it was a wildly different experience than Twilight and if this was to be a series, I would prefer more of Jamie’s POV.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Colonisation
Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, and Cancer
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Grief
depmythmoon's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
“Love simply is where it is.” (pg. 44)
“You never know how much time you’ll have.” (pg. 80)
“Perhaps without the lows, the highs could not be reached.” (pg. 141)
This story follows our (2) main character(s) Wanderer/Wanda and Melanie. Wanda is a species called “souls” who require a host species for them to live. Wanda’s special because she’s lived on more planets than most other souls all the way back to The Origin, which is like their home planet. They have mostly invaded Earth, but there are some rebel groups and lone humans that remain, which is where Mel comes in. Her body is captured and given to Wanda, but the procedure doesn’t go as planned. We follow them and see the struggle of which alien will win out over the other; who will get to keep the body?
This book really felt like a blast to the past, when Twilight and Divergent were still popular. It is just the kind of story that younger me would have eaten up and developed an obsession with similar to the chokehold Twilight had me in as a kid. I’m kind of glad I didn’t read it at that time because I wouldn’t have had any rest from Wattpad and Fanfiction dot net. I also really liked Wanda as a character, overly self-sacrificing nature aside. This story does a good job at showing how complex—and sometimes hypocritical—we can be as humans as well as the intensity and illogical ways of love.
Now, my biggest gripe with this story has got to be the age gaps, lying about ages, and the abuse. Of course, you expect there to be some hostility when there’s an alien parading around in the body that belongs to the love of your life, but there are some things you just don’t do. Strike 1 was the fact that they’re 17 and 26 when they meet (I get there are some age gaps like this in real life, but tell me what a 17 y/o could offer to a 26 y/o?? End of the world be damned.) Strike 2 was the way Wanda was treated and collecting bruises and injuries like they were infinity stones just because she’s an alien. Strike 3 was the second underage relationship where the girl happily lies about turning 18 just so her man doesn’t feel guilty… and she’s proud of it. She’s not even 17 technically because her birthday was coming up and she added a year. That just ruined it for me cause there really is no reason Ms. Meyer couldn’t have made them AT LEAST 18 or even 21. Yuck.
I’m still going to watch the movie to see what was changed (their ages, hopefully) and what was kept. I’m genuinely kind of bummed that I can’t fully see where this story goes due to Ms. Meyer shifting her focus to the Twilight franchise, but the ending and epilogue were a decent stopping point if she chose not to go further.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Medical content, Physical abuse, Suicide, War, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Kidnapping
Minor: Toxic relationship
rafacolog's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.5
Tinha potencial
Nota 2/5= talvez merecesse mais
Leitura= 01/2014
Começando por uma coisa engraçada: eu não sabia que era da autora de Crepúsculo até eu ter terminado de ler. E depois de ter lido Crepúsculo me surpreendeu muito a diferença entre a escrita, esse livro é muito melhor nesse quesito e em desenvolvimento das protagonistas. O contexto de “apocalipse alienígena” é muito interessante, mas no geral poderia ser mais bem trabalhado.
Teve várias coisas que não me agradaram ao longo da história, e ainda sim eu daria uma nota boa. Mas a autora não colabora comigo. Como eu disse na resenha de Crepúsculo, ela não parece ter evoluído como pessoa, só sumiu das noticias e não fez nada para tentar corrigir a situação. Por mais que eu tenha gostado quando li, prefiro evitar dar mais palco para uma pessoa com acusações problemáticas que não tentou se retratar/mudar de alguma forma.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Violence, and Death
skillyillian's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
i reread this for the first time since i was 16-17 and it did not hold up as well as i had hoped. there's parts that are still good but some stuff just gave me the ick. The characters are really well built, with their own personalities and flaws, and the worldbuilding post-alien-takeover is intriguing. i liked hearing about the other alien races. the plot takes ages and ages to get going, and even then, the action parts are very minimal. it's 600 pages of wanda getting to know people and being scared of all of them.
my biggest complaint is the romance plot. Jared and ian are toxic as fuck in their own ways. they each have a girlfriend living inside the same body and don't respect the other woman they're sharing with. Ian wants Wanda but tends to ignore it when Wanda says Melanie doesn't like him touching them. Jared touches them but acts like Wanda isn't also feeling it. He ignores that she's in love with him and whenever Ian brings up Wanda's feelings about something, Jared is completely shocked that she would have an opinion or feelings in the first place. He's cruel to her for almost the entire time.
the other issue is that stephenie meyer continues to be someone who cannot let an FMC age above 20 years old. like at all. melanie and jared met when she was SEVENTEEN and he was TWENTY-SIX. i don't give a shit if you're the last humans on earth, knock that the hell off. if anything it worsens the power imbalance. and at the end, they go to find a new body for wanda and collectively choose an actual child. wanda lies about her body's age because ian is a "respectable man" so if he knows her age he won't want to be with her. but the entire time, from the second wanda becomes aware she's in another human body until the very end, it's made obnoxiously clear that she's teeny tiny itty bitty in every way. between those two things, there's not a chance they didn't realize she was a minor. turning 18 doesn't magically age you out of looking like, or being, a teenager. HAVE YA LOST YA MIND BOY, CUZ I'LL HELP YA FIND IT.
that's two different relationships, both of them main character end game romances, where there's a girl who is unquestionably and visibly a minor, who is with a much older man. melanie isn't a minor by the end of the book but it's still made clear that she and jared slept together before she was captured by the souls. this is the kind of shit that influences teenagers to think there's nothing wrong with a grown ass man flirting with them. at the very least, either age the girls up or make the men younger.
anyway, point being, the characters and world are thoroughly written, the plot is slow going, and stephenie meyer is yet another author who says her book is for adults but is writing FMCs that end up being just another tiny, translucently pale child bride. if she would change their ages so they're not children having sex with adults, and write people who respect the consent of everyone involved in a relationship, book would've been scored way higher.
my biggest complaint is the romance plot. Jared and ian are toxic as fuck in their own ways. they each have a girlfriend living inside the same body and don't respect the other woman they're sharing with. Ian wants Wanda but tends to ignore it when Wanda says Melanie doesn't like him touching them. Jared touches them but acts like Wanda isn't also feeling it. He ignores that she's in love with him and whenever Ian brings up Wanda's feelings about something, Jared is completely shocked that she would have an opinion or feelings in the first place. He's cruel to her for almost the entire time.
the other issue is that stephenie meyer continues to be someone who cannot let an FMC age above 20 years old. like at all. melanie and jared met when she was SEVENTEEN and he was TWENTY-SIX. i don't give a shit if you're the last humans on earth, knock that the hell off. if anything it worsens the power imbalance. and at the end, they go to find a new body for wanda and collectively choose an actual child. wanda lies about her body's age because ian is a "respectable man" so if he knows her age he won't want to be with her. but the entire time, from the second wanda becomes aware she's in another human body until the very end, it's made obnoxiously clear that she's teeny tiny itty bitty in every way. between those two things, there's not a chance they didn't realize she was a minor. turning 18 doesn't magically age you out of looking like, or being, a teenager. HAVE YA LOST YA MIND BOY, CUZ I'LL HELP YA FIND IT.
that's two different relationships, both of them main character end game romances, where there's a girl who is unquestionably and visibly a minor, who is with a much older man. melanie isn't a minor by the end of the book but it's still made clear that she and jared slept together before she was captured by the souls. this is the kind of shit that influences teenagers to think there's nothing wrong with a grown ass man flirting with them. at the very least, either age the girls up or make the men younger.
anyway, point being, the characters and world are thoroughly written, the plot is slow going, and stephenie meyer is yet another author who says her book is for adults but is writing FMCs that end up being just another tiny, translucently pale child bride. if she would change their ages so they're not children having sex with adults, and write people who respect the consent of everyone involved in a relationship, book would've been scored way higher.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, Self harm, Cancer, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Confinement, Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Colonisation, Kidnapping, and Medical content
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Sexual content
Minor: Gun violence
kaybeehome's review against another edition
Dragged on for too long. Thought it’d be more adventurous than this. Also, the fact that nearly everyone believed that Melanie was still alive inside her body was anticlimactic. I thought they would stay hostile towards Wanderer the whole time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Colonisation, and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and War
jessthanthree's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Suicide, Child death, Medical content, War, Violence, Blood, Terminal illness, Gore, Xenophobia, and Confinement
Minor: Alcohol, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Colonisation
refrejarator's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
One of my favourite romances at the moment - tense and mysterious in all the right places, and a tear-jerking, emotional whirlwind. Plus the love triangles are so fun, and have an interesting dynamic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Gun violence, Gore, War, Self harm, Medical content, Alcohol, and Death
fjordpingvin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Colonisation
Moderate: Blood and Cancer
messica's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It’s very clear this book is written by the author of Twilight. There’s even a weird sports interlude.
There’s also a pretty big age gap for no reason. You could remove the sentence that mentions their ages and it would have no impact on the book whatsoever. Weird choices, Stephanie.
Also, turns out I’m not into reading about people dying of thirst in a desert.
The plot is meandering and the pacing is chaotic. But I think if you enjoyed reading Twilight you would enjoy this book.
There’s also a pretty big age gap for no reason. You could remove the sentence that mentions their ages and it would have no impact on the book whatsoever. Weird choices, Stephanie.
Also, turns out I’m not into reading about people dying of thirst in a desert.
The plot is meandering and the pacing is chaotic. But I think if you enjoyed reading Twilight you would enjoy this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, War, Body horror, Violence, Self harm, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, and Confinement