The Host

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The Host, by Stephenie Meyer

I think the Twilight series is pretty ridiculous, but I also think my kindred are too hard on Meyer (especially those who give their opinions without ever bothering to read one of the books). Her only crime is releasing her inner 12-year-old fangirl out into the world. So it's silly, sparkly, and swoony. Most girls have gone through a stage when that stuff is at least a tiny bit appealing. Maybe she just never had a chance to let it out, so it built up until it exploded in sparkles.

The important thing, though, is that The Host is a completely different book. She may try a little too hard for a happy ending, and she might not be Shakespeare, but in The Host she creates a world worth paying attention to. A quiet alien invasion from an alien point of view, huge moral dilemmas, and a quest through the desert - good ingredients for a surprisingly intriguing story.

My first thought when I started reading this was of the Animorphs series by K. A. Applegate. Similar alien species with an extra pinch of evil (or a thousand extra pinches). I'm not sure if my childhood love of Animorphs would survive a rereading now, but someday I intend to find out.