Complex society and complex plot.  I’m amazed this is for teen readers.  Brand new look at how fantasy could be.  But I should of guess it would come from Garth Nix.  If you want adventure and a new sense of magic you should read this series.

The story is set in a world that has been cast into darkness and you have two classes of people.  Those who live in the castle that is tall enough to escape outside the darkness and those who live on the ground cast into darkness to live.  The two main characters come for the class one from each.  As there world collide they have to find a way to save each others families.

I know I’m terrible I should give more detail.  Here is the review from amazon:

Tal, a Chosen of the Orange Order, is having the worst luck lately. Just when he is getting ready for the Day of Ascension–a day when all the 13-year-old Chosen from the Castle of Seven Towers enter the spirit world of Aenir–his father disappears with the family’s only primary Sunstone, which Tal needs for the ascension. Without it, he cannot enter Aenir and bind himself to a Shadowspirit–a kind of guardian being that serves as a friend and protector to the person it is bound to. And without a Shadowspirit, Tal will lose both his Chosen status and any hope of finding a cure for his mother’s mysterious wasting illness, a cure that can only come from Aenir. Tal tries to beg, borrow, and even steal a Sunstone. But his attempts fail, and in his final act of thievery, Tal is thrown off the Castle of Seven Towers by a powerful Shadowspirit Keeper and into an adventure beyond his imagining. –Jennifer Hubert

Here is a direct link to amazon for the first book:

http://www.amazon.com/Fall-Seventh-Tower-1/dp/0439176824/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276539884&sr=8-1

For those of you who don’t know what The Host is.  It is Stephenie Meyer first book that is not part of the Popular Twilight series (I plan to have a full twilight series review when I finish the last book in the next few weeks.)

I have to say that this book is really a science fictions buff dream.  I’m not going to lie that the romance is a little awkward for me and probably most guys, but putting that aside, the world that Stephanie has created was great.

The number one great part about this book is how Stephenie has pulled of the science fiction part of it.  The average non Si-Fi buff could still enjoy this book.  There is almost no steep learning curve or acquired transition into a different universe.  Stephenie does such a great job of making the new world apart of the story instead of just plopping a character into a unknown universe and expecting the reader to just pick up the atmosphere as they go.  Learning about the society and culture is ingrained into the actual plot that you really don’t realise the change.

I even have to admit the complex relationship that The Host creates for the main character is very interesting.  The drama doesn’t feel like drama, but more of suspense and intrigue.  I love this about the book.  I didn’t ever feel like the author was throwing in a random event just to make the book longer and more problematic for the main character.  I really can stand when bad things just happen with loosely tided connections to the plot.  Every moment in The Host, seem to fit and make since.

This book is definitely written for a more adult audience.  It is also important to understand that this book is very clean.  I think some people I’ve talk to in the past about the book, get the wrong impression when it was advertised for an adult audience.  But it takes a person who wants to have a more en-depth plot then twilight to really enjoy this book.  Not saying twilight doesn’t have a deep plot.  The Host is just deeper and has more levels of complexion then Twilight has.

So FOUR Stars for The Host, Five if your a true Si-Fi fan who likes rich plots.