His Golden Eyes :: Spicing up the souls!

lizardoverlord · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 3:31 am

Alright, I'm almost done with The Host. As I read it, though, the soul society is just... really dry. They're all too perfect, too honest, too harmonious. They're all monotonous, with no deviants in the mix of this species. Everybody (abeit Wanda) is the same.

Do you think *beep* will do something more interesting with them? By this, I mean that the souls only seem perfect on the exterior. We need a little dysutopia in a society of "perfect" souls. Maybe an outside force is controlling them, or there are some souls out there that keep the others in check, eliminating any that mess up their world (Seekers=Not just hunt down wild humans, but also destroy souls that don't follow the moral code or act out). It'd be Brave New World, but involving aliens instead of humans.

Does anyone else think that the souls could use a little spice? After all, no person (or soul) is exactly the same.

blondiblairy · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 12:01 pm

but if you remember, the souls thought they were better than the humans because they aren't violent. They all conform. So if, the souls had a little bit of spice, the story wouldn't have been the same at all. Sure, SM mentioned that not all hosts are suitable hosts, which is why they have a mentor that they talk to until they fully adjust to the host body. If anything abnormal was happening, the mentor would notice, so the body can be disposed of and a new host can be found.

There was a little bit of the "Brave New World" were talking about, but not much.

twitina · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 10:09 pm

The souls are all essentially one being - they split themselves apart into individual cells to 'give birth' to their young. They have a shared memory of sorts. They are too alike, but it has worked on every other planet.

The 'spice' is introduced when they come to Earth - to take over a very complex and different species. Suddenly, souls are becoming more human, trying to keep their human counterparts 'alive', becoming violent (the seeker), keeping human babies human, etc.

I think that may be the way Steph approaches a sequel - how the souls are altered by being 'human', the war goes on because souls are helping the humans - they are working together. It would be interesting to see where it could go.