MANILA, Philippines - Sometimes it feels as if Stephenie Meyer came from another planet. Out of nowhere, the young mom from Utah produced "Twilight," a uniquely charming love story between a teenage girl and a vampire.

That bestseller, ostensibly targeted at young adults, spawned two sequels with a third appearing in August, as well as a feature film in the works, clearly embraced by more than its original market.

Meyer entranced her readers with a fresh take on young otherworldly romance, gingerly mixing in the horror elements, while making sure the dialogue sounded authentic. There was a guileless, excited quality to her writing that won you over.

Those same qualities are on display in her latest book, "The Host" ( Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2008, 620 pages), except now she introduces elements of science fiction with romance between a human and an alien.
There's just a little twist: That alien is inside another human. The closest analogy would be if "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" were a love story.

In "The Host," the world has been taken over by an alien race known as souls, delicate, shiny, liquid-like creatures that graft themselves unto the minds of other races.

Souls have almost completely taken over the Earth, living within humans and carrying on in a facsimile of previous earthly life, while only a tiny number of humans in hiding remain free of control by the beings they contemptuously dub "parasites."

The book begins innocuously enough, when a literal old soul named Wanderer is inserted into the body of human holdout Melanie Stryder, the soul beginning what would be her ninth life.
But Wanderer discovers the consciousness of the fiery woman Melanie is still in there, and the two wrestle for control, all told from the alien's point of view.

"The memory that was not mine was so frighteningly strong and clear that it sliced through my control-overwhelmed the detachment, the knowledge that this was just a memory and not me," Wanderer thinks.

Wanderer is deluged with memories of a brother named Jamie, and a beautiful man named Jared, Melanie's lover.

But when the Seeker, an alien who hunts free humans, pressures Wanderer to reveal where Jared and Jamie are hiding, Wanderer-with Melanie inside-flee in the hopes of protecting her loved ones and maybe even reuniting with them.

"The Host" then becomes more like the 1991 road movie "Thelma and Louise"-if an incorporeal Louise were possessing Thelma. But it is when she-they-actually find Jared that the true crisis begins.

The main attraction of "The Host" is Meyer's accessible, intriguing writing.
As in her previous work, the narrative is clear and sincere. Meyer's world-building is solid and detailed. The calmness, the silence of a world that had already been taken over, is eerie. It is a feeling you never quite lose all throughout "The Host."

It's a complicated situation, best exemplified by the uncertainty within the narrator as Wanderer and Melanie push and pull, both conflicted about what is going on. Meyer has built what is essentially a post-apocalyptic world that is a utopia, but only if you have an alien inside of you.

As a book, "The Host" is full of shiny trinkets, little bits of dialogue and description that sparkle, like the joy of a granola bar stolen from the overlords, or the absence of "The Brady Bunch" reruns.

Much like the "Twilight" books, some of "The Host" is uneven. The underground portion-basically the entire middle of the book-is flabby and tedious.

"The Host" starts to pop when Wanderer is launched into action, the urgency and the danger propelling the narrative forward. Those sections make up for the sappy sections and overly manicured ending.

Wanderer makes for an excellent narrator, likable and curious. Meyer manages to make the alien a distinct presence away from Melanie, unsure and afraid but determined, enough so that the readers will actually find themselves unknowingly, suddenly, cheering for the alien.

The strange thing is "The Host" has been billed as Meyer's "grown-up novel," yet the book is actually much less violent and lighter than the "Twilight" books, which were equally adored by older readers just as "The Host" would be a good read for the young adults as well.

It is literally the best of two worlds, and Meyer proves her "Twilight" success is no fluke.

Her sense of wonder is perfect for her heroine: "This place was truly the highest and the lowest of all worlds-the most beautiful senses, the most exquisite emotions, the most malevolent desires, the darkest deeds. Perhaps it was meant to be so."

If you liked Stephenie Meyer's work before, you will adore "The Host," a worthy new work from a creator who not only defies expectations but is also navigating her own undiscovered way, echoing the realization Wanderer makes: "Nothing like me had ever existed before."

Available in paperback from National Book Store.