Title: Incarnate (Newsoul #1)
Author: Jodi Meadows
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins)
Acquired Via: Publisher
Release Date: January 31, 2012
NEWSOUL
Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.
NOSOUL
Even Ana's own mother thinks she's a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she'll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?
HEART
Sam believes Ana's new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana's enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else's life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?
Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.
My Review
This review was originally posted on my Goodreads profile on November 29, 2011 and was one of my first reviews.
Jodi Meadow’s debut, Incarnate, is a beautifully written young adult novel, in which she builds a fresh, new world made of very old souls. In it, humanity consists of a million souls that are reborn repeatedly in a magical land of dragons and sylphs.
The story focuses on Ana, a Newsoul who is born and taking the place of another soul who disappears mysteriously after five thousand years of existence. After eighteen years of being mistreated by her birth mother, Li, who believes that Ana is a nosoul, she sets out into the city of Heart to find out the answer to the question everyone has asked at some point – why am I here? During her journey, she meets Sam, the first person who she has real contact with besides her mother. Even though he has lived in different bodies for five thousand years, he also seems to be searching for something.
I found Incarnate to be a lovely example of science fiction/fantasy. Ana is a sweet, likeable character. Although she seems overly childlike at times, it works well in the story since all of the other characters have been around for millennia. The supporting characters were either deliciously dreadful or endearingly sweet, and played well off of Ana. Sam is an interesting character, to say the least, but he creeped me out a little for various reasons. Overall, I found the book to be a great read, and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
Buy Links
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To satisfy FTC guidelines, I am disclosing that I received an advance copy of the book for reviewing purposes from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are rambling, honest, and completely my own.
I tried to read this months ago after meeting Jodi Meadows but I had a lot of trouble staying with the story. Did you find it lagged and then picked up again? Because I might go back for a re-read if it is worth it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I would finish it now, to be honest. When I read it back then, I felt obligated to trudge through because it was a review copy, but I really didn't like Sam, and Ana was so whiny and helpless. All stars up there are given to the world-building alone. I guess I should be fair by saying that the world-building almost makes reading it worth it.
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