ARC Review: Jodi Meadows - Incarnate

Jodi Meadows - Incarnate

(Newsoul #1)

• Pub Date: January 31, 2012
• Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s Books
• Format: eGalley
• Age Range: Young Adult

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 suspicious and 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.

I received this book from Net Galley. Here's my honest review.

I honestly didn't think I would like this one. At all. Seriously. The beginning made this book sound so strange and out there. And it didn't waste any time diving right in. I didn't feel like I had all the information needed to make conclusions and follow the story properly. But eventually, after I put this book down, read something else, and picked it back up, I was hooked. This book absorbed me, even with the dragons, sylph, and reincarnated souls.

I have a few questions, like about having children, the other parts of the world, etc. But I really enjoyed seeing things from Ana's perspective. She's not a reincarnated soul, and her mother didn't raise her very well, so she doesn't have the knowledge she needs to live a real life in this world. She runs away to try and find out who she is, what she is, etc, and she is saved by Sam. She has big trouble trusting him, which is understandable. But when she finds out who Sam really is, things really start to pick up. I was able to focus on their relationship enough so that the dragons (which aren't really my thing) didn't take away from the story. By the time they became a bigger part of the novel, I was already so into it that it was okay. It might have helped me expand my book horizons. Who knows!

Sam was a very good male character. I don't know about him becoming my new favorite, but I enjoyed his presence for sure. Mmhmm ;o)

What I liked:

• Original idea. I read a lot, and I love when I come across a book that's different. This one is definitely a unique concept. The whole soul thing really intrigued me.
• Sam. He's precious. He's mysterious. He's kind. He's melt-worthy. I pretty much loved Sam.
• Ana. I also really liked Ana. She's so confused with her new reality because she grew up so sheltered. It comes across properly. I love it.

What I didn't like:

• Open questions. I don't know if we'll even get the answers in other books, which makes me nervous. I want to know about having children, about other areas of the world, etc. I guess we'll have to wait to find out!
• Slowness at the beginning. I was pretty confused at the beginning. There wasn't enough explained to me to understand for a while. But then I got it. Good book.

Bottom Line: I definitely recommend this one as a unique YA read with a great male character. Book-boyfriend material.

Rating:

3.5 / 5 book sharks