Book Review: Incarnate (Newsoul #1) by Jodi Meadows

Release Date: January 31, 2012
Author: Jodi Meadows
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Length: 374 pages

"New soul

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.

No soul

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."

Review:

Characters: Ana has always been told that she is no one, no soul. So in return she has always felt like she cannot love or be happy like a normal person could. That is until she leaves her malevolent mother to go search for who she is and how she came to be. During her journey she is rescued by Sam, a caring man who doesn't see her as a nosoul, but instead as a newsoul. During their time together Ana grows more confident in herself and the things she does. She still has seeds of pessimism and, at times, doubts others kindness towards her.

Romance: Ana's romance with Sam is neither an insta-love or an opposites attract slow burn, but more of a combination of the two. It's a romance grown from friendship and trust, and I was surprised to see it blossom since it's not necessarily something I've seen in YA literature before. I liked the growth of their friendship and how the two characters complimented each other so well.

World-Building: When I first head about this book I thought it was a dystopian novel, however it's more of a fantasy/paranormal than anything else. The world is populated by one million humans who have constantly been reincarnated to live another life with all of their previous memories. Also in this world live dragons and other mythological creatures, including sylph who are shadowy creatures who burn like fire. I was particularly drawn to the sylph since I haven't read about them in any mythos before and loved learning about them. Range, the land in which the incarnate souls live, is presided over by Janan the god who supposedly created humans and reincarnates their souls, though many believe that he does not exist since he has not shown himself.

Predictability: I loved the suspense and mystery in this book, I was captivated by the different ways the story could go, and even more so by the ways it did go. There was a time or two where I could see something coming but the rest of the time I was blind to the future and I loved it. The foreshadowing was intense but it was weaved in a way that left the reader wondering what could happen.

Ending: The ending wasn't exactly a cliffhanger but it was full of all the information I'd been burning to know while reading this book. I couldn't believe half the stuff said nor could I believe half of the things that happened. The ending was crazy and had a lot of exposition that set up the next installment. The very end was slightly plateaued with a resounding declaration that left me burning to read Asunder.

Overall, I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. It was a wild ride full of mystery and excitement, all wraped up in a unique interpretation on reincarnation.

P.S. If you want to win a copy of Asunder, the next installment in this series please head over to my Giveaways/Contests page to enter for your chance to win. Also, we just hit 100 followers, my giveaway of The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa will start this Tuesday with a review of the first book in the series, The Iron King be sure to enter then. Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@FlyeZachary93) as well to stay up to date on my reviews of the hottest YA series.