Review: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
Author: Jodi Meadows
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books
Length: 374 pages
Original Publishing Date: January 31st, 2012
Series: Newsoul #1
Where I got it: Audiobook from the e-library
Links: Goodreads Amazon Author's Website
Synopsis from Goodreads:
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.
Main characters: 3/5
Ana had this helpless thing going on that I'm not a fan of, but ultimately I simply found her a little bland. It was hard for me to understand why Sam found her so fascinating, other than her novelty.
Sam, on the other hand, was fascinating to me because of his past lives and the curiousness of what that meant in his and Ana's relationship. The part where Ana borrows his dress from his past life as a woman? So weird. And I like that. Something that has me scratching my head like that is memorable.
I like the pace of their romance, although because I wasn't sold on Ana, I wasn't completely sold on the couple.
Secondary characters: 1.5/5
Thoroughly underdeveloped. I would have liked to see more of Stef because she threw an interesting wrench into Sam and Ana's relationship. Li was plain nasty and I didn't see any redeeming or even vaguely human qualities about her. The others simply all blended together, with no distinguishing characteristics.
Writing style: 2.5/5
Sometimes the writing style felt like a fairy tale to me, and not in a good way. It had this whimsical feeling that I don't know was intentional. I missed that gritty realism of the world; part of it was lacking in the plot and premise, and part in the writing style. Meadows was a little flippant in her descriptions that would have added gravity to plot and the world.
Plot: 2/5
A very cool premise, but a very lacking plot. The idea of a world where everyone knows each other and reincarnates except one is fascinating, but the execution fell flat. As I mentioned earlier, it had this childish fairy tale evocation that I wasn't a fan of, and the major plot points were there, but didn't have the meaning and purpose that I wanted from them. The dragons and sylphs seemed abruptly tossed in, not meaningful. Even the major conflict and climax seemed uninteresting and I wasn't buying in.
Ending: 2/5
I got a little confused at the end as the writing became rushed and the plot events meshed together. I was also a little disappointed in the set-up to the sequel. What was Soul Night? Why was the Menehem arc so rushed?
Best scene: The one where Ana spots Sam in pictures of himself in previous lives
Reminded Me Of: The Eternal Ones meets Through the Ever Night
Positives: The premise, Sam
Negatives: Helpless Anna, secondary characters, execution of the plot, rushed climax and ending
Cover: I love the colors of this cover, but the font is yucky and I'm just not into butterflies
Verdict: A fascinating and unique premise that did not work for me.
Rating: 4.4 / 10 (2 stars)
Your Thoughts: Have you read it? What did you think? If you haven't, will you be adding it to your TBR list? Let me know!
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