Book Review: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

INCARNATE:

Published: January 31, 2012

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Format: Hardcover

Page Count: 384 pages

Source: Amazon.com

Series: Book One in the Newsoul Trilogy

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 no soul, 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' life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

"Incarnate was beautiful and thought-provoking. Jodi Meadows is a master storyteller that crafted a gorgeous debut novel that leaves me begging for the sequel."

I've been wanting needing Incarnate since August 2011. When January 31 came around the corner and the UPS woman brought it to my door, I was beyond excited. When I started it and finished it only one day later, I knew that this review was going to be possibly my most positive review ever.

For thousands of years in the mysterious country of Range, souls have been reincarnated over and over, each soul living hundreds of lives. All peace was in balance until one day that a soul disappeared, and a new soul appeared. The new soul was Ana. Fast forward 18 years: Ana's guardian Li is kicking her out. Ana doesn't mind because she's wanted to escape Li for 18 years. When Ana gets attacked by sylph in the forest and saved by a peculiar boy named Sam, Ana is now convinced to find out why she was born and why Ciana, the soul that disappeared, vanished. The only place to go find out why is Heart, a large capitol with a library that could tell her why she was born. Sam will take Ana to Heart under his care to help her. But when dragons and sylph begin to attack Heart, people begin to want Ana to leave in fear that she is bringing this to Heart because she has never been reincarnated -- she's a nosoul. But Sam and Ana will stick by each other forever, but what if the problems surrounding them close in on them too much?

Incarnate was a beautiful story that made me stay up until midnight to read the entire book. And when I turned the last page, I think my heart shattered. This book leaves the reader breathless and dying for the sequel.

First, the writing style. Absolutely and utterly brilliant. I will admit that this book had some slow parts, but this book is one of the only books that makes me love the slow parts because either the beautiful writing style is distracting me, or the story, characters and writing style are just so wonderful, I don't care! Jodi Meadows is a wonderful writer, and she's a debut author. She's got talent.

Next, the characters. Ana is a strong character who does have her flaws, and she does depend on other characters (Sam), but she doesn't only depend on Sam. I'm going to have say that Sam was my favorite character. He was strong, quirky, and just so nice to Ana, and I couldn't help but enjoy reading about his character. Li is a horrible character. I hate her. I can't stand to even read about her! That's how talented Jodi Meadows is. She made one of her wicked characters slip into my mind and flip my mind upside down when I was reading about her. And I loved every second of it. Wonderful!

Then, we have the setting of Heart. I loooove the city of Heart! There's a huge white wall, and it has a heartbeat. How awesome is that?! And here comes back to Jodi Meadows' writing style: just the description of everything in the book, whether it be sylph, Heart, or Sam and Ana walking down a cobblestone road, I was mesmerized each time. This novel is pure gold.

Overall, Jodi Meadows' debut novel did not disappoint whatsoever, and now has become one of my favorite books of this year -- and of all time! I highly recommend you go get this novel!

My Rating: