Book Review: Incarnate

Book info

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.

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My Thoughts About This Book:

This is a book I have had on my shelves for years. It has moved to several houses. I figured it was probably time to pick it up! This book initially grabbed me from the cover. As it is so gorgeous. To be perfectly honest I expected it to be better than it was. Perhaps because it was a beautiful cover, I figured it must be better, more dramatic, and ultimately fantastic. I guess this teaches me not to buy a book solely for the cover. Regardless of how pretty it looks on my shelf.

The premise of this story is that Ana, the main character. She is new in a town were new souls aren't created people are just incarcerated. In Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over. Their memories are present, and they know about everything from their previous lives. This all changed when Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

I won't go into the details of the story as I don't want to spoil anyone. This is a hard book to describe without ruining it for everyone. Instead, I want to talk about how the writing was. I enjoyed the author's prose and the message that this book carried. To me, this book was speaking about peace and an underlining hope for our future. It explores how society could have a positive outcome over the sad and bleak results that seem to plague dystopian fiction. Which yes I do understand is the point of dystopian novels, but I still like this change.

The romance in this book isn't revolting and is developed. It is a realistic relationship pace which I was beginning to think was impossible for young adult literature. It isn't instant-love, and it isn't love at a snail's pace. It is a breath of fresh air in my opinion.

The way this book dealt with the changing of genders was just bizarre to me. I understand that gender can be a sensitive topic, so I won't get into that black hole. I was really excited when I found out that this book could potentially explore what life could be like genderless or one gender. After all in my opinion gender is really just something society sets on us. For me, this part of the book just confused me. The point I am referencing is when Anna gets jealous of her boyfriend's curves from back when he was a woman in one of his past lives. I just couldn't understand or grasp that thought formulation.

Personally in my opinion Incarnate could have been excellent. It could have been a favorite of mine. It had so much possibility with the use of nature and reincarnation. It could have used the concept of souls in such a better and more profound way. It could have been an in-depth book that invokes meaning and personal reflection. It didn't though, so it is just a bit flat.