Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Title: Incarnate
Author: Jodi Meadows
Series: Newsoul, #1
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Katherine Tegen (Imprint of HarperCollins)
Date Published: January 31st, 2012
Edition: Paperback
Source: ARC (Provided by Publisher)
Rating:

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.

My Review:

Incarnate is an incredible debut novel that deserves lots of praise. Jodi Meadows has created a very unique story in a world that is so different from the normal paranormal books we get on the market these days. No vampires or werewolves to be found in this world. But what you will find is reincarnation morphed into immortality, a temple with no doors and what appears to be a heartbeat, and of course dragons and sylphs attacking the townspeople.

What I loved most about this book was the world. It’s so unique and her take on reincarnation is both fascinating and a little bit disconcerting as well. The most unsettling part about the reincarnation is that each person doesn’t necessarily come back as the same gender. So all these people have been mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons to everyone else. I know it sounds a bit crazy, but what I do like about this is that it really makes you think about how much appearances can affect your own judgement. If the love of your life came back as the same sex as you, would you still be able to love them like you did in your past lives?

But aside from the technical aspects of the novel, the love story between Sam and Ana is incredibly sweet and endearing. Sam is such a sweetheart and Ana is pretty innocent to everything considering no one taught her anything about life growing up. So it was sweet to watch their interactions and growing feelings for each other.

If you’re in the mood for something different from the normal paranormal, then I’d definitely recommend this one. It’s a unique blend of other-worldly fantasy, and while it’s not quite a dystopian, it definitely has dystopian elements mixed in. Overall it’s a beautiful story about searching for not only ones place in a world full of strangers, but an inner search for oneself as well.

Read more reviews & Buy it up!