Review: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Title: Incarnate

Author: Jodi Meadows
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Publishing Date: January 31, 2012

Pages/Format: 374, Hardcover

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.

Initial Reaction of Book in One Word: GREAT

Going into this book, I really had no idea what to expect; I just knew that the cover was pretty. Now that I've read the book, I must say that it's better than I thought it was going to be. I have almost no complaints, though there were some frustrations (I'll explain later). All I really want is to dive straight into Asunder--thank goodness I have a copy!

I'll start with the very few negatives. I really like how quick this book was to read, and how it was fast-paced. However, for the first few chapters it was too fast, and I felt like I had missed a prequel or something. Other than that, my only issue was being a little confused with who was who (some unusual names) and not understanding how some things worked.

And then there were my frustrations. (Minor spoilerish alert. Sort of.) To explain: I did this, more than once (but on a pillow or on carpet).

To sum it up even more, I was talking to Jenna from Making the Grade about Incarnate, and she tweeted this. PERFECT.

The tension was just...GAH! Jodi Meadows, you killed me!

Anyway. Back to the rest of the book. The concept--souls being reincarnated, and then one not and a newsoul/nosoul showing up--was really interesting and different. And the humans weren't alone--they had enemies, like sylphs and trolls and DRAGONS. It was a kind of dystopian/contemporary world, mixed in with some fantasy. (Don't quote me on that. I'm horrible at classifying genres.)

I liked the characters that were meant to be liked. Ana was her own person--literally. As far as anyone knows, she's the only newsoul in existence. She's had it hard, getting crap for being a newsoul, as well as being raised by Li. (I hate Li.) Sam was just...*happy sigh* It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that male characters named Sam are very desirable. Seriously. There's Sam from the Wolves of Mercy Falls, and now's there this one--he just makes my heart pitter-patter, and he's so nice. I love him. 

The writing was nice and readable, with some great detail, but not too much. As I mentioned earlier, Incarnate is fast-paced, but sometimes it really worked for Ana's story. She's trying to figure out why she was created and how--can it happen again? Will she be reincarnated? Does she have a soul? And Jodi Meadows has a way with words. Exhibit A: Chapter 21. (MY HEART. THE BUTTERFLIES.) Exhibit B (page 242): 

"I hate being a teenager."

"Why?"

"Hormones."

Thank you for that, Jodi! 

I'm shaking my head, wondering why I just read this book when it's been out for a year. (Shame on me!) Incarnate was excellent, full of action, sexual tension (frustrations!), cool characters, and a very interesting world full of similarly interesting concepts. (A wall with a pulse? A strange temple? Say what?) This book has all kinds of FEELS, people. You want the feels. Therefore, you should read this book. In the meantime, appreciate the stunning cover and pine for an awesome butterfly mask--I'll be making my way toward Asunder, which I can't wait to read. My eyes are officially on (and my nose in) this series.

Did I like it? A LOT.

Did I love it? Not 100%, but there's definitely some love.
Would I reread it? Yes.

Would I purchase it? I WANT IT NOW.
Would I recommend it? Absolutely!