TBB ▲: REVIEW: INCARNATE BY JODI MEADOWS.

Title: Incarnate
Author: Jodi Meadows
Series: Newsoul #1
Edition: Hardbound
Publication: January 31, 2012 by Katherine Tegen Books
Source: Bought from FullyBooked
Pages: 374
Genre: Utopia, Fantasy, Romance

Synopsis:

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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First, look at its lovely cover. Second, read its fresh synopsis. Then think of its sweet and beautiful author. Who wouldn't be captured by this book? It took me months to get hold of a copy and I could say that after finishing it in a day, it was all worth the wait and money.

Ana is the only Nosoul/Newsoul ever existed in the history of Heart, a place where souls have been reincarnated over the last thousands of years. She came instead of Ciana's soul. Since she is an anomaly, her mother Li, raised her outside Heart in a place called Range and abused her tremendously. On her eighteenth birthday, she decides to leave her mother and go into a quest to discover who she is and what went amiss. And on her way to Heart, she is rescued by Sam and becomes her friend. Now they both have to face the truth about what lies ahead.

I asked Jodi on Twitter when did Incarnate happen and she said it was in the 331st Year of the Hunger. I really didn't get that at all because obviously, I had issues understanding the time when it took place but the world she built for Incarnate was very mythical and fanciful. At some point, I was actually waiting for a Unicorn to appear. There were dragons then laser blasts so I got confused. It was old yet new and according to Jodi, the era when these all happened would be explained further in Incarnate 3.

There are moments when I sympathized with Ana. The pain she had to go through all her life isn't something one can correct and heal in a day and I definitely couldn't blame her if she have trust issues. There are moments as well that I completely disagree with her especially when she's being stubborn but just let it go for I think the entirety of her character makes justice to it. Sam on the other hand is very unpredictable. One moment he's gentle and caring the next he's lost and secretive. Though I loved all of the things he have done for Ana especially his music which is something I didn't really see coming, maybe I may have hoped for a romance a little bit aggressive than what he'd shown in this book. Their friendship slowly turned to something refreshingly sweet and funny and just when I was about to get complacent, Li's character really added spice to the story. The way I almost threw the book because I was so pissed off at her means that it did affect me. Without the hate I guess, the story would be a little blunt because the romance almost took forever to progress and the action part took the last hundred pages of the book.

Truly, the last hundred pages answered some of the questions Ana and I had. The transition from its slow-paced romance to its fast-paced fight scenes was drastic that I felt like I was left behind. A lot of things happened at the same time and honestly, there are some points there that was left unanswered and a lot didn't make sense to me. I felt sad after.

The gravity of my confusion is heavy that my expectations failed me. I want to love Incarnate so much but I know I have to get books two and three to completely comprehend the consistency and secrets in it. No, I didn't hate it, I actually fell in love with the characters, that fantastic world, humor, freshness of the plot and the lovely cover. And I don't want to stop there.