Incarnate (Incarnate Trilogy, #1)

by Jodi Meadows

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.

• ISBN10: 0062060767
• ISBN13: 9780062060761
• Publish Date: 2 January 2013 (first published 31 January 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[inlibrisveritas]

Incarnate has been sitting on my shelf for several years. It was a cover-buy while at Goodwill and I honestly hadn’t really thought about reading it until this year when I set about cleaning off my bookshelves again. Unfortunately, this one sort of skated along the very middle of the road and remained a bit underwhelming for its entirety.

Incarnate has some really amazing ideas swirling around it. It has reincarnation which has an air of mystery to it because the ‘why’ is something debated upon, especially when Ana is born. Ana is someone who has never been reborn and is a reminder of their permanent loss of someone everyone had known for thousands of years. It also deals with a more fluid concept of love which hinges on the idea of soul mates and loving someone even when they no longer look the same. I think both of these things were really well done and added something fairly unique to the YA playing field. I even liked the whole mystery surrounding the city of Heart with its seemingly magical existence and entryless Temple. I didn’t really get why there were dragons and slyphs, though I suspect those answers will come in later books but I would have appreciated some more insight as to why they are a source of semi-constant antagonism to Heart.

I think most of my problems lie in the character department. I didn’t dislike any characters, but I also didn’t really like any of them either. Ana is somewhat interesting with her love of music and desire to learn everything she can, something the others seems to shrug off because they’ve been around for a long time. However, her impulsive and defensive attitude (justifiable by the way) were sort of one-note after a while. Sam fell into the same category in terms of leaving no lingering thoughts. He was sweet and thoughtful, and they balance each other out well….but they sort of form this ‘blink and you’ll miss them’ pair. A lot of this book is spent witnessing Ana grow and learn in a society she knows little about, and struggle with the fact that she’s a stranger in a place where everyone knows everyone else. We get a few teases here and there of the overall story that surrounds her being a Newsoul and the city of Heart…but it’s not something that comes into focus until the end, which was disappointing. We did get answers, but it was so late in the book I had kind of given up hope that it would be touched on at all.

I’m not sure if I’ll continue the series. It’s by no means a bad read, as it has a certain ease to it that I really enjoyed, but it just didn’t capture my attention in any particular way.

[Vicki]

3.5 stars

[Chelsea]

Initial Thoughts

The concept was really cool. It kind of reminded me of the Blue Bloods series a little bit for whatever reason. The idea was that when people die they reincarnate into whatever baby is born next. It was a little weird that they could be boys or girls though. I'm not sure how I feel about that one.

My New Best Friend

I loved Sam's best friend. I cannot remember her name and my book is too far away to go get it. BUT she was awesome. She was so much fun and kept Sam in line.

My Crush

Obviously my crush was Sam. He was the main male character and was pretty awesome. He didn't seem to care about what anyone thought of him, which was a nice change. Also he was a crazy talented musician. Very attractive. He wasn't like the typical guys you read about. When he first feel in love with Ana it wasn't the whole I'll die if I'm not with you kind of thing. It was a lot more realistic than most novels.

Writing Style

I loved the world the author created. It was refreshing and new. Some parts weren't as well written as others, so it wasn't very consistent. You could, however, tell that the author tried really hard.

Closing Thoughts

This book was really good, but it didn't make it into my favourites. There was something missing. Maybe it was that I didn't connect with the main character. She seemed way to stupid to exist. I understand that she had a rough upbringing, but she had NO self-confidence. It was sad but annoying when you're reading it. I also thought the random dragon attacks were a little strange. The dragons weren't really necessary I found. They had some small parts but there was never an explanation or anything about them. It was random in a mostly normal world.

Bonus

Only my absolute favourite books get a bonus. This one didn't have one.

Quote

“There's always the option of deciding for yourself who you are and what you'll become.”

[Stephanie]

I really did not know what I was getting myself into when I started this book. All I knew was that it involved reincarnation. I did NOT know it involved dragons, sylphs, some creepy wall with a heart beat, and a relationship with a 5,000 year age difference.

For the most part, I really did like Incarnate. It was very unique and strange. I felt like the book focused a lot on Ana and Sam's relationship, which I don't know how I feel about. Physically, Sam and Ana are the same age, but Sam's soul is 5,000 years old. He's been around the block a time or two with many different people, were as Ana has no idea what sex is or what in entails.

I really just don't know how to wrap my head around this idea. A million souls constantly being reincarnated, sometimes being a man one life, then being a woman another life. How does one's soul deal with this change? I'm sure after 5,000 years you would get used to it and get to know everyone and learn who your friend's and enemies are, but that is lightly touched on in the story. Most of the time it's about people hating on Ana and Ana trying to figure out why she was born in the first place.

Incarnate is written beautifully. Sometimes I felt like the writing made the story move a little slower, but then it would pick up again and get kind of exciting. Sometimes it felt like I had to push myself to read, but once I got into it, I was good to go.

I did enjoy Incarnate, with it's very strange world. I would say the world was what kept me reading. I kept wanting to know more about the world and all it's creatures, even though that wasn't the main focus of the story. Overall, I enjoyed it enough to read the second book in the series.

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

This review is also posted at Pages Unbound Book Reviews.

Meadows builds a compelling and imaginative world in Incarnate, bringing readers to a place where everyone lives multiple lives and everyone knows everyone else. Readers will be fascinated, pondering what it might be like to have infinite time to accomplish everything they have ever dreamed or how interesting it would be to meet the inventors of literally every great invention. Meadows also gives readers much to think about in their own mortality. Eighty years to her characters is a very short time; readers should learn to make the most of their own lives.

Ana, the protagonist, walks the line between souls and readers. As a newsoul, she has no idea whether she will be reincarnated like everyone else. As far she knows, she has one life to live the best she can—and as carefully as she can. She cannot risk the same heroics as the souls. It takes some time, however, before Ana comes to a point where she might consider heroics at all. For a large portion of the book, she is defensive and distrusting—understandable due to her abusive upbringing and the frequent hatred she encounters from people whom she has never even met. Some readers might find her early behavior unappealing, but it is in fact realistic considering her circumstances and may resonate with readers who have faced similar difficulties in their lives. Ana ultimately has a beautiful heart, which should endear her to a number of readers.

Helping Ana overcome her distrust is the kind and talented Sam, who of course fills the role of love interest. (This much is obvious from the scene where they first meet.) The romance in Incarnate is beautiful and caring. Sam might have the same issue as Edward Cullen, in that he is much older than the girl he would like to woo, but Meadows actually makes it work. Sam explains exactly why he has fallen in love with Ana, and it rings true.

Incarnate has a quiet and creative beauty about it, drawing readers subtly into a whole new world. The first part of the book is exploration; the second part brings in more intense plot elements considering Ana’s existence and the nature of the religion in this world. Altogether, a fascinating book that could stand well enough on its own, but is preparing to lead into an even more ambitious sequel.

[Ashley]

Book Nook — Young Adult book reviews

Incarnate was really conflicting for me. There are parts I enjoyed, and parts I really didn't like. I was nervous going into it because I have friends who ABSOLUTELY FREAKING LOVE it, and I have friends who ABSOLUTELY FREAKING DESPISE it. Crazy, huh? I happen to fall somewhere in the middle.

I quickly realized that I did not like Ana as a character. I tried to force myself to remember and understand that she was kind of emotionally abused as a child. Her mother raised her to believe that she was a worthless piece of crap. But even so, it bugged me to see Ana being so self-critical, even when all the evidence was pointing to the contrary. Every single time she opened her mouth, it was to say things like:

"Everybody hates me!"
"I'm a nosoul, I can't love."
"People don't want to greet me, they want to gawk at me."
"Maybe you're just my friend because you pity me."

That's some major paraphrasing, but you get the point. Even though she obviously wasn't a nosoul (she had a soul, it was just brand new, so that made her a newsoul), she insisted that she was. Even though she obviously felt love, joy, and even hatred, she insisted that she was incapable of loving (because that's what her mother said). Even though I knew where this attitude was coming from—and could understand it to a certain degree—I started getting really annoying and frustrated when it continued throughout the ENTIRE book. I just wanted Ana to grow up and quit doubting anyone and everyone around her. I honestly thought she acted more like a hormonal 13/14 year old than an 18 year old.

I'll talk about one thing I did like: the story. I LOVE the idea of reincarnation. I love the world they live in. I love the dragons. I love the histroy. All of it! I was really interested to learn more about their society and their lives and how it all works. It was pretty fascinating! For me, it was all in the unique fantasy details: the pulsing walls of Heart, the dragons that mysteriously attack the same place, the strange religious undertones.. However, I did start to have some problems with the idea of reincarnation when romance got involved...

When people are reincarnated, sometimes they are male and sometimes they are female. I thought it was really sweet we learned about these two people who were soulmates. Every time they were reincarnated, they found one another and could be together. At first they kept killing each other until they were reincarnated as different genders and the same age, but eventually their love overcame that and they just lived together despite it all. I thought it was really sweet and romantic! But for some reason, I got a little creeped out by Ana and Sam's situation. A romance develops between Ana and Sam. When Sam brings her to his house for the first time and puts her in a room clearly intended for a girl, she asks why he had that room prepared for a visitor. He replied stating that it's his bedroom for when he gets reincarnated as a girl. Ana then proceeded to wear his female clothes (but not the underwear, thank goodness). I just couldn't help but constantly be reminded that sometimes Sam is a girl, sometimes he's a guy, sometimes people are his parents, sometimes they're his playmates, sometimes he dates them... it all just got too weird for me.

I was also never sold on Ana and Sam's relationship in general. I tried to put the whole male/female/etc. thing aside, but even so, I never fell in love with their romance. There was a really obvious point in the story where their romance started..abruptly. Up until that point I only saw friendship, then suddenly the room was loaded with sexual tension. I was just like...where the heck did that come from?? Did I miss something? Overall, I think Sam seemed like a really shallow character. I would read chapters where Ana was totally swooning over him, but I felt absolutely nothing. I also felt like there was no chemistry between Sam and Ana. That's kind of a big problem for me when looking at the series overall, because I feel like soulmates will play a huge role in future books (it was only introduced in this one). If I'm not really feeling their romance, I feel like I won't even be able to enjoy that at all.

There were a few other parts of the story that felt extremely abrupt. Sometimes I literally felt like I was missing big transitioning parts of the story because I just had no idea where they were coming from. For example, at one point there is a dragon attack. Everyone is scrambling around, finding shelter, or attacking the dragons. Ana kind of rescues Sam at one point and he's like, "I'm sorry! I wanted to be brave for you!" Then suddenly, at least an entire chapter later, he's majorly depressed. Ana seems to know exactly what the problem is (a little PTSD dragon attack kind of thing) but I felt like I didn't catch onto it AT ALL. After the attack I thought he seemed fine. But then later he was freaking out so I didn't even make the connection with the dragons. It's almost like I just wasn't following along with the train of thought.

I think the second half of this story is what resulted in me giving Incarnate an extra star. The second half has some really interesting plot developments, so even though I wasn't a fan of Ana, Sam, or their romance, I was still able to enjoy the story. I will be reading the second book because I happen to have a copy already. Maybe I'll end up enjoying it a bit more!

[ladygrey]

I expected this book to be all incorporeal souls drifting through outer space but it's surprisingly very human. And I like the civilization Jodi Meadows has created. She also uses really good verbs and descriptions, even though a lot of her sentences are rather blunt (which is kind of the YA way).

I also liked that she laced questions throughout the book and I kept wanting her to explain more or go deeper into those questions. I hope the sequel does explore some of those issues and doesn't let them fall by the wayside.

The characters are really fun and while I pretty much couldn't keep the tertiary characters straight, I really enjoyed the primary and secondary ones. There is virtually no conflict in the first half of the book, other than Ana's internal struggle with learning to deal in the world. But she didn't annoy me and I understood her reactions and she definitely developed well as a character. Also, I'm comfortable with a complete lack of conflict, while most people generally aren't. Sam was a little taciturn and inconsistent for the plot's sake, but he was also really relatable and kind and I was glad to have him around. There were more than a handful of "unrecognizable expressions" which got in the way of Ana and Sam's relationship having the depth it could have (and is generally annoying). And I want even more Stef and Sine in the next book (there are a lot of "S" names).

I'm really glad this is an interesting world with enjoyable characters and I'm looking forward to seeing it develop as the trilogy continues.

[Angie]

Jodi Meadows has created an utterly unique, fascinating, and captivating word in Incarnate. It's magical, yet scientific, and I couldn't help but be drawn into it. There are exactly 1 million souls which have been reborn into new bodies over the past 5,000 years. That is until Ana is born. Her birth was suppose to signify the return of a soul named Ciana, but instead a new soul emerged. What happened to Ciana? Where did Ana come from? It's one big mystery, and the citizens of Heart do not like it one bit. Ana has been isolated from society her entire life, with only her cruel mother for company. Finally, on her 18th birthday, Ana sets out on her own in order to discover where she came from and if there might be more newsouls out there.

Dragons! There are dragons flying around in Range! They might be vicious, destructive creatures, but they're still awesome. This world is packed with supposedly mythical creatures: unicorns, trolls, griffin, and centaurs. We never get to see any of these, but they are mentioned. However, there's a few run ins with the ever dangerous sylphs. All of these fantastical creatures had me wondering where and when this book takes place. Is it the distant future on Earth? The present of another planet? An alternate reality? There's such an interesting mix of ancient creatures and modern technology (laser pistols!) that it's hard to imagine where we are in time and space. That doesn't distract from the story though. In fact, I think it adds another fun layer to everything.

I know I've only raved about the world so far, and not the story, but I was majorly impressed with the world presented here. There's enough detail to be able to picture it and understand how it works, but still enough mystery to want to learn more. I do think it overshadowed the actual plot and characters though.

Incarnate is an impressive and magical debut. The imaginative subject of reincarnation most definitely makes this stand out from everything else being published today. While the story make take the back seat the world, it was still a wonderful read. I'm eager to know what comes next for Ana and Sam, and to find out more about the city of Heart and Souls Night.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Amber]

Full review here: http://www.booksofamber.com/2012/04/incarnate-by-jodi-meadows.html

I feel a little let down by Incarnate, given the hype surrounding this novel before its release. I enjoyed it a lot, but it's not one of my favourites and I had problems with a few things.

Firstly, I absolutely loved the world it was set in. It was fascinating to read about, and there were so many new things to see and learn. I really hope we explore more of this world in the next book in the series, otherwise I'll be very disappointed!

There were lots of questions that were brought up in this book, and by the end a lot of them had been answered but so many more had been discovered! I have mixed feelings about this, as it leaves a lot of room for the sequel, but I am dying to know what the heck is going on because I honestly have no clue!

I liked the main character, Ana, and felt sorry for her because of the way Li had brought her up. I did get quite annoyed by her temper tantrums that happened not just in the beginning, but throughout the whole book.

I'm confused about how I feel about Sam. He was really sweet at times, but he was also moody and annoyingly secretive. He was a 5000 year old bloke in an 18 year old body, and I have to admit that I had trouble with his and Ana's relationship because, come on, she was 4982 years younger than him.

The writing style was good, but I wasn't a fan of how most of the dialogue was written. It was very wooden, and drawn out and I think there could have been a more simple way to say things that would have worked better.

Overall, it was a good book, and I'll definitely be reading the sequel because I love the world and the soul concept in general. I'm not sure about Janan, or any of that, but I look forward to finding out more!

[kimbacaffeinate]

Jodi Meadows' debut novel Incarnate is the first book in the New Souls trilogy. This fantasy offers a unique world filled with dragons, slyphs and a city called Heart. The tale has danger, battles, suspense, romance, a divine being, mystery and intrigue. Book one centers around the romance of Ana and Sam; as we are spoon-fed details about the world in which they live. While at times I found this frustrating, it was enough to keep me engaged.

Protagonist Ana is born on the eve of Ciana’s expected birth. In Ana’s world souls are reborn over and over. At her birth it is the first time in recorded history that a new soul is born and an old soul is lost. This causes panic throughout this tightly woven utopia. Her father is embarrassed and quickly leaves town. Li, her mother, reluctantly raises her away from the community of Heart. The first seventeen years of Ana’s life are bleak, as her mother inflicts her fears and hatred upon her. She calls her a nosoul and convinces Ana she is nothing. Despite this Ana secretly teaches herself to read and develops a passion for music. When Ana is eighteen, she leaves her childhood home to return to Heart. She is determined to find answers and escape her mother. Ana's journey is filled with danger and it is here that she first meets Sam. I love how they meet, and the dance they do trying to figure each other out. It is evident that Ana's upbringing has effected her, but slowly Sam builds Ana's confidence and the real Ana begins to emerge. They travel to the city of Heart and the tale that unfolds is beautiful, captivating and shrouded in mystery.

I know some readers will be frustrated by the limited world-building, but because this is a trilogy, I am giving the writer some slack. The main focus of this novel was the relationship between Sam and Ana and it was beautiful done and totally believable. The romance progressed slowly and the way they interacted had me giggling, pulling my hair out and flipping the pages. The author begins to show us the character growth we can expect from Ana as she gains more confidence and validates her existence. I give Meadows kudos for her grasp of the complex psyche an abused soul exhibits. We see insight into Sam's former lives, his loneliness and his regard for Ana. Most of my frustration came in the form of questions involve the world, the city of Heart, Janan and the souls. Meadows gave me just enough details to wet my appetite and equally frustrate me.

I blew through Incarnate simply because I could not put it down. The romance was wonderful, but I am really hoping that books two and three give us more detail regarding Heart, Janan, the Tower and Souls. I consider Incarnate (Newsoul #1)to be an appetizer and I am still hungry. Hopefully book two will provide the main course. I am looking forward to the next installment and will be keeping an eye on this talented author.

I want to thank netGalley and HarperCollins for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.
you can see more of my reviews at:http://www.kimbathecaffeinatedbookreviewer.blogspot.com/