Soulprint

by Megan Miranda

Alina Chase has spent her entire life in confinement. With the science of soul-printing now a reality, she is 'protected' for her own safety – and the safety of others – because her soul has done terrible things ... or so she's told. When Alina finally breaks out of prison, helped by a group of people with unclear motives, she begins to uncover clues left by her past life that only she can decipher. And she may not be as innocent as she once believed. Can Alina change her future, or is she fated to repeat her past and face the consequences? Perfect for fans of Sophie McKenzie.

• ISBN10: 1408855402
• ISBN13: 9781408855409
• Publish Date: 12 February 2015 (first published 3 February 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
• Imprint: Bloomsbury Childrens Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

ASDFGHJKL!!!! Soulprint has made me ashamed to admit that I didn't expect much from it. I thought that this book was going to be "meh", but it was utterly and absolutely mind-blowing!

Soulprint starts off being extremely confusing. We are taken to the place where all the action starts, a containment island/prison, on which the "dangerous" Alina Chase is being held. On her seventeenth birthday, Alina Chase is broken out of her prison, by three people, and has to go on the run.

Soulprint had everything that I loved! It's a science fiction novel, but it's not extremely sciency. Soulprinting is a reality and a soul can view who they were in their previous life. It's a mystery and a thriller. There was fast-paced action, adrenaline pumping scenes along with a mystery that has to be discovered. There's also an extremely amazing, heart-melting romance.

Alina, the main character, is one of the most amazing characters that I have ever read about! She's intelligent and fierce, without being a beautiful, bad-ass weapon wielder. I could relate to every aspect of her personality: her insecurities, her fears and her strengths. Alina is one of the strongest characters I have ever met, emotionally and physically.

"I weight my words before I say them. They're one thing I do have control over. And so I am purposeful with them. Deliberate. I decide what to give and what to hide. I watch for reactions. I study their impact." (Alina Chase)

The characters in Soulprint are human. They make mistakes, they find a way to justify what they have done and they choose whether or not they want to learn from it. One of these very human characters was Cameron. He helps Alina to escape from containment and his character was something that I have never read in YA before. Cameron is intelligent, but it's a not-in-someones-face intelligence. He also has a keen sense of judging scenario's for what they are. I loved Cameron. I also loved the super-shippable romance between him Alina that I couldn't wait to start shipping! I also adored his sister, Casey. She was also one of those mentally strong characters that Miranda is extremely amazing at writing about.

The concepts and themes in this story is amazing. Alina is being confined because her previous soul committed a crime. The book started asking important moral questions. Does our souls define who we are? Does our past determine our future? It also provided an interesting storyline related to the whole soul printing process.

"My soul was not meant to be in a cage. Not then, and not now." (Alina Chase)

Finally the writing style blew me away and this is weird because the writing style is so simple, yet so powerful. I enjoyed Soulprint because its writing style reminded me of home, of all those simple, yet powerful book I used to read that changed my soul (pun intended).

Soulprint is a fast-paced multiple genre book that blew my brains out, in a really amazing way! This book deserves all the praise that I can give it and is highly recommended.

[Kim Deister]

Soulprint is a new sci-fi/thriller novel with an extremely fascinating premise. It looks at the soul in an interesting way, looking at it from social and scientific viewpoints, rather than as a part of any particular spirituality. It takes place in a world in which science has advanced to the point of being able to soulprint, much like fingerprinting. The social ramifications of that ability are at the center of this book and the protagonist, Alina Chase.

Alina is not imprisoned, but "contained," solely on the basis of her soul having previously belonged to a woman that was considered to be an extremely dangerous criminal. The science and thought behind soulprinting was that the soul remains unchanged from life to life, leaving one predisposed to certain behaviors. Because of that belief and the depth of the criminality that her soul has supposedly possessed, Alina has lived almost her entire life isolated on an island, surrounded only by an ever rotating staff of people that take care of her without ever truly caring for her. And then things change and she has been broken out of her prison? But for what reason? And is her new life any less a prison?

This is a fast-pased thriller with so many twists and turns as Alina, and those who broke her free, explore her past to find answers. Her character is one I truly loved. She is smart, strong, and determined, unwilling to meekly follow others without finding answers for herself. The author leaves bread crumbs for readers, bits and pieces of the mystery that allow the reader to guess at different parts of it without giing it all away. It was a great way to build anticipation along the way.

Alina never really believed that her soul's previous incarnation meant that she, too, would be a criminal. But as her path to discovering more led her to question that and wonder if perhaps the soulprinter advocates were correct in their theory. The story was as much one of growth and change for Alina as it was a sci-fi thriller.

I loved that the book looked at the idea of souls, and reincarnation, from a point of view that was not religious. It was a nice twist to look at it from such a different perspective and it made for a interesting read.

My Recommendation: I would definitely recommend this for sci-fi and thriller lovers alike!

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2015/01/soulprint-by-megan-miranda.html
Soulprint lured me in from the first chapter, in an unexpected and engaging storyline that kept me enthralled. It follows the story of Alina, a girl who inherited the soul of June, a traitor to her country for hacking the database of a soul registry where infants were tested to scientifically determine their past life. Her life has been plagued by media speculation, that if she were ever freed, Alina would continue the work of June. With one former escape that nearly ended her meager life, now on her seventeenth birthday Alina has been given a second chance at freedom.

Her lifeline comes in the form of sibling duo Cameron and Casey, who along with former guard Dominic, want more than to free the girl who lives her life within the secure compound.

I keep waiting for freedom to feel like something else. Something not so disorientating. Something not so terrifying. Something more.

On the run, it's clear that Dominic wants to use Alina once again for his own personal gain, Casey wants information on her missing sister and Cameron seems to be as wary of Alina as she is of him. Alina is an engaging, likable and relatable character. She's not only running for her freedom, but her inner demons in the form of June. It seems that everyone wants something from her, all except Cameron and the two form a tentative friendship whilst on the run. He doesn't see her soul as belonging to June, but rather her own. It's an intense romance where both Alina and Cameron learn to trust one another and sacrifice their own lives, of the nation of oppression and fear of their past selves.

It's my second experience into delving into a world created by Megan Miranda, having read Hysteria, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's not only well written, but unique and a mild science fiction that will appeal to the wider audience.

[shannonmiz]

Well, well, wasn't this the pleasant surprise! I honestly didn't know what to think of this going in, and figured it was going to go one of two ways: Unbelievable and silly, or thought provoking and exciting. And thankfully, it was the latter.

The thing that made it really work for me is that no one completely understood how the soul worked. I liked that they admitted that, because I think anything else would have been really hard to believe. In Soulprint's world, souls move on to another body after death, and science has allowed for the soul to be "tested" so a person could find out who their soul belonged to before them. In this situation, it was "we know souls transfer, we just don't know why or how", and honestly, I can't imagine any other way to feasibly handle the topic.

Alina, whose soul used to belong to a wanted criminal who was attempting to overthrow the soul database system, was quite a sympathetic and likable character. She was literally paying for someone else's crime, as she was confined to an island. It seemed a bit farfetched, but the government didn't want to appear to be imprisoning children for something they had no control over, so they basically locked her up, just in a luxurious setting.
Alina wants her freedom, of course, so when the chance arises, she grabs it. Her escape comes at the hands of siblings Casey and Cameron, and former guard Dominic. These characters had good backstory and development as well, so I found myself invested in each of them. Though I had figured a few major things out early on, the unravelling of their individual stories was almost as intriguing as Alina's.

Obviously, Alina and her escape partners are on the run. They have to hide, and for some time it seems that Alina has simply traded one prison for another, much less comfortable one. But since Alina is a strong willed character, and wants to have an actual life, maybe even find her family, so she decides to try to figure out what June was involved with and attempt to clear her name- or go down fighting.

Some other aspects that I enjoyed:

-The romance was enjoyable, but not the main focus. I was definitely invested in it but it didn't take over the story.

-I loved the questions that were brought up. I mean, the entire concept of a soul was at the core of this book, and what exactly makes us who we are is questioned. I love a book that can really make the reader think, even long after the book is read. This fits the bill.
-The ending was really quite perfect. Not wrapped up completely, but enough that you didn't want to rip your hair out. Hopeful, but not unbelievable. I really thought it was well done, and fit with the tone of the book.

-June's backstory was so fun to delve into. Imagine trying to find clues from someone who'd been dead as long as you'd been alive, someone who you have a connection to that goes beyond life. It was all pretty incredible.
The only thing that really kept me from giving the book five stars was that some of the plot moved a little slow at times. I didn't exactly mind, because I was anxious to continue the story, but it was a factor. My other issue was that I did figure out a few of the twists quite early on, which was kind of a bummer, BUT there were a lot of other twists that took me by surprise, so it ended up working out fine.

Bottom Line: This book kind of has it all: Science, romance, mystery, conspiracy, friendship, and quite a bit of thought provocation. Definitely a win.

*I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley for review.*
This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight

[Linda]

*I received a free ARC of Soulprint from Bloomsbury USA Chidlren's via Netgalley in exchange of an honest and unbiased review*

Soulprint is a riveting story set in the future, where re-incarnations are proven and some characters actually get judged by their past lives.

This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews