Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
pages: 374
released: January 2012
publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
cover love: ♥♥♥♥♥

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. 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? 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? (from Goodreads)

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 5/4/2012 ON BOOKSLIKESTARS.NET

Review:

It took me a longgggg time to finish Incarnate. Initially, I was blazing through the pages. I was very intrigued by Sam’s character; because his soul has reincarnated for 5000 years, he’s quite mature for his age whereas Ana, a Newsoul, acted more like an 18 year old would. But as I got to closer to the middle of the book, the story (or lack there of) took a nose dive and my attention drifted to other things…

So, why didn’t I like this book?

First off, there was no story. I’m sure the author planned to have one somewhere in the 374 pages I read, but it never really happened. Ana is kicked out of her house by her abusive mother to wander the cold winter woods in search of Heart, the place she was born and hopes to find answers as to why she was born and not the reincarnated soul of Ciana, the girl she replaced. In the woods she’s flees an attack from a slyph and is saved from drowning waters from Sam. Sam nurses her back to good health and guides her to Heart.

That’s pretty much where the story ends. Because the rest of the book is Ana more interested in fawning over Sam, becoming his little protege and making a dress for a masquerade ball. She doesn’t devote much time to finding out why she was born (even though she whines that she’s dying to know this information). But she doesn’t really have to find out, does she? Because that info is conveniently waiting in the last 30 pages. If you can even what I read an answer. To me, there was no real explanation to who she is and what significance she holds. You may come across this book listed in a dystopian genre section but it’s more like a lame attempt at a fantasy. Sure, there’s dragons and slyph (wtf) and centaurs (they’re mentioned but one never appears) but this book really fell short. It’s more romance fueled than fantasy (or dystopian) focused.

And how about that romance? Well, after Ana and Sam fell all insta-love for each other, their time together was a big syrupy-sweet nonsense. In almost every scenario, Ana acted over-dramatic and Sam just ate that crap up. I couldn’t stand them. Their scenes together felt like they were plucked from a bad soap opera and then written in drugstore romance format.

Sorry to say it, but I did not like this book. No story. Blah characters. And a romance that could give corn syrup a cavity. If you’re used to reading books like this, then you will love it. If not, best if you find another book to read.

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