Books are Wonderful

Review: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

More romance than mystery 

Ana is a new soul. When Ana was born, she replaced another soul that was suppose to have reincarnated. Now, society generally shuns her, except for Sam, a boy who finds and saves her in the woods.

Jodi Meadows created a fascinating world in Incarnate. There are exactly one million souls that are constantly being recycled into new bodies once they die. When the story begins, hundreds of years have passed for each soul and the society is quite technologically advanced. They found a city that seemed to have been built just for their needs and they have now begun to live in that society. Heart is a bit of a utopia, they have all cycled enough to start living together. Then Ana comes, and with her, discord. 

Incarnate, from the beginning, is a very gripping story. It is well written and well paced. There are a lot of underlying questions regarding beliefs and religion - Janan is a being that is suppose to have created the initial million and they all have varying degrees of doubt regarding Janan’s existence,  even though the society itself has no explanation for the city of Heart and how it came about. 

There are also the questions - why reincarnation, why is Ana different and what is the purpose of the temple in the middle of Heart. While these questions were answered in the narrative, I found that it was more a love story than anything I expected. I think, if the book was focused more on the society and the mystery, that I would have enjoyed it more, however, the focus on the love story turned me off a bit, especially while Ana seemed to be mindlessly following Sam and not standing up for herself when he did shady things. I understand that Sam saved her, in the beginning, and stands up for her and that she owes him a lot, but she seems to gleam over his dishonesty. 

I’m quite curious to see what will happen in the next installment, but I also hope that we get to see more of the world and the people in the world. 

Release Date: 31st January, 2012 || Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books || Details →

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[arc via Around the World Arc Tours]

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