Incarnate Series Readathon: Book Review: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows (NewSoul #1) (no spoilers)

Book: Incarnate
Author: Jodi Meadows
Series: New Soul #1
Publication: January 31st, 2012
Source: Interlibrary Loan
Read: January 9th-12th, 2014
Summary (From Goodreads):

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 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.

My Thoughts:
I have a feeling 2014 is going to be the year I read amazing debuts. I have read two debuts novel in a row now and they both have been amazing and have got me totally addicted to the authors. Jodi Meadows explores the concept of reincarnation. Do we come back in a different body after we die? Do humans really live more than one life? Then there is Ana. The only person in the land of Range who did not come back as another person. Jodi Meadows also explores how it feels to feel left out, like you aren't worthy and don't belong.

At the beginning of Incarnate I was skeptical that I was going to love the novel. I was having a hard time relating to Ana, but the novel quickly picked up and I fell in love with the world Jodi Meadows created. It is vivid and imaginative like I never expected. She created real pictures in my mind of walls with a beating heart, a library filled with millions of books, and a temple without a door. I like the fact that Jodi Meadows was not afraid to address religion as being the reason for reincarnation in this novel. I think this is a topic many authors have been afraid to cover, but Jodi Meadows wrote it in a beautiful way. This novel has its moments where is full of action, but there are many times the novel is rather calm and I liked it that way. There would be the action then time for Ana and Sam to just be humans.

I could tell how much imagination Jodi Meadows put into this amazing novel. We had dragons, slyphs, and as I mentioned before the heart beating walls of the city Heart. I'm so excited to learn more about these elements in the sequel Asunder. I loved the role these mythical creatures played in the novel.

At its heart Incarnate was a character driven novel. A million souls have been reincarnating for five thousand years so at this point many of them have had several lives and have bold personalities. Ana is a great character mostly because of her flaws. Her whole live she has been told that she is a NoSoul and that she stole Ciana's life. She is told that she is worthless by her own mother, Li. After going through that it is no doubt that she lacks self-confidence. I think her lack of confidence is what made her character and her decisions as a character so powerful. Although Ana may not know it though she is strong and makes many brave choices in this novel.

Then there was Sam, who rescued Ana. I fell in love with his character even after discovering that his real name was Dosam. Sam is a musician who hasn't written forever that is until he meets Ana. He finds new discoveries in his life. Sometimes I wonder if it would be rather humdrum to live a million lives in the same world. Sam was a very sweet character and complicated in so many ways. There always seemed like there was some secret that he just wasn't telling. I can't wait to find out more about his past.

Ana and Sam's love story was awe inspiring and the perfect addition to this novel. Their love was slow-moving and I liked that. I think Jodi Meadows picked the perfect scenes for them to show their love for each other. It took Sam to making Ana believe that her life is worth living. That she is not a NoSoul, but a NewSoul.

The question remains if the world should be populated by NewSouls or if Ana should remain the only NewSoul in a world full of people who have lived a lot of lives.

My favorite part of this novel had to be the Masquerade. Every moment of this scene was as breathtaking beautiful as the cover. This is the moment I really fell in love with Ana's character. I think it might have been the moment I knew for sure that Incarnate was a novel that I loved.

The ending was intense and action packed all the way to the end. I really wish I could just explode all my feelings about the ending, but that would spoil the novel. I felt awe, fear, anger, and happiness all at once at the end of Incarnate. Although I believe Incarnate wrapped up pretty well that it could be one novel. I'm so glad there is a sequel and a third book. I'm still curious about Ana's world. I want to find more and I want to read Asunder now. It is going to be impossible to wait to read Infinite.

Hosted by Bonnie @ A Backwards Story and Alexa @ Alexa Loves Books

It is not too late to join the Incarnate Series Readathon. I will have some other posts about Incarate up this week as part of the readathon. I hope you will consider reading the series. 

If you need another reason Incarnate is 1.99 on Amazon right now. 

Rachael