Incarnate (Newsoul, #1)

Jan 11, 2012 Lyndsey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1st-person, about-dystopia-or-utopia, about-reincarnation, pov-primarily-female, reviewed-4-stars, reviewed-2011, my-top-dystopian-or-utopian, worldbuilding-whimsy

A gorgeous YA utopian tale! Nope, not dystopian. Do you know the difference?

This book blew me away with... a Masquerade Ball, reincarnation, slyph, dragons, music, souls, butterfly, slow burn romance, tension, laser pistols, massive library, war stories, dragon battles. Need I go on? I mean - Wow.

I read this in a flurry of addiction. I just couldn't get enough of the world and it's goings-ons. Completely entrancing.

The Rundown

Ana was born into a society of a million souls. A million souls who h...more

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Feb 16, 2012 Steph Sinclair rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: I wouldn't

Shelves: ebook, netgalley, pretty-covers, disappointment, 2011-reads, could-have-been-better, didn-t-care-for-it, fell-for-the-hype, gender-bender, original-and-creative, why-the-hype, that-cover-misled-me, poor-world-building, young-adult, reincarnate-me, e-arc

I am extremely disappointed with this book. It held so much promise with the story of souls being reincarnated, dragons, sylphs, and a utopian society! Doesn't that sound awesome? And that cover! It's simply gorgeous! Well, you know that age old rule, "Don't judge a book by its cover?" I should have listened to it. -_-

Ana, our protagonist, lives in a world where once you die you come back reincarnated in another body. Everyone always comes back, except on one night when the Temple flashes black...more

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Dec 12, 2011 Kat Kennedy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: kat-s-book-reviews, the-great-shelf-of-meh

Incarnate had such an interesting premise that I rushed to request the ARC. The concept of a society of people constantly reincarnating and being reborn to each other was too good to pass up. Blue Bloods had a poor crack at it and I hoped Incarnate would fare better. Alas, no. What Incarnate had the opportunity of doing was taking philosophy by the horns and riding that bull like a cowboy at a rodeo. Instead, incarnate chose Philosophy!Bull's friend, Philosophy Show Pony and skipped along very s...more Incarnate had such an interesting premise that I rushed to request the ARC. The concept of a society of people constantly reincarnating and being reborn to each other was too good to pass up. Blue Bloods had a poor crack at it and I hoped Incarnate would fare better. Alas, no. What Incarnate had the opportunity of doing was taking philosophy by the horns and riding that bull like a cowboy at a rodeo. Instead, incarnate chose Philosophy!Bull's friend, Philosophy Show Pony and skipped along very slowly and sweetly to Romance Ranch. There it stayed, refusing to budge from it's very comfortable stall until the last thirty pages where it promptly collapsed in a fit of seizures and died. I can only hope Meadow's next book in the series won't be beating a dead horse.

One could reasonably argue that this is just YA literature and perhaps I was expecting too much. However, I think that's not crediting teenagers with enough. A book such as Incarnate has the opportunity to reflect on our society in so many ways, to do so much! How does possession change when no one really dies? How does parenting change when babies are really just miniature adults waiting to get back to their own lives? How does society change? Is there really murder and would it even be a big deal? What about debt? What happens if you can't die to escape that? What does it do to a psyche to die and be reborn constantly? Over time you will have probably given birth to, married, or been parented by almost everyone you know. How does that change the way you see people?

These questions are only very briefly looked at and none are truly answered in any satisfactory way. Instead, the world of Incarnate is eerily like our own with only a few minor changes to the facade.

This is not meant to imply that Meadows is a bad author. What she does do, she does well. The focus in the novel is heavily situated on the romance. It's a very sweet, endearing romance and the characters are lovely. Yet, if I'd wanted a cutsie romance then I have chicken soup for the soul for that.

No, Meadow can write well with lovely descriptions and sweet romantic talk and tense, dramatic, emotional scenes. If I were to sum up her writing style and JUST the romantic aspects of this book, I would say 'lovely'.

But this book looked to be more than just a YA romance and in that it failed. The mystery was flirted with occasionally but otherwise forgotten until the very end, there was almost no action or suspense to speak of outside the very beginning and very end. Some characters were contradictory and nonsensical, some plot elements just didn't fit, etc.

Mostly, where the book failed is that I have no interest in reading any more of this series. I've read my fill of chaste kisses, reluctant love, obstacles to affection, with a cursory nod at plot that only advances at a snails pace amid so much potential. That's all this book was and I currently don't see any potential for the series to be anything more than that. Thus I have no intention at the moment of reading this book's incarnate.

You can read this review on my blog:

blog link

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Mar 30, 2012 Emily May rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, ya-na, 2011, dystopia-utopia, boring, coverly-love

With a cover as pretty as that you'd think this book would be more dramatic, but unfortunately very little seems to happen for the majority of the novel. The story consists of Ana attempting to discover why she is a Newsoul and managing to fall in love along the way. You see, in this utopian world every soul is reincarnated into a new body once they die, this has continued on and on for thousands of years. Each time a baby is born, they search for a match in the soul database to find out which...more

With a cover as pretty as that you'd think this book would be more dramatic, but unfortunately very little seems to happen for the majority of the novel. The story consists of Ana attempting to discover why she is a Newsoul and managing to fall in love along the way. You see, in this utopian world every soul is reincarnated into a new body once they die, this has continued on and on for thousands of years. Each time a baby is born, they search for a match in the soul database to find out which individual has returned... until Ana. Ana's soul didn't have a match, and at the time of her birth, the soul of another disappeared from the database. In a world where everyone has known everyone for thousands of years, being responsible for a soul disappearing leaves Ana an outcast, abandoned by her father and mistreated by her mother because of it. One day, she sets out to discover why.

As much as I like the change from the typical dystopian setting, a utopia is difficult because nothing particularly bad happens and the novel lacks excitement because of it. The story concentrates more on Ana's relationship with Sam. I found the focus on music and dancing - for which they both share a passion - to be very dull, this would probably not be the case if I was a big fan of playing instruments and ballroom dancing... as I am not, however, I almost fell asleep during these scenes. I would have also liked a better explanation as to why Sam's opinion of Ana differs so greatly from everyone else's even when he has only just met her. He constantly tells her that she deserves to live her life to the full and enjoy it, whereas everyone else seems to believe that her life is worthless because she is unlikely to be reborn. Isn't it too big a coincidence that she happens to run into a handsome young guy who also happens to be okay with who she is? It seems every young adult heroine must meet that one guy that is completely different from all the rest.

I also have some problems with this whole reincarnation thing. I'm guessing that their must be some incest going on if they've been reborn so many times, isn't it also possible to give birth to your grandparents? Weird. And if you are with someone in one life (e.g. married) are you just supposed to find someone else even though you retain all your memories of your past lives? That doesn't seem right, and yet you would be a completely different person biologically, there's even a chance you could end up being siblings. Imagine your husband or wife being reborn as your brother or sister... too strange. And perhaps I missed the answer but it wasn't clear if I did: if people remember their past lives, are babies born intelligent?

On top of that, the changing genders issue also seemed kind of weird to me. Now, you have to be careful with the subject of gender, I mean, what is gender after all? Isn't it just the effect of primary socialisation on our behaviour? It could be. And I suppose having souls that are genderless is one way of getting rid of inequalities, I quite like reading books that explore the idea of one gender or being genderless. But, here's what's weird, and it's all to do with the reincarnation thing again: at one point in the novel, Ana looks at a photograph of Sam when he was a woman in a past life, and she is jealous because he fills out a dress better than her. I'm trying to wrap my head around what it would be like to be jealous of your boyfriend because his curves look good in a dress. Bizarre.

Incarnate really could have been good. It could have explored interesting ideas like the possibility of reincarnation and the nature of the soul. It could have served as an important reminder that we have one life to live and that we need to make the most of it. It could have, but it didn't.
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Jun 08, 2012 Krystle rated it 1 of 5 stars

Can you say disappointment? I haven’t been this bummed by a book in ages. The cover was just too beautiful to resist and the premise was one of the most intriguing things I’ve seen all year. But, nope. It was all aesthetics and nothing else.

(On an aside note…) The cover totally reminds me of this:

And this:

ANYWAY. Let’s get on with the real review shall we?

By gods, this book was such a slow torturous read. I wanted some awesome worldbuilding with an astounding fresh twist on reincarnation and wha...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Soumi(in love with Puck) Roy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-reviewed, young-adult, arc-e-galley, reincarnation

There's always the option of deciding for yourself who you are and what you'll become.
Do you believe in Reincarnation? I do. This is the first reason why I chose this book. Of course the cover is Epic, most beautiful cover I have ever seen. The complete theme of reincarnation of souls was innovative and refreshing. This book is definitely a page turner.

A Vague Indication

The story was set in a dystopian world where souls reincarnate million times, each time in a new body. The body may change but...more

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Nov 11, 2011 Sam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: best-covers, arc-or-galley, science-fiction, sci-fi-favourites

4.5 stars

What is a soul, but a consciousness born and born again?

"Who am I?" My first spoken words.
"No one," she said. "Nosoul."

For some reason or another, I thought this book was a dystopian novel. If anything, the idea of the city of Heart and a million souls who know each other being reincarnated and reunited again after death is almost a utopia. I've shelved this in science-fiction - not entirely accurate as there is a prominent element of fantasy, too. There are dragons in this book, for...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Kathleen Peacock rated it 5 of 5 stars

Incarnate deserves to be placed alongside His Dark Materials and The Lord of the Rings as one of the most inventive examples of world-building ever set to paper. Not only has Meadows created a rich and detailed world for her characters to inhabit, she's brave enough to let them ask difficult questions of themselves, their world, and what it would really mean to live in a perpetual cycle of birth and rebirth.

Very rarely, five stars doesn't seem to go far enough. This is one of those times.

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Nov 26, 2011 Jillian -always aspiring- rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Readers who value characters and their journeys over world-building and grand overarching plots

Shelves: covers-i-love, 2011-reads, left-me-with-mixed-feelings, heroines-i-love-and-or-admire, dystopian-worlds-hells-and-cesspits, couldn-t-stop-reading-it, reviewed

(Actual Rating: 3.5 stars)

In the growing world of young adult dystopian literature, Incarnate is an odd beast, blending elements of dystopia, utopia, fantasy, and even science fiction. Instead of reading like a seamless story, however, Jodi Meadows's debut novel sends many mixed vibes, to the point that the whole package feels like a mish-mash of concepts where some could have been cut as "excess." The novel actually reminded me of The Host by Stephenie Meyer: I mean that in both good and bad wa...more

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Nov 24, 2011 Ariana rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, arc-galley, fantasy, dystopia, series

As beautiful as the cover!

“If I only get one life, I don’t want to waste it by hesitating”

These days I’m a bit out of sync when it comes to the books I read.. I like some books that others don’t, and I don’t like the books the others love, I feel like I’m missing something.

This books is one of the books I loved, while some of my book fellows didn’t.. I don’t know what’s the element that really made me like it so much, but I know that from the very beginning I was hooked and couldn’t put it down...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Mith rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: God forbid

Shelves: ugh, never-again-ever, young-adult, post-apocalyptic, fantasy

Gah. No no no no no NO!

What was this mess?

So there's this city, right? Every person in that city is a reincarnated soul, right? Except for this one girl, let's call her Bessie (I forget her name), who is a new soul - she was born in place of a to-be-reincarnated soul. So everybody hates her, including her own mother. So, the girl leaves home on her birthday to find out the truth behind her birth and what went wrong with the other soul, then runs into some shadow monster, then falls into a lake...more

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Jan 27, 2012 Giselle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, ebook, paranormal

NEWSOUL
Incarnate gives us a fresh, new soul in YA. Originality at its core, Jodi Meadows has written an incredible world with dragons, sylphs, laser pistols, temple with heartbeats; really- how much more imaginative can it get? I was blown away with the imagery that formed in my mind while reading this book. It's a gorgeous, but notably frightening world. I did have a bit of difficulty swallowing the fact that, since everyone is always being reincarnated, they give birth to people they already k...more NEWSOUL
Incarnate gives us a fresh, new soul in YA. Originality at its core, Jodi Meadows has written an incredible world with dragons, sylphs, laser pistols, temple with heartbeats; really- how much more imaginative can it get? I was blown away with the imagery that formed in my mind while reading this book. It's a gorgeous, but notably frightening world. I did have a bit of difficulty swallowing the fact that, since everyone is always being reincarnated, they give birth to people they already know. It could even be your own father. However, it is a way of life for them, who am I to say what's unreasonable? I've heard of a mother who used her daughter's egg to get pregnant, which basically means she gave birth to a grandchild of sorts. Is this weird? Of course! But we're living in a world where you can have babies that are literally not your own, so it makes sense to think that living for thousands of years with reincarnation would desensitize people to things that presently blow our minds.

NOSOUL
Ana has had to live with her mother telling her she was a Nosoul for all of her 18 years. This turned her into a deeply defensive, cautious young woman who has difficulty putting her trust in others. Ana is a remarkably easy character to like with a realistic voice that stands out. She may have had a hard life, but this makes her loves and joys come from the heart. It's not fake or shallow when she feels something, it's with her whole heart and soul. Sam, the first person to show her kindness, has a heart of gold, but more importantly; the patience of a stone. They have a positively sweet romance that creeps up on you. You suddenly realize you've been longing for them to be together. I was delighted by how perfectly paced their relationship flourished.

HEART
We've got originality; we've got charming characters; but let's not forget the fascinating plot that surrounds it all. Mystery after mystery flows inside these pages. I was starved for more information as much as Ana. Why is she the only newsoul? Where did Ciana go? Why was the town of Heart just sitting there? A temple with a heartbeat? It's all so mystifying. We don't get all the answers in this novel, but we do get some, as well as one heck of a promise: that this is the start of an epic series!

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For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads (less)

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Mar 11, 2013 fяσzєη rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: covergasm, owned-ebooks, 2012-faves, all-time-faves, amazing-authors, believable-romance, books-i-want-to-marry, creatively-original, deserves-the-hype, faves, wish-i-could-write-like-that

This review is also available over at my blog.

______________________

Actual rating is 4.5 stars.

This is my second time reading this book, because I needed to refresh my memory in order to read the sequel, and I gotta say that I like this book much better than I did when I read it the first time.

Reincarnation isn't really that original of an idea in the YA world. It's been done to death, after all. But Jodi Meadows managed to make the world of this book very creative and stand out from others. Eve...more This review is also available over at my blog.

______________________

Actual rating is 4.5 stars.

This is my second time reading this book, because I needed to refresh my memory in order to read the sequel, and I gotta say that I like this book much better than I did when I read it the first time.

Reincarnation isn't really that original of an idea in the YA world. It's been done to death, after all. But Jodi Meadows managed to make the world of this book very creative and stand out from others. Every human being in Range—besides Ana, of course—has an immortal soul that will be reincarnated time and time again. What I really really loved was that you could be reborn as both male or female. I just thought that was pretty cool. I'm definitely invested and fascinated with the reincarnation aspect of this series, and would love to know a lot more.

On Goodreads this book is shelved as dystopian, and it really isn't. At all. It's more of a utopia to me. Range is like a land straight out of a fairytale, complete with dragons, trolls, centaurs, and many other mythical creatures of the sort. And I also loved that there are modern elements in the city of Heart in some of its technology, yet the way it's described still has a sort of old-timey feel to it. And the gorgeous writing helped me visualize everything vividly. I loved how the author designed this world. It's the type of world that can definitely be explored thoroughly as the series progresses, and I'm really excited about that.

Ana was an okay heroine. Thankfully she never annoyed me so that made it easier for me to sympathize with her. I felt for her in that she was the one newborn soul surrounded by a billion other souls who have lived thousands of years. That could get pretty damn intimidating, especially because the souls blamed her for taking the place of Ciana, the soul who was supposed to be reincarnated instead of Ana being born. She had no choice in the matter yet everyone was putting the blame on her, even her own mother who is disgusted by the mere presence of her. But besides feeling for her, I also thought she was decently likable. I would've liked to see her more determined on finding out how she was born, though. If I were her I would've done anything and everything to find out.

Sam, the love interest, was also okay. I actually don't have much to say about him. But I did like the romance between him and Ana, because it was at a moderate pace. And even if it did get a little bit rushed, I would've gotten it because these two spent the majority of the book together. YA often does that thing where the hero and heroine only have a handful of scenes together yet they all of a sudden start declaring their love for each other several chapters later. Ana and Sam spent a lot of time together just getting to know each other, and also bonding through music. And they didn't say any 'I love you's' in the end, which is another plus. There was never any insta-anything about their romance, and I enjoyed that.

The plot was basically Ana traveling to the city of Heart—and meeting Sam along the way—to find out about how she came to be, and why she was born in Ciana's place. But everyone besides Sam and several other people seem to treat her as some sort of abomination. At times I kind of got the feeling that the book was going for more of the light-hearted self-discovery thing, but then some other, darker things get thrown into the mix, and made me question what direction the story is going exactly. Nearing the end, especially, I kind of furrowed my eyebrows at some of the parts. The dragons and sylphs I thought were probably only added for the sake of an explosive (literally) climax, although I would love to see other mythical creatures as the series continues. I was decently satisfied after the final page, and am definitely eager to start the sequel.

My overall thoughts are that I thought the plot and characters were simply okay, but what really got me was the world that the author created, and also the writing, which I thought was gorgeous as well. And so I gave it a much higher rating than I would have.(less)

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Jun 12, 2013 Helen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: cover-lust, a-big-bunch-of-meh, romance, stupid-insta-love, boring, fantasy, kill-me-please, parties-fesivals-and-circuses, my-eyes-they-burn

I should start on why I bought Incarnate in the first place - and I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who bought this for the same reason. The cover. It's gorgeous.
Before I read the summery I thought; "Oh my God. It's about Butterfly people! Oh my God that’s so cool!" When I read the summery; "OK, no Butterfly people. But people who get incarnated over and over again when they die, still cool!" And so, I bought it.
In hardback.

I’m actually really glad it wasn’t about Butterfly people. Th...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Ghirardelli rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those who look for romance over plot

Recommended to Ghirardelli by: Cover+Blurb

Shelves: dragons, look-something-original, um-what, that-cover-unf, ya, wish-it-were-better, smells-like-teen-angst

You know what I really hate about jokes with a story to them? They can be very hit or miss like Family Guy (except McFarlane has way more misses than hits IMO). There is so much buildup to some of the storyline jokes, that the punch line has to be pretty damn brilliant to make up for all the time spent by the receiver of said joke. I hate when they flop so hard that I regret ever listening in the first place. My dad has some pretty fantastic story jokes, and some that miss completely, but to my...more

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Nov 09, 2011 Isamlq rated it 3 of 5 stars

3/5

The idea of a definite set of souls being born over and over again is a novel one that drew me in. And right now it’s quite obvious that I’d not read anything quite like it before. So I enjoyed it, but was confused by some of it.

The different. There be dragons, sylphs and other things, but the most fantastic element was the people themselves. There’s a definite number of souls in their world, and it was them all through out. There was a familiarity among them that I enjoyed with most of the...more 3/5

The idea of a definite set of souls being born over and over again is a novel one that drew me in. And right now it’s quite obvious that I’d not read anything quite like it before. So I enjoyed it, but was confused by some of it.

The different. There be dragons, sylphs and other things, but the most fantastic element was the people themselves. There’s a definite number of souls in their world, and it was them all through out. There was a familiarity among them that I enjoyed with most of the characters talking of others in an almost offhand way; they all knew each other and it showed.

But ANA is different- whether NEW SOUL or NO SOUL, she stuck out for me. Frankly, there was something ‘off ‘about her (and no, I am not referring to the absence of her previous lives,) rather it was how she perceived herself as not real and not entitled to feelings, that had me curious (and just a little upset on her behalf.) A lot of how she behaved made sense given how she was raised, but still I still found her a peculiar mix of a lot of things. For one, she was a sponge that soaked everything up. It’s her curiosity that’s the best thing about her. So on one hand, her mind is open, flexible and accepting, but on the other she could be closed off too; as with her hesitance to acknowledge what she felt, or even to admit that she was capable of such things…and why was that? Because she’d been told she couldn’t! Only in later parts of the book, did I feel a bigger disconnect with her. From her wanting to run away, to her almost easy acquiescence to the hand she’d been dealt, these things showed a girl who neither acted nor reacted, but just was. It’s these parts that I could not quite get over.

The not-so-different . Sam’s sudden appearance in her life had me pursing my lips too, wondering if theirs would be another instant love. Her journey starts with a cruel trick and a little while later of waking in the arms of a stranger was interesting, if not a little creepy. So there I was, crossing my fingers against another one of those fated-to-meet you things, only to get a little more confused by how some things didn’t mesh. Some of her actions did not jive with one who’d grown up with a cruel indifferent “mother.” Her almost easy acceptance of his help canceled out her initial suspicion of him and this just didn’t go with her history… so things did get a bit thin for me. Like how she found herself living where she did and being taught as she was, the reasons for the same were things I found too easily accepted. And I wondered if anyone in the book acted counter to what they were told.

~~...Still, not new.~~ There be a romance in this one too. (Why do I always zero in on this?) There’s a reluctance of one to be with the other. At first, this same fact read along the lines of ‘been there and done that.’ Only later to be supplanted by an “Oh, that made sense,” only not completely… because I never really bought into the why of it. Nitpicking aside, there was a sweetness to them so much so that I found myself cheering them on.

Just to be clear, I did like INCARNATE. Some things could have been fleshed out a little more, but a world filled with old souls and a new one trying to figure out her place in it, is one I enjoyed.

THANK YOU NETGALLEY!
3/5
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Jul 04, 2012 Jude rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, favorites, e-galley, want

INTERVIEW WITH JODY MEADOW HERE!

Incarnate blew me away. Seriously my favorite book in its genre so far. It was that good. And the cover is amazing! Now onto to the review:

I’m usually not a big fan of fantasy, they tend to lack some deep and such, so the fact that Incarnate has the best female character I have read ever is astonishing. From the summary you know that Anna is different. She’s a Nosoul, and as such she was raised to believe she was not worthy of loving things or being loved and th...more INTERVIEW WITH JODY MEADOW HERE!

Incarnate blew me away. Seriously my favorite book in its genre so far. It was that good. And the cover is amazing! Now onto to the review:

I’m usually not a big fan of fantasy, they tend to lack some deep and such, so the fact that Incarnate has the best female character I have read ever is astonishing. From the summary you know that Anna is different. She’s a Nosoul, and as such she was raised to believe she was not worthy of loving things or being loved and that she should be punished, constantly and cruelty.

As soon as she’s free of her guardian, some really really bad stuff happens and she nearly dies. But do not fear, Sam is here! Oh Sam! I want him under the Christmas tree! Bringing me cake on my Birthday! He’s just…. *swoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon* I mean, WOW, I don’t remember falling so hard for a character before x). ahem, back to the point. Sam takes care of her and he doesn’t mind that she’s a Nosoul, strange…

Sadly, not everyone agrees with Sam, and Ana is thrown into a world where people hate her and judge her for something she had no control over: her birth. I was so frustrated along with Ana, sad and angry. I understood everything, her bitterness and hurt, her want for love.

There’s also the lovely romance between Ana and Sam. Flawlessly Beautiful. As much as I would love to give some spoilers I’ll restrain myself. BUT I will give you this: I have read Chapter 21 and 22 at least 6 times today, and I just finished the book earlier.

Incarnate had the power to change my emotions in one line, incredible romance one minute and thrilling action the next.

Dragons, Burns, Dance, Music, Romance, Secrets and the constant uncertainty of whom to trust, along with the knowledge that the only way to survive is to believe in one’s self. Incarnate is a Book You Can’t Forget. Period.

I can’t wait to get my finished copy! Amazing with Major Capital A :D a HUGE Thanks to Netgally for the opportunity to read this!

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Mar 25, 2012 Haleema rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: cover-marry-me-please, half-wit-heroine, cheese-pizza, meh-mazing, oh-not-again, what-the-falafel, insta-love

Oh, premise of Incarnate, you seemed a bit promising. You were tolerable.

What happened?

I'll tell you what happened.

Ana, the protagonist, is seriously one of the most naive, childish, and annoying girls I've ever read about. I don't care what she's gone through. I don't care how she was brought up. I don't care that I am insensitive. Sam is so utterly boring. I don't know how he attracts Ana. The whole time he was with Ana, I felt like he was an old man explaining his stupid daughter about life...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Ashleigh Paige marked it as gave-up-on

Shelves: a-whole-new-level-of-boring, could-have-been-so-much-better, just-not-good-enough-to-stick-with, unmemorable, the-shameful-shelf-of-get-rid-of-it

Well, I can't say this is unexpected. I read enough reviews to know I was in for a book I'd probably find uninteresting, but I felt compelled to try it after I won a copy of the sequel. Even then, I expected a conflict because I had an idea for a novel very much like this a few years back. If it turned out to be better than my idea, I was going to cry.

Well, no crying here. Just yawning.

Ana's got the foundation for a great character, but she, her love interest, and her world are utterly boring....more

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Jan 30, 2013 Alexa Yupangco rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, signed-books, 2012-all-stars, reread-in-2013, nyc-favorites-shelf

Reviewed originally on Alexa Loves Books

I remember being incredibly nervous about reading Incarnate because of all the hype that had built up around it. But my worrying was incredibly uncalled for - I absolutely LOVED this debut novel. It definitely earns a spot as one of my favorite reads of 2012 so far!

The Characters

While reading Incarnate, I found that I totally felt for Ana. It would be very difficult to live in a world where everyone has an immediate reaction or even prejudice against you s...more

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Mar 18, 2013 TheBookSmugglers rated it 3 of 5 stars

Originally reviewed on The Book Smugglers

In the realm known as Range, humans live, die, and their souls are reincarnated with perfect memory of their past lives and all those around them. For the past five thousand years, these souls have lived and died, always with the knowledge that they will inevitably be reborn... until one day, one soul dies and a new soul is born in her place.

Ana is an aberration - the only "new soul" (or, as many like to think, a "nosoul" destined to live only one life a...more Originally reviewed on The Book Smugglers

In the realm known as Range, humans live, die, and their souls are reincarnated with perfect memory of their past lives and all those around them. For the past five thousand years, these souls have lived and died, always with the knowledge that they will inevitably be reborn... until one day, one soul dies and a new soul is born in her place.

Ana is an aberration - the only "new soul" (or, as many like to think, a "nosoul" destined to live only one life and incapable of true emotion or meaning) born in five millennia, who has taken the place of another, Ciana, with her birth. Raised by a bitter mother, Li, that blames her for the loss of Ciana, Ana grows up in an environment of fear and loathing. When she turns eighteen, Ana strikes out from and makes her way through the treacherous winter woods - filled with sylph (spectral creatures that burn and consume humans with a touch) and dragons - to the city of Heart, in search of answers.

Along the path to Ana's self-discovery, she finds danger and fear from those older souls that are terrified of what she might represent - but also acceptance and even love. But as tensions mount and attacks against the city by sylph and dragon alike increase, Ana discovers that her answers may come at a terrible cost, and the fate of all souls hang in the balance.

Incarnate is, in a word, unexpected. The synopsis, which includes elements of fantasy, with its focus on reincarnation, and even some dystopian aspects sounds like a frightening hodgepodge of genres and ideas. And yet, as disparate as these separate elements may seem, Incarnate is actually at its strongest in terms of worldbuilding, making each of these different parts a cohesive and intriguing whole. I loved the visualization of reincarnation in this book - instead of vampires or some other supernatural creature that remains eternally young and beautiful, souls are born into different bodies with each lifetime and have to go through a complete life cycle. Children might be raised by their friends, enemies, or former lovers, and even though a child may have the appearance of youth, she actually carries the memory of every single lifetime in her five thousand year lifespan. This makes for a strangely stagnant society in which life is important - every death, especially violent death, is felt - but a transitional state. It's also fascinating because it means that everyone knows everything about everyone, having lived with each other for so long - but it also means that the city of Heart is a strangely stagnant place, ominous and frightening in its routine and rigidity, especially as seen through Ana's eyes.

From a plotting and storytelling perspective, I loved the central conflict of the novel - Ana's struggle to find answers, to find peace in this world of old souls that seem focused on hating (or simply ignoring) her until she inevitably dies and hopefully disappears forever, is compelling, thought-provoking stuff. Incarnate is both a thoughtful critique of discrimination, as well as the terror that can be inspired by change, and this theme rings as wholly true and utterly genuine. From a pure character perspective, I have to say that I liked Ana. Sure, she tends to get herself into scrapes and requires much saving at the hands of her hunky love interest, but I love that her character makes sense in all of her insecurities and fears. I also loved that she's impulsive, but not pigheaded, and sees nothing wrong in running away from danger. Her struggles feel real in this world that seems so set on hating her, and above all, I loved her tenacity in the face of such overwhelming spite.

The romance angle, on the other hand, was the only real disappointment I had with the book. Hero Sam is obviously dreamy and completely 100% there for Ana since the beginning (i.e. saving her life on multiple occasions, and clearly head over heels in love with her since their first interaction). It's fine. He's sweet. He's hot. He's a gifted musician and there is much bonding and sexual tension over the piano and all that jazz. While the cheese level is bearable, the thing that got me was how utterly traditional and predictable the love story was - Ana meets Sam in the first few chapters and, well, you know where it's going from there. Then again, this is of course subject to personal taste, and while this isn't my particular cuppa, your mileage may vary.

Regardless of the tepidity of the romance and Sam's lack of definition as a character, overall, I found Incarnate to be a wonderful surprise of a book, with an impressive sense of worldbuilding, a solid plot, and a heroine worth rooting for. Absolutely recommended - and with its killer ending, I cannot wait for book 2 in the Newsoul series.

(Rating: Actually 3.5/5)(less)

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Jan 30, 2012 Andrea rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, read-in-2012

Incarnate is the story of Ana, who depending on who you ask, is either a nosoul or a newsoul. In a world filled with souls who have been reincarnating for thousands of years, Ana is an anomaly. Burdened by anger and shame over her daughters soul status, Ana's mother, Li, raises Ana outside the city of Heart, the home of the souls. After enduring the first eighteen years of her life, emotionally and physically abused at the hands of her mother, Ana is ready to flee. To discover how and why she ca...more Incarnate is the story of Ana, who depending on who you ask, is either a nosoul or a newsoul. In a world filled with souls who have been reincarnating for thousands of years, Ana is an anomaly. Burdened by anger and shame over her daughters soul status, Ana's mother, Li, raises Ana outside the city of Heart, the home of the souls. After enduring the first eighteen years of her life, emotionally and physically abused at the hands of her mother, Ana is ready to flee. To discover how and why she came to be. With the help of her rescuer and friend, Sam, the journey she undertakes will push her beyond greater highs and lows she could have ever imagined.

I want to start by saying I am at a bit of a loss over writing this review. I wanted to love Incarnate, to be swept away and overrun by the emotions in the book. I went into this book with a completely open mind, open to the unique world and fascinating possibilities.

But what happened was...I was a bit confused, and sometimes underwhelmed. I spent the first one hundred pages trying to get my bearings, to know exactly what was going on. I had questions. Where does this take place? Earth, another planet, an alternate dimension? When does it take place? The past, the future, an alternate parallel timeline? And the biggest question of all: Does it even matter (aka, why can't I just shut up and read)? With these questions swirling in my head, I had a hard time focusing on the story at hand.

In addition to the questions I just posed, there were a few more things I had a difficult time wrapping my head around. The Souls have been around for 5,000 years! Let that sink in a minute...I spent a lot of time trying to fathom the amount of identities they possessed. One life you're a man, the next a woman, fat/thin, handsome/ugly...my head hurts. Add in the fact that if you have a "soul mate", in one life they may be born within a few years of you; the next life you may be the same age as their grandparents. Another factor that I didn't understand was the "Years". There were "Years of Song", "Years of Hunger", and several others. I didn't feel those were explained very well, so I wasn't able to follow along when they were discussed. In general, I felt the world-building in Incarnate was less than complete.

The characters and their relationships to one another are what made Incarnate a likable read, for me. Ana was a brave, resilient, and clever girl. She was raised by a deliberately cruel mother who abused her at every turn. Ana was able to eke an existence out of the poor circumstances she held, and I admire her strength. The character I really fell in love with, though, was Sam. Sam saves Ana and instantly becomes her friend and protector with no hesitation or judgment. He is willing to go to the wall, take any chances to protect her. His gentle approach to Ana, who is as skittish as a wild, wounded animal made me fall in love with him. The fragile, slow-building relationship between Ana and Sam is what saved Incarnate for me.

I wouldn't say that I didn't like Incarnate. In fact, there were moments that I downright loved it. But they were not enough to make this a must-read book, in my opinion. I had such high hopes for Incarnate and hope that a lot more about the world will be explained in book two.

Favorite Quote:

" 'So all our time in the cabin was nothing to you?'
I remembered listening to him read aloud, telling him about the roses I brought back to life, and falling asleep leaning against his shoulder. 'It was everything,' I whispered, half hoping he didn't hear."
~pg 112-113 (ARC)

* I received an ARC of Incarnate from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*(less)

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Oct 01, 2011 Christy (TheReaderBee) added it

Shelves: arcs, ya-series, read-in-2011

Incarnate is one of those rare reads that is really going to stand out against the other books in its genre. This book has it all; two amazing main characters, creatures of fantasy, amazing descriptions… All together, this makes for quite an interesting read.

The main character is Ana, who is a new soul. She is also the only new soul. All the others around her have been reincarnated over and over for thousands of years. Unfortunately, Ana does not know exactly why she’s the one and only new soul,...more

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Feb 11, 2012 Zoey rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book stole my heart, broke it in half, stomped on the pieces, and then mended it. Incarnate isn't just about a girl with a new soul in a society of people thousands of years old - it's about a girl learning to accept herself even when most others won't.

Ana is, by far, the best part of this book. (And that's saying a lot, considering how I thought the entire thing was pretty much perfect.) She's grown up with only Li, who's always told Ana that she's a mistake. That she can't have feelings b...more This book stole my heart, broke it in half, stomped on the pieces, and then mended it. Incarnate isn't just about a girl with a new soul in a society of people thousands of years old - it's about a girl learning to accept herself even when most others won't.

Ana is, by far, the best part of this book. (And that's saying a lot, considering how I thought the entire thing was pretty much perfect.) She's grown up with only Li, who's always told Ana that she's a mistake. That she can't have feelings because she's a nosoul. And when Ana leaves Li and travels to Heart, she's treated almost the same way - like she shouldn't belong. Ana isn't unaffected by this, not at all, but somehow, she still manages to find good. Find the strength to go on and keep searching for the answers she wants. If I had been her, I probably would have crawled into the forest and let the sylph get me O_O

Ana's emotions were practically mine. My heart ached for her. She's easy to relate to, too. Ana is an outcast in her society; she feels like everyone hates her. (And most of them do.) Feeling like you don't fit in is such a common problem for teenagers, and regardless of how much more extreme Ana's case is, I think Incarnate can show you that it's possible to be strong no matter what.

I don't even know what to say about Sam. Except that he's awesome and I think I love him just as much as I love Jodi Meadows. I liked how everything brought Sam back to music. (And he plays the flute! Bonus.) And I especially loved that he had flaws. He brought fears from his past life into his new life, he was afraid to love Ana, and he wasn't perfect. Which, if you ask me, made him a perfect character. The romance between Sam and Ana was perfect, too - no insta-love, but it's not like the romance just came BAM! right out of the blue. They started off as friends, and though the potential for romance was always there, you still got to see their relationship grow in a healthy way.

And the plot was just . . . I can't even explain it. I'm not a fan of reincarnation. But somehow, Jodi Meadows made me love it. I've never seen any plot like this before. And the twist at the end involving the man who was supposed to be Ana's father - I did not see that coming at all O_O There were dragons, there were souls, there was a creepy temple, and there was even a different form of God. Incarnate is full of things I would usually have problems with, but I didn't have a problem with a single one of them. They all added to the story, and the way Jodi writes all of it is just . . . amazing.

Overall: I don't know how I can ever to describe to any of you how much I love this book, but I think I can honestly say it is one of the best books I've ever read. It's so much more than just a book about a girl who's "replaced" another soul. It's about strength. Accepting yourself. (And yes, maybe it's a little bit about falling in love, too.) Incarnate will stick with me for a long time. (And I will be stalking Jodi Meadow's online to find out whatever I can about the sequel. :P) 5 stars. I'd give it 6 if I did stuff like that.

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Mar 11, 2012 ◕ ◡ ◕ Arooj rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: covers-to-die-for, own, favorites, books-i-fell-hard-for

What a unique reincarnation story!
One with dragons.
And sylphs.
YUP.

The Good
• When I first heard about this book, I thought it was dystopian. However, after reading some reviews, I learned that it was waaaaay different than what it seems like. Personally, I didn't think it was dystopian. More like a alternate world where everyone is reincarnated, with creatures such as dragons and sylphs, and a god-like being who is responsible for everyones reincarnations called Janan. At first I was a little con...more

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Aug 19, 2011 Arlene rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Arlene by: Street Corner Booker - ARC Tour Lyndsey

Shelves: arc, read-2011, young-adult

Overall, I have mixed feelings about Incarnate by Jodi Meadows. There were definitely aspects of the story I found creative and the narrative flowed quite well, but I think Meadows’s take on reincarnation was difficult for me to embrace. Putting it frankly, it goes against my belief system and at times I did feel Meadows was pushing some sort of agenda that I wasn’t quite willing to accept.

Now, I don’t know if I would classify this story as YA Utopian . To me, there were elements of the story t...more Overall, I have mixed feelings about Incarnate by Jodi Meadows. There were definitely aspects of the story I found creative and the narrative flowed quite well, but I think Meadows’s take on reincarnation was difficult for me to embrace. Putting it frankly, it goes against my belief system and at times I did feel Meadows was pushing some sort of agenda that I wasn’t quite willing to accept.

Now, I don’t know if I would classify this story as YA Utopian . To me, there were elements of the story that made it feel like YA Fantasy, where the people are perpetually incarnated into a world where dragons, centaurs, griffins, and sylph fire are trying to kill them. Once those creatures are introduced, it feels like Fantasy to me. But, then you have the whole concept of reincarnation and a society of souls that have been recycled hundreds of times over, which in the end just left me a bit baffled. So, it’s a hybrid in my mind and I’m not tying it to any particular genre for now.

Now, about the story. In this book, we meet Ana who is a new-soul, or as her mother would describe her, a no-soul. Prior to her birth, there were a million souls that have been reincarnated, but in the year of the Song, the temple goes dark, a soul is lost and Ana is born with a new-soul. Ana is cast out at the age of eighteen and meets Sam, who is willing to accept her for what she is. However, Ana’s journey to discover why she is not a reincarnate is not without its trials as the people of Heart can’t seem to let go of the fact that Ana might just be the first of a new generation of new-souls and they are seeing the end of their perpetual existence..

So here’s what I had a difficult time grasping. First, if humans, as intelligent life forms that have reincarnated for the past millennium, are able to fall back on their knowledge of their previous lives, why have they not been able to dominate over the creatures that are trying to destroy them. For example, there is the case of Sam who has seen his demise at the dragon’s hand thirty times over. I didn’t quite understand how the people of Heart have not been able to somehow defend themselves against these creatures and protect their domain.

Then there was the concept of how the people of Heart reincarnate. Again, let’s take Sam for example. In one life he can come into existence as a male, but maybe for the next three or four lives, he will reincarnate as a female. So I had to wonder, what his is dominant gender? If he loves Ana in this lifetime and reincarnate as a woman in the next, how will that love translate? To me it made the relationship between Ana and Sam confusing and awkward, especially since Ana was grappling with this confusion as well and I don’t feel it was ever really properly addressed.

What bothered me the most though was the relationship been Ana and Li.. Now, I’ve read enough fiction to have come across some pretty shitty parents, but it never gets easier for me. In this book though, I couldn’t fathom how a mother would treat her daughter so poorly because she was not a reincarnate of her previous friend. There was no motherly instinct what-so-ever and frankly it bothered me that Li along with several other reincarnates exhibited this entitlement to another life, thus making me feel they didn’t fully appreciate the here and now because heck they’ll get a re-do card, so what’s the point? Overall, I felt no connection or compassion for any of the characters in this book, including Ana to some degree for other reasons I won't go into.

Lastly, I felt the ending was a bit rushed and not much was offered to hook me into the series. But in the end, I’ll give it three stars for an ambitious attempt that did have me slightly entertained and constantly grappling with the concepts that were introduced.

Thank you so much Lyndsey for touring this book! It’s off to the next Booker. :)(less)

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Nov 02, 2011 TheDuchess marked it as to-read

That blurb is giving me life!!!! *Must remain calm* What an absolutely unique story for YA!

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Mar 13, 2013 Enna Isilee (Squeaky Books) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011

So much love. I gotta re-read that ending.

Read October 2011

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Jun 16, 2013 Melanie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: bleh, fantasy, romance, dystopian-utopian, young-adult, take-your-instant-love-and-get-lost

See more reviews at http://theyabooklover.blogspot.com.au/
One star for the idea, half a star for the cover and another half for trying and getting somewhere in the plot. If you haven't worked it out yet, that's 2 stars.

Here was happy old (not really) me thinking how awesome it was that I liked 11 books in a row. THAT, IS A BIG ACHIEVEMENT. I was hoping for 12, but no, I didn't like Incarnate. Despite the good looks and stunning reviews, I was not pleased to give anything more than 2 stars.

Ciana...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Rashika rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: good-female-leads, guys-one-cannot-help-falling-for, sci-fic, fantasy, totally-worth-it, mind-blown, ya, read-2012

Actual rating 4.5
So while I am wondering in the state of deciding when I want to pick up Asunder again, I decided to write a “better” review for Incarnate.
Incarnate has a great concept. Usually pretty covers trick me, I’ve been tricked into reading so many books because of pretty cover, against my will. It’s not my fault, they demand to be read. So I didn’t go into this book with a lot of expectations. Reincarnation is a complicated concept and for an author to get it even somewhat right is hard...more Actual rating 4.5
So while I am wondering in the state of deciding when I want to pick up Asunder again, I decided to write a “better” review for Incarnate.
Incarnate has a great concept. Usually pretty covers trick me, I’ve been tricked into reading so many books because of pretty cover, against my will. It’s not my fault, they demand to be read. So I didn’t go into this book with a lot of expectations. Reincarnation is a complicated concept and for an author to get it even somewhat right is hard. Jodi Meadows aced it.
When you are reincarnated you aren’t going to have the same features nor will you be the same gender each time. There are so many books where the person when reincarnated is always the same gender. Reincarnation is about the soul, not looks, not gender. They will always change no matter what. So anyways this happens in this book, people have been reincarnated as both men and women and it’s about the soul instead of the person.
Ana being the new soul has only lived one life, the one she is living right now. She doesn’t have the experience everybody else so for her it’s more about the gender and looks. Of course what annoys me about Ana is that she is stupidly naïve. It seems more like she is a 8 year old than an 18 year old at times, although I understand why. I won’t be able to accept it because I haven’t lived under her circumstances hence I have no rights to judge but I AM allowed to have my own opinion. She is the reason I didn’t give this book the whole 5 stars.
Sam is a great character. I loved him. I laughed so much when he was complaining about teen hormones. He has been alive for a long time but the author doesn’t make him seem like a wise-ass but neither as a stupid person. You know those years have made him mature, yet weakened him. The different ways he has died has made him afraid of quite a few things. i.e. dragons.
Aside from that, the whole science fiction and fantasy thing totally works here. I love how Heart isn’t a backward place but at the same time it’s a magical place. Weird creatures exist and we get to meet them.
There could be a lot of improvements to this book, but as a debut and as the first book in the series it works perfectly. There is a plot of sorts and the quest of self-discovery. Ana isn’t totally done with the self-discovery part and she shouldn’t be, because that would be too easy, she has a lot of things to learn and to accept that she as a new-soul isn’t a bad person.
This book also does a great job of introducing us to the world of “The Range”. The author could dump quite a bit of info on us occasionally but it didn’t bother me. The world she has created is wonderful.
I look forward to seeing what awaits for us in the sequel.
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topics	posts	views	last activity
Dreamcast this book!	2	29	Mar 20, 2013 09:17am
! YA Heroines !: Incarnate	5	26	Mar 15, 2013 07:40pm
YA Buddy Readers'...: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows / Start Date: 02/26/13	22	11	Mar 02, 2013 04:29pm
! YA Heroines !: ~ Sam ~ Incarnate	3	13	Jan 12, 2013 03:46am
! YA Heroines !: ~ Ana Incarnate ~ Incarnate	1	6	Jan 11, 2013 08:19pm
Crazy for Young A...: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows → Start Date: December 26th, 2012	22	39	Dec 27, 2012 12:29pm
Addicted to YA: Incarnate	9	65	Oct 06, 2012 08:35am

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