Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

While I was reading Incarnate, I just kept thinking: "This is a beautiful story." I flipping LOVED it. Incarnate has been chilling in my to-read pile for a while now. I had fallen in love with the synopsis and the cover, but I hadn't had time to read the book due to school or work or other books popping up in the way. I recently picked it up and just decided that it was the day that I was going to start reading Incarnate. I read half the book in one day, shoving homework and house work to the side in my haste to read Incarnate. I had to stop for a few days to catch back up with homework, but the instant I had time again, I was back to powering my way through Incarnate, loving basically every moment of it. The plot is great, the writing style is engaging, and I could just eat this book up, I love it so!

Ana is a newsoul, a new person in a world where the people who live there are reincarnated. Over and over and over again. Before Ana was born, the Temple went dark and one soul was lost; it has never returned and some people think that Ana took that soul's place. To them, she is a nosoul, and her mentally abusive mother Li is ardent believer that Ana is a nosoul; she keeps Ana away from almost all other people for her entire childhood. One of her only respites from Li's hatred is the comfort she finds in music. Ana leaves Li's house, heading for the city of Heart, and quickly finds herself in danger, but she's rescued by Sam, who eventually becomes her guardian. Ana must navigate through her new life, one where she learns to make friends and join society but also one where she must appease the Council who rules her life and decides what's best for her. Not to mention that there may or may not be people out to kill her. There are dragon attacks, music lessons, market days, library ventures (yay!), and a masquerade, all leading up to a major battle and the answer to some huge questions.

Range is a very different world from ours, and Meadows takes her time fleshing out its details, giving the reader bits and pieces of the world as it becomes a whole entity. I liked the combination of fantasy and technology elements, and I didn't really see a clash between the two. For me, it was believable to have dragons flying ahead while people shot at them with lasers and tried to contact each other on devices akin to cell phones. It's another world, one where humans are reincarnated over and over again, so it doesn't have to play by our rules. It almost seems like Range is a playground for Janan, the possible creator entity, where he created certain beings and left them to run their course. It reminds me of the watchmaker scenario, where the creator of a world would create everything in the world, give it life and then leave it alone. I found Range and the city of Heart fascinating, and I would love to learn more about why this world works the way it does in later books.

I'm big on characters, and I seriously enjoyed the ones that populate this book. Ana was a perfect protagonist for this kind of scenario; since she is a newsoul, she's still learning about the world around her, which helps us as readers to be introduced to the world. I felt sympathetic toward Ana as she tried to figure out how to interact with people who had been alive for centuries upon centuries and who all knew each other intimately. Worst small town type of problem EVER. I liked Sam as her gentle and relatively understanding guide through the world, and their joint love of music was a great touch. Oh, and I love the relationship between Sam and Ana. LOVED IT. Granted, for a good chunk of the book, I was gripping the edges and yelling, "Kiss her already, you ancient idiot!" but it was only because the feelings and connection between them were so palpable and real. The scene at the masquerade was awesome (not saying more to avoid spoilers), and I was just so pleased with it, I almost went over in my lunch break because I just wanted to keep reading. The side characters like Stef were also fun to get to know!

Again, I just have to say how beautiful I thought this story was. I loved every inch of it, and I hated to see it end. I just want more! LOTS MORE. I cannot WAIT until Asunder comes out. Until then, I'll just attempt to be patient...