Unraveling Words: Unraveling: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Unraveling: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Title: Incarnate

Series: Newsoul Book One

Publication Date: January 31, 2012

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.

And what happens if she starts to fall for him?

***

My Thoughts

I almost DNF'd this at the 15% mark but decided to give it another shot, mostly because it was a buddy read and I felt I should at least make more of an effort. It didn't really improve much.

I didn't like Ana. At all. It was great of her that she didn't break after her treatment from Li, and I'd understand she wouldn't trust anyone easily or otherwise at first but her defensiveness, which came across as some serious aggression and mayor brattiness, wasn't helping matters at all. I guess I thought she would have been more stealth and less vocal/impulsive? Apparently thinking first and acting later wasn't her M.O. even after everything with Li and how most people saw Newsouls. Ana wasn't all bad, she was 'smart' but her attitude just ruined it for me.

Sam...I'm not entirely sure about Sam. At first I didn't really like him, but then he started growing on me little by little, to the point were he was just alright. My main problem with his character was Ana's inability to read his emotions accurately. When they first met I was so damn lost in their conversations. Ana was always defensive, and Sam would make these comments that I wasn't sure if they were actually meant to be offensive or sarcastic or just something else all together. It made for some very frustrating reading, and I just gave up after a while.

The biggest problem though was the plot. It was too glossed over, and the so called answers that were given were unsatisfying. Technically there was one. The mystery of the newsouls of course, Janan, Heart, and the reincarnation. *Slight spoilers ahead*

The premise had so much promise, so many things you could have done with a set up like that, but instead Meadows decided to focus on the romance, which by the way wasn't that amazing I've seen better, and put a minimal effort on the actual plot. I was disappointed to say the least.

So...