Review: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Reading level: Ages 13 and up
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books; First Edition edition (January 31, 2012)

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New soul
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.

No soul
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?

     This doesn't seem like my typical read. Reincarnation always seemed like a very religious topic and that really isn't something I enjoy reading about. And while there was religion in this book, but it was completely unique to the book and its world. 

Now the characters and story...Anna isn't like everyone else in her world, she is surrounded by people who have known each other for 5,000 years.  She is the first new soul to be born in all that time.  The unfortunate thing is that when she was born one of the 5,000 souls truly died, never to be reincarnated.  Anna is always treated like an outsider, and like she is less of a person than the others.  They refer to her as a no soul.  She is treated horribly by her mother. When she is finally old enough to leave she does but runs into trouble and is rescued by Sam.  From the start Sam treats her as an equal.  Through out the res of the story Anna and Sam get to know each other, and Sam teaches her about the way of life in the main town of the reincarnated souls.  She meets new people and while some still fear and hate her others become friendly with her. 

I really didn't feel that the true excitement of this story happened until the last 1/4th of the book. But that isn't a bad thing. There were all different elements at play here.  This was a very touching book, it kept me thinking about it for days after I finished it.  The author managed to weave together a story that touched me, excited me, and made me smile.  I truly enjoyed the journey this book took me on.  I really look forward to the next addition to this story.