Jodi Meadow’s debut, Incarnate, is a beautifully written young adult novel, in which she builds a fresh, new world made of very old souls. In it, humanity consists of a million souls that are reincarnated repeatedly in a magical land of dragons and sylphs.
The story focuses on Ana, a Newsoul who is born, taking the place of another who disappears mysteriously after five thousand years of existence. After eighteen years of being mistreated by her birth mother, who believes that Ana is a “nosoul”, she sets out into the city of Heart to find out the answer to the question everyone has asked at some point – “Why am I here?” During her journey, she meets Sam, the first person who she has real contact with besides her mother. Even though he has lived in different bodies for five thousand years, he also seems to be searching for something.
I found Incarnate to be a lovely example of science fiction/fantasy. Ana is a sweet, likeable character. Although she seems overly childlike at times, it works well in the story since all of the other characters have been around in one body or another for several millennia. The supporting characters were either deliciously dreadful or endearingly sweet, and played well off of Ana. Sam is an interesting character, to say the least, but he creeped me out a little for various reasons. Overall, I found the book to be a great read, and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Asunder.
*Reviewed by Kayla Beck – Rodessa Branch Manager
