Book Review of "Incarnate" by Jodi Meadows

Title: Incarnate (Newsoul #1)
Author: Jodi Meadows
Classification: YA Fiction, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Source: eARC from the publisher

Overall Grade:

B

I thought...

Entertaining and unique: a force to be reckoned with.

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Summary (from Goodreads): 

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? 

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

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My Thoughts:

With the large amount of fantasy and paranormal YA books being published today, it's incredibly refreshing to read a debut as interesting and unexpected as Incarnate!

However, while Incarnate has story, characters, plots, and worlds that are breathtaking and unique, the method of delivery is very volatile. At some points in the story, Incarnate seemed to be a work from a novice writer: actions scenes were clunky, dialogue was stilted and inauthentic, descriptions were borderline ridiculous.

At other times, the writing seemed to disappear and the reader floated along with Ana and Sam throughout the story. Then, there were pivotal moments of lyricism that brought raw emotion to the table. This, coupled with the intriguing story and memorable characters, seemed to make a strong statement: Incarnate is a debut novel to be reckoned with.

Unfortunately, those lyrical, emotion-wrought moments did not appear enough in the story. Also, Incarnate was filled with many action scenes that were awkward, filled with clunky language and over-explanations, which worked to slow down the narrative flow.

Meadows surprised by including a difficult trope, soul mates, that did not turn overtly tacky throughout the story. However, there were several other plot twists and additions to the story that were not handled so expertly. In these moments, Incarnate read like a run-of-the-mill YA fantasy or paranormal romance, which to many readers may be comforting, but to others is simply annoying.

To the reader who is looking  for a unique thrill-ride, Incarnate is a definite winner. Those searching for an other-worldly, slow-building, and steamy romance will also be satisfied with this debut. However, those readers looking for something lasting and deeply affecting will simply have to settle for being merely entertained by Meadow's debut.

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Overall Grade:

B

I thought...

Entertaining and unique: a force to be reckoned with.

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(Full Disclosure: Any books purchased from Amazon through the links on this page will result in a small commission to me.)

Book Review of "Pure" by Julianna Baggott

Title: Pure (Pure #1)
Author: Julianna Baggott
Classification: YA Fiction, Dystopian, Science Fiction
Source: eARC from the publisher

To be published on February 8th, 2012

Overall Grade:

A-

Recommended to...
Those in need of a chilling, yet beautiful dystopian.


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Summary (from Goodreads):

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .

Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .

There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

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My Thoughts:

Haunting. This is the first word that comes to mind after reading Pure.

While this dystopian can be considered an almost political message on the atrocity of nuclear warfare, the narrative is really about the effects that nuclear warfare has had on each individual in society. Each individual in Pure, whether they were protected by the Dome or not, has had a sometimes literal and physical burden placed on their backs by the catastrophe that disfigured society inside and out.

Because of the serious and devastating effects of the Detonations, the tone of Pure is often bleak and even horrifying at times. However, there are several bright moments of extreme, haunting beauty, mostly coming from the relationships between the truly remarkable characters in this story.

The narrative in Pure is not just about the two protagonists, Partridge and Pressia. Rather, because the story is told in the 3rd person, the author was able to include two other narrators as well: El Capitan and Lyda. The minor characters in this novel were almost more interesting to me than the two protagonists, especially Bradwell and El Capitan.

The most surprising aspect of this dystopian is probably the depth of characterization that we see amidst a thrilling and violent plot. The grotesque nature of many of the characters added to this deep characterization, I feel. The individuals who were outside of the Dome when the Detonations took place were fused to whatever creatures, people, or objects that were near them at the time and are now referred to as wretches by the Pures who live inside the Dome.

For instance, El Capitan was with his younger brother Helmud at the time of detonation and is now forced to carry his younger brother on his back for the rest of his life. This bizarre character trait only adds to El Capitan's character, who ended up being one of my favorites from the novel.

Rather than take away from the rest of the narrative and the personality traits of each person, these bizarre character traits only help to maintain the deep effects of the Detonations and how they have shaped each individual character in the story.

This story contained more layers than the average dystopian novel today. While the plot was thrilling and the world fascinatingly bizarre, how these characters relate to one another in an incredibly bleak social setting is profound and moving.

I could not tear myself away from this book.

Read this book if you wish to encounter a story of rare emotion and thrill that sets itself apart from other novels in this often-saturated genre!
 
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Overall Grade:

A-

Recommended to...
Those in need of a chilling, yet beautiful dystopian.


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(Full Disclosure: Any books purchased from Amazon through the links on this page will result in a small commission to me.)  

Book Review of "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness

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Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) 
Author: Patrick Ness

Classification: YA Fiction, Sci-Fi, Dystopian
Source: Bought

Overall Grade:

A+

Would I recommend it?

Wow. A powerful, powerful book!

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Summary (from Goodreads): 

 

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

 

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My Thoughts:

 

The summary for this book really does not do it justice.

 

The Knife of Never Letting Go is a book that grabs you and refuses to let go... whether you like it or not. Following the story of Todd Hewitt, his dog Manchee, and a mysterious girl he finds on his way, Ness tackles themes of war, bigotry, survival, and the definition of growing up.

 

The plot of this book is very fast paced, leaving you wanting more with each page. However, don't expect Todd to be delivered from every situation like most young adult novelists allow! In fact, you should probably expect to be frustrated, heart-broken, amused, happy, then frustrated all over again.

 

Written in Todd's dialect, which gives a similar experience to reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, (which I adore), this book has a stream-of-consciousness flow that makes every pain and joy resonate with the reader. The story itself forces the reader to cling obsessively to the main characters, but especially Todd, as one watches this young boy struggle in a land that has no place for weakness, kindness, or childhood.

 

A coming-of-age novel that is as suspenseful and entertaining as it is heart-breaking and poignant!
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Overall Grade:

A+

Would I recommend it?

Wow. A powerful, powerful book!

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Book Review of "Across the Universe" by Beth Revis

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Title: Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1) 

Author: Beth Revis

Classification: YA Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopian

Source: Bought!

Overall Grade: 

A-

Would I read it again?

Yes.

Would I recommend it? 

Yes!

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Summary (from Goodreads):

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

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My Thoughts:

Across the Universe is one of those rare books that I know I will read again and savor every word. Beth Revis begins this book with serious, heart-pounding action, eases us into the life of Elder and others on the Godspeed, then races us to the ending with a murder-mystery, dystopian drama, science fiction, and romance.

Yes, apparently, Across the Universe has it all!

However, I must say that I saw right through the murder mystery from the beginning. I hate when I already know who the murderer is, and who that mysterious missing person is, without the author surprising me in some way.

Besides that small qualm, I highly recommend this book! Across the Universe is unlike any book I have ever read. I loved the social commentary brought about by the contained society of the Godspeed. I loved the way that history, ancestry, and the human condition were discussed. I loved how Revis portrayed love and sexual relations.  

I felt like the point-of-views from both Amy and Elder were very real. Their inner dialogue didn't ignore often tabooed topics. Their voices were different for each character, but both distinctly Revis. 

I don't know what else to say about this book, besides this: you will not be disappointed by Across the Universe! 

I'm anxiously awaiting the sequel in this set trilogy, A Million Suns (Across the Universe #2), set for publication in 2012!

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Overall Grade: 

A-

Would I read it again?

Yes.

Would I recommend it? 

Yes!

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