Asunder by Jodi Meadows

Series: (Incarnate bk. 2)

Genera: Fantasy, Dystopian, Sci-fi, Romance

Subjects: Reincarnation, love, supernatural, utopias

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 406 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegen Books

Summary/ product description: “DARKSOULS
Ana has always been the only one. Asunder. Apart. But after Templedark, when many residents of Heart were lost forever, some hold Ana responsible for the darksouls–and the newsouls who may be born in their place.
SHADOWS
Many are afraid of Ana’s presence, a constant reminder of unstoppable changes and the unknown. When sylph begin behaving differently toward her and people turn violent, Ana must learn to stand up not only for herself but for those who cannot stand up for themselves.
LOVE
Ana was told that nosouls can’t love. But newsouls? More than anything, she wants to live and love as an equal among the citizens of Heart, but even when Sam professes his deepest feelings, it seems impossible to overcome a lifetime of rejection.
In this second book in the Newsoul trilogy, Ana discovers the truth about reincarnation and will have to find a way to embrace love and make her young life meaningful. Once again, Jodi Meadows explores the extraordinary beauty and shadowed depths of the soul in a story equal parts epic romance and captivating fantasy.”

 

My Review: Still the most unique fantasy series I’ve ever read. It mixes fantasy with sci-fi and paranormal romance. The reincarnation stuff reminds me of Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz, and I recommend this to fans of that series, or the Grisha series.

Ana and Sam make a great couple. Sam may be a 5000 year old teenager, but I don’t think him and Ana being together is creepy and inappropriate. He truly cares about her and shares her love of music. She adored his music before she even met him, Dossam, the great musician. Ana’s so new, only 18 years old and never reincarnated. A newsoul. She doesn’t have the life experience that the others have.  But she’s a fast learner.

I love all the characters. Sure, I find the past-life different gender thing to be weird, like Stef being female, but usually male. It’s odd, but not that important. I love Sarit. She’s so funny and nice. And basically Ana best friend. And Chris is pretty cool, with his blue roses. Jodi did a good job making character who seemed like they were very old. And how they reacted to newsouls being born. Old people afraid of change? Sounds familiar.

I love the setting and world building more than anything in this series. The author based Heart off Yellow Stone National Park, a place where a city should never be built because of geysers and volcanic activity. It’s such a beautiful area and easy to picture. Just add a city with white stone and people and you get the idea. There were no dragons in this book, but there was a development in Sylph. Let’s just say my suspicions turned out to be kind of true.

I like how the dialogue isn’t historical or formal sounding. There’s humor and modern words, minus slang. There’s modern technology and even futuristic technology, designed by Stef. It’s really cool that they were able to advance over 5000 years. I kept hoping that this series was actually set in the future or a computer program/simulated universe (Matrix style), but I’m sure now that it’s just a fantasy world. I’m not disappointed. I just want to enjoy it for what it is. Still, it would be kind of cool if Janan turned out to be the programmer (Spoiler: He’s definitely not). This is all definitely fantasy, and it’s a very unique fantasy at that. Sylph, dragons, phoenixes, trolls, centaurs. Yeah, I love fantasy.

So ready for Phoenix Overture (e-novella) and then Infinite (book 3). As EpicReads said, I ship Sam and Ana.

Cover Art Review: Just as beautiful as the first book’s cover. I love the neon blue and red, and the blue roses by her eyes. The eyes look violet-blue. It’s so mesmerizing to look at. I just had to read it. I love the embossed rose under the dust jacket.