Infinite by Jodi Meadows

Series: Newsoul (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Fantasy, Dystopian, Sci-fi, Romance

Subjects: Reincarnation, love, supernatural, utopias, adventure, dragons, sylphs

Setting: Heart and the Range. Situated in an area that is pretty much like Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Ana

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 418 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover and now in Paperback

List Price: $17.99/$9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegen Books

Summary/ product description: “DESTRUCTION

The Year of Souls begins with an earthquake—an alarming rumble from deep within the earth—and it’s only the first of greater dangers to come. The Range caldera is preparing to erupt. Ana knows that as Soul Night approaches, everything near Heart will be at risk.

FLIGHT

Ana’s exile is frightening, but it may also be fortuitous, especially if she can convince her friends to flee Heart and Range with her. They’ll go north, seeking answers and allies to stop Janan’s ascension. And with any luck, the newsouls will be safe from harm’s reach.

CHOICE

The oldsouls might have forgotten the choice they made to give themselves limitless lifetimes, but Ana knows the true cost of reincarnation. What she doesn’t know is whether she’ll have the chance to finish this one sweet life with Sam, especially if she returns to Heart to stop Janan once and for all.

With gorgeous romance and thrilling action, the final book in the Incarnate trilogy offers a brilliant conclusion to the compelling questions of this fascinating world, where one new girl is the key to the lives of millions.

My Review:  I’m finally done with this series. I put off reading this final book for a year. I loved this series because it was so unique and interesting. I like the romance and the mix of fantasy and sci-fi elements. I don’t know if I will ever read a series like it again and now I finally am saying goodbye to it. It’s really hard for me to review this. I loved it, and I tried to drag it out.

It’s set during the wintertime in an area that may have once been Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, or a place like it. There are fantastical creatures like dragon, sylphs, centaur, trolls and even phoenix. It’s full of awesome world building that keeps you guessing whether this is set in some kind of distant future, or a whole different world. A million souls reincarnating for 5,000 years sounds pretty crazy. We find out more information in the e-novella, Phoenix Overture, but never the whole truth. I recommend reading it before this book. That novella is why I put off this book so long. It’s 90 pages long and I hate reading long things on my Nook.

I enjoyed the adventure in this finale.  Ana, Sam, Stef, and Whit travel north to find another wall where dragons live. They translate a Phoenix book along the way with the help of sylph. It explains the past and the truth about Janan. They have to make a plan to stop his ascension that could set off a super volcano event right inside the Range.

I loved Ana and Sam’s relationship. They share the love of music and play together sometimes. Ana was a big fan of Sam aka Dossam before she even met him, but she fell in love with the dark hair boy who said his name was Sam. Sam tries to protect Ana and encourages her curiosity and believes she can do what she sets her mind too. If she believes that she can get dragon to help stop Janan, then he will help even if he’s terrified of dragons.

If you have not read Incarnate yet, then why are you reading this review? Go read Incarnate! Jodi Meadows is awesome and she has a new book called the Orphan Queen coming out in March 2015.

Cover Art Review: The colors are so gorgeous on this cover. It’s like aurora colors. I love the feathers and the eyes on the girl’s face. I love the engraved feather under the book jacket too.  

The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas

Release Date: September 17, 2013

Series: The Elemental Trilogy (bk. 1)

Genera: Fantasy/Paranormal Romance/Historical fiction

Subjects: supernatural, magic, mages, elemental abilities

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: ARC page count: 449 pgs. Hardcover: 464 (?)

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Balzer + Bray

Summary/ product description: “It all began with a ruined elixir and an accidental bolt of lightning…

Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's being told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the greatest mage tyrant the world has ever known. A suicide task for anyone let alone a sixteen-year-old girl with no training, facing a prophecy that foretells a fiery clash to the death.

Prince Titus of Elberon has sworn to protect Iolanthe at all costs but he's also a powerful mage committed to obliterating the Bane to avenge the death of his family—even if he must sacrifice both Iolanthe and himself to achieve his goal.

But Titus makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the Bane closing in, he must choose between his mission and her life.”

My Review: When I found out that this book was partially set in England in 1883, I didn’t want to read it. I’m not a fan of historical fiction. I hate historical dialogue and words. British words confuse and annoy me. And I don’t really like books written in 3^rd person. But when I received this book as an ARC, and when I heard good things about it on TeaTime with EpicReads, I had to read it. This book may have not been the most exciting book I’ve ever read, but for a hist-fic fantasy, it’s not bad. It took me more than 4 days to get through it, but I wasn’t bored or skimming.

I loved the magic in this book. I though it was going to be copying Harry Potter, because the wand and Latin spells, and the boarding school, but it was very different. (For one, the boarding school was not for wizards. It was just a regular boys boarding school). I really love stories in which the main characters can control elements. Like the House of Night series, Vampire Academy, or the show Avatar: The Last Airbender. Iolanthe, an elemental mage, could control Fire, Water and Earth, but not Air. And somehow she could make a lightning bolt come down from the sky.

There was also something called subtle magic. It’s spells and wand that can do thing like change you shoes and clothes, or make you see things far away. It’s for useful things. There’s also vaulting, which it teleportation. Titus is a master at it.

There’s also different realms. Mage realms. I’m not sure if the mage realms are a parallel world, or something like a hidden world or country similar to in the Mortal Instruments series. Maybe they’re cloaked islands? It mention Atlantis a lot, so maybe an island. There are a lot of magical creatures. Dragons, wyverns, and so many more. There’s just so much that I became confused. The world building could use a little work.

I felt like the main characters were a little flat. Iolanthe and Titus reminded me of Rachel and Logan from Defiance, but without the 1^st person narration, they don’t have much personality. I did love the humorous dialogue. Especially when Iolanthe was pretending to be a boy, Archer Fairfax. She was able to pull off a cocky boy attitude perfectly. There was a little romance between Iolanthe and Titus. Nothing too in depth. Some kissing and flirting. I’m hoping book 2 will have more. My favorite parts of this book were when Iolanthe pretended to be Archer Fairfax, or when she was turned into a canary. Also some of the scenes where they’re in that fairytale world.

This book is similar to other fantasy books, but I think it’s unique. I haven’t read many historical set fantasy, so I don’t have many to compare them too. I’d say this is kind of Harry Potter with a girl main character. But if you liked Definace by C.J. Redwine, Incarnate by Jodi Meadows, or Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, then you might enjoy this. Or even books like the Unicorn Chronicles series by Bruce Colville. This book is mostly fantasy with some very late 1800s British speech.

Cover Art Review: My ARC has a different cover than the hardcover. I like both versions. The hardcover has a beautiful fiery dragon/phoenix/wyvern on the front. I love the colors, and feathers. The castle is cool on the ARC. It’s upside-down. I feel like there should have been more lightning on the hardcover. Fire may be the main element that the character likes to use, but controlling lightning and air is the struggle. 

Defiance by C.J. Redwine

Series: Defiance (bk. 1)

Genera: Fantasy/Dystopian Sci-fi/Romance

Subjects: supernatural, post-apocalyptic, survival, adventure

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 403 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover and Paperback

List Price: HC: $17.99 PB: $9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Balzer & Bray

Summary/ product description: “While the other girls in the walled city-state of Baalboden learn to sew and dance, Rachel Adams learns to track and hunt. While they bend like reeds to the will of their male Protectors, she uses hers for sparring practice.

When Rachel's father fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the city's brutal Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector: her father's apprentice, Logan—the boy she declared her love to and who turned her down two years before. Left with nothing but fierce belief in her father's survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself.

As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can't be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making.”

My Review: I didn’t know what to expect from this book. I thought it was going to be high fantasy, but was surprised to find that it wasn’t. It’s a little bit fantasy, but it’s more dystopian than anything. Defiance is set in a post-apocalyptic world about 50 years in the future after a dragon-like creature from the depths of the earth has burned most of civilization. What civilization is left has reverted back to living like the middle ages, but instead of kings and royalty, there’s the Commander. So it’s a dictatorship. There are walled city-states across the country, and smaller villages. (Baalboden is the city-state Rachel lives in. I think it’s in Tennessee.) Technology is scarce. Logan’s really into making tech, so we get to see some of his inventions.

I really loved the main characters. I loved how the story switched between Rachel and Logan’s first person, present tense POVs. Rachel is strong willed and independent. She’s the definition of the feisty and fierce redhead. She’s a great warrior, even if she can’t let others know it. And she’s got survival skill because her father was a courier and a tracker. Women in her society are looked down upon as weak and must always have a Protector with them. It’s very sexist and old fashioned. Rachel doesn’t want to be treated that way.

Logan, Rachel’s father’s apprentice, becomes her Protector after her father doesn’t return from a mission. Rachel’s angry about it at first, and makes a big deal about it in front of the Commander. Logan is a truly nice guy. He’s smart, creative and makes some pretty awesome inventions. He cares about Rachel. He’s kind of in love with her, even if he doesn’t realize it till he can’t get to her. I really like him, and the romance between both them. It’s not insta-love. It develops in a realistic way.

This book is non-stop action and a ton of romance. I never got bored. There were lot of details in the writing and descriptions. I think some of my favorite thing in this book were the Worst/Best Case Scenarios that Logan thought up. He’s so smart and think far ahead. He must have a really high IQ. A genius. And it sets him apart from other YA male love interests. The focus wasn’t on how hot he was, but on how intelligent he was and how he made Rachel feel.

This book was awesome. I recommend it to fans of Soulbound by Heather Brewer, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, The Selection by Kiera Cass, Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi, Incarnate by Jodi Meadows, Eve by Anna Carey, the Hunger Games, Divergent, and other dystopian series. Can’t wait to read Deception, book 2 of the Defiance series.

Cover Art Review: I love this cover so much! It’s Rachel with a really big cloak and trees. It’s so cool! Love the orange, purple and green color scheme. And it’s metallic matte paper! The sliced title is cool too.

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Series: Newsoul (bk. 1)

Genera: Fantasy, Dystopian, Sci-fi, Romance

Subjects: Reincarnation, love, dragons, supernatural, utopias

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 374 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegan

Summary/ product description: “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.”

My Rating: êêêêê

My Review: This was probably the most creative mix of sci-fi and fantasy I’ve ever read. I so happy I finally read this book. It reminded me of Crewel by Gennifer Albin in some ways. I kept wondering if the rage was some synthetic world like the Matrix. I thought this book was dystopian, and in some ways it is. I guess it’s just a unique fantasy with reincarnation. I wonder what’s going to be discovered in the next few books. I really enjoyed the romance between Ana and Sam. The piano scenes made me think of Twilight. And I knew who Sam really was right away. It was pretty obvious.

I felt bad for Ana. Everybody treated her like she was helpless, or they didn’t know that she didn’t know certain things. The people who’ve been reincarnated over and over never had to teach children how to do stuff because they had already learned stuff in a past life. Ana is smart of enough to learn things on her own. She’s a very fast learner and eager to discover. She’s a new pair of eyes, a new opinion. She changes everything by the fact that she exists.

It’s a really interesting idea. This book has a lot of philosophic themes in it. The idea of a world of people who’ve been around for thousands of years. The fact that you’re so young and have only this life makes you different and unique. The only thing I found weird was that they kept getting reincarnated in different bodies.  Male or female. Sam have been a woman in a past life is very odd.

I like the fantasy world in this book. I like how they have technology. Apparently over 5,000 years they’re discovered all these things. They started off primitive, and are now more advanced than us. I just seems so strange. It made me feel like this world was a program. This world of empty houses and dangerous creatures was there waiting for them, and then they built it over 5,000 years. They’ve lived so many lives. Almost like they are players in a game/program. Each time they die, they come back in a different body. The sylphs and dragons are a nice touch.

Cover Art Review: This is probably my favorite cover image this year. It’s so neon bright. It glows! The red and the blue. The butterfly mask. I love it. It’s perfect. I wish it was on metallic or opalescent paper stock, though.

 

~Haley G