Review: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Title:  Incarnate (New Soul #1)

Author:  Jodi Meadows

Genre:  Young Adult

Publisher:  HarperCollins

Format:  NetGalley/Kindle

Release Date:  January 31, 2012

For the last five thousand years, the same one million souls have always been reincarnated into new bodies, retaining their minds, memories, and skill sets of past lifetimes. Always, that is, until once. Eighteen years ago Ana, the newsoul—nosoul, some call her—was born in another’s place.

Incarnate is the story of this one new soul, raised in isolation by a mother who is ashamed of her. On her eighteenth birthday Ana decides to set out alone for Heart, the capital city, to find out why she was born. Ana hopes knowing why will show her what she is supposed to do with the one lifetime she’s been given. Led to believe that nosouls are worthless, she has trouble accepting the kindness of Sam, a 5,000–year–old teenager who rescues her from a frozen lake she jumped in to escape the Sylph, shadow monsters that live in the Range. Sam offers to take her to Heart, where he is assigned as her guardian. They begin to develop feelings for each other, but that is complicated by the fact that Sam is afraid to love someone who, for all they know, will only live once, who will disappear from his world too quickly. But in Heart, Ana is surrounded by people who see her as a danger and an ugly omen for the future—what if nosouls replace more people? The only way Ana can save herself is to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, and find the answer to the question of whether she will be reborn like Sam and the rest of the inhabitants of Heart (summary courtesy of Harpercollins).

Incarnate is a beautifully woven tale of a world where change is not often seen. While technological advancements do exist, who will invent them is never a mystery. Everyone knows everything about everyone. Diaries are archived in the library for all to access; stories of past lives are lovingly retold time and time again. When Ana arrives, Heart is suddenly faced with something they haven’t seen for 5,000 years—a new person or a new soul. Ana is discriminated against and even hated from the day she is born. Because of her, or so she believes, another soul was not reborn. And that is something many people can’t forget.

Once Ana leaves her house and Li—the mother who hates her—she discovers a world she knew nothing about. A world where pain is not her teacher and people actually care about her and what happens to her.  Ana learns so much during her time with Sam, including how to trust and how to love. Ana finds friends in Heart, but she also finds enemies, those who believe she shouldn’t exist and will do anything to make that happen.  Hopefully the mystery that is her existence can be solved before her time runs out.

Incarnate is an absolutely amazing novel! It appeals to the reader in so many ways. It has mystery, action, suspense, and romance.  Jodi Meadows outdoes herself (and quite frankly, a few others) in this, her debut novel. She knows how to write a novel that is appealing to readers of a variety of genres and she does it flawlessly. The mystery of Ana’s existence keeps the reader guessing from the very beginning—who is she, why is she here, will she come back if she dies? We get action—strange creatures called the Sylph, attacking dragons and heart-stopping chases. But the best part, we get a superbly written romance. Meadows is able to completely capture the hesitant yet urgent sense of new love, the fear of opening oneself so completely to another person, and the wonder of discovering love.  The doubt we all have felt when we first fall in love is magnified in Ana because of the horrible treatment she received growing up. Meadows write a love story that is sweet, yet intense, innocent yet passionate and just flat-out good.

The characters in Incarnate are well-developed and dynamic. Despite the fact that every character save Ana has been alive for 5,000 years, they still manage to show growth and development throughout the story. I enjoyed learning about the various characters reincarnations and how they had lived during those reincarnations. Ana is a perfect heroine; despite the horror and the abuse suffered in her early life and the hate that surrounds her, she perseveres. She learns as many skills as she can, she studies as much as possible to discover where she came from and she fights for the person she loves. Ana is a character to be admired.

The mystery of Heart, the temple of Janan and why millions of souls are continually reincarnated is such an intriguing story that it can’t help but keep the reader engrossed in the story. Meadows weaves this mystery throughout the whole book, never letting it fade into the background and giving the reader just enough information to keep them wanting more. And I definitely want more. I am anxiously awaiting my chance to see exactly what the city of Heart holds, not only for readers, but for its inhabitants as well.

I loved this book; I can’t wait for the next in the series. I loved reading a book that wasn’t about vampires, werewolves or angels, something that is becoming all too common in the young adult genre. Also, there is no love triangle, another aspect of young adult novels that is becoming a bit overdone.  That is something to be excited about. Meadows is able to write a love story that relies on the tension between the characters for its conflict, rather than pulling in a third person to create conflict. Meadows is to be commended for her choice to stray for the typical young adult paranormal formula.

If you get a chance, I highly recommend picking this book up. You will not be disappointed. I will be recommending this book to both of my daughters, as well as my teacher and librarian friends.

My grade for Incarnate by Jodi Meadows:

Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Title:  Everneath

Author:  Brodi Ashton

Genre:  Young Adult Paranormal

Publisher:  HarperCollins

Format:  NetGalley/Kindle

Release Date:  January 24, 2012

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her best friend, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her; six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for; six months to find redemption, if it even exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious few months forgetting the Everneath completely and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. Cole wants to take over the Everneath’s throne and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time on the surface draws to a close and all of her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: finding a way to cheat fate and remain on the surface with Jack, or returning to the Everneath and becoming Cole’s queen (summary courtesy of Harpercollins).

Everneath is an interesting mix of mythology and author Brodi Ashton’s vision of what we would call Hell or Hades or the Underworld or the Everneath as she calls it. Ashton takes the stories from mythology that readers are familiar with and gives them a twist and makes them new. It takes a lot of inspiration from the story of Orpheus attempting to rescue Eurydice from Hades, as well as the myth of Hades and Persephone. Ashton even references both several times. The twist on mythology really gives the story an originality not always seen in the young adult genre. 

Ashton also explores what I feel is the sensitive topic of young love and how it can affect the teenagers who fall into it and what happens when they lose it. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel that it was dealt with as carefully as it should have been. My impression of the Everneath is that going there is similar to committing suicide—you leave this earth with no chance of return and going there “makes the pain go away.” Nikki flees to the Everneath to escape a death in the family but more so to run from a relationship she fears is in jeopardy. Is any boy worth giving it all up for? That is what it seems Nikki believes, she chooses the Everneath over life. Nikki very quickly makes a choice that in affect ends her life, leaving everyone who loves her behind and lost. Fortunately, Nikki is given the chance to Return to say good-bye. This gives her the opportunity to see how her choice to “make the pain go away” has affected everyone in her life—her father, brother, best friend, friends at school and her boyfriend Jack. It’s a unique perspective on making a choice—should Nikki make the easy one or should she make the right one? Like I said, it’s a sensitive topic and one that must be carefully explored. I thought Ashton was a bit off-handed in her dealings with Nikki leaving, I’m not sure that the impact Nikki made with her choice was fully explored. Because this book is aimed at young adults and teens, this is a topic that should be dealt with very carefully and I didn’t feel that this was the case.

I also felt that the character development was a bit weak. I thought Jack had the potential to be a very complex and intriguing character, but he was not developed well through the course of the story. Nikki’s little brother Tommy was basically a non-entity throughout most of the book. We received only cursory glances of him in small doses. This is also the case with Jules, Nikki’s best friend, and Will, Jack’s brother, as well. We never really get to know these characters that could have been an asset to the plot. Perhaps leaving Tommy out of the story would have left room to develop the other characters more. Everything we know about every character in the book comes to us from Nikki’s point of view, which is very flawed. I would have liked to have seen the perspective of some of the other characters or even a third-person narrator to give a bit more depth to the story.

Despite what appears to be a negative review, I liked Everneath. It was readable. It certainly wasn’t amazing and it didn’t knock my socks off, but it was a good read. I know that sequels are planned and my hope is that the story and characters will grow with the series. I really wanted this book to be amazing, but it just wasn’t. It really had the potential to be fantastic, too. I thought the cover was gorgeous and I had heard really good things about the book. Too bad it didn’t live up to the hype. As far as recommending it to my girls, well, their TBR piles are nearly as big as mine and I truly believe this one can be put on the back burner for awhile. Maybe if they get to a point where they have nothing to read, I will tell them to pick it up and give it a try.

My grade for Everneath by Brodi Ashton:

Review: Tempest by Julie Cross

Title:  Tempest

Author:  Julie Cross

Genre:  Young Adult

Publisher:  MacMillan

Imprint:  St. Martin’s Griffin

Format:  NetGalley/Kindle

Release Date:  January 17, 2012

The year is 2009.  Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy; he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there are no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.
That is until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.
Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.
But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler.  Recruit him… or kill him.
Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world. (Summary courtesy of Macmillan Publishing/Goodreads)

Julie Cross’s debut novel is a fun, fast-paced intriguing tale that keeps the reader turning pages in an effort to keep up with our hero Jackson’s leaps through time.  Jumping through time could have been difficult to keep straight, but Cross manages to keep what could have been a convoluted storyline crystal clear and easy to follow.  The characters are also very consistent, despite the leaps through time. Jackson is your typical young college male, vulnerable but afraid to admit he is and cocky as all get out, Holly is a lovely, easy-going girl, trying to figure out what Jackson is hiding and Adam is the science geek we all secretly long to have as a friend.  In every time strain that Jackson jumps into, the characters are what we expect. This is not to say that there is no growth in the characters, we actually get to see how those characters grow over the course of several years.

I did have a couple of minor issues with the book. Sometimes the flashbacks (not the actual time jumps) were unclear. This could have been easily solved by simply putting an extra space between paragraphs.  The other thing I didn’t really care for was the CIA angle.  I understand why it was there, I just didn’t care for it.  I guess I want my super-secret government agencies to be so secret that the name comes as a surprise to me. These small things were the only issues I had with the book, minor really when you look at the big picture.

      

Tempest is a fast-paced action movie in book form. So, it’s not surprising that Summit Entertainment, the powerhouse behind the Twilight move franchise, has already optioned it for a film.  I think the book will translate well to film. I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to any future sequels.

My grade for Tempest by Julie Cross:

Review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Title:  Under the Never Sky

Author:  Veronica Rossi

Genre:  Young Adult/Dystopian

Publisher:  HarperCollins

Format:  NetGalley/Kindle

Release Date:  January 3, 2012

Like everyone else in Reverie, Aria spends her time in the Realms, virtual environments accessed through her Smarteye. For Dwellers like Aria, life in Reverie is simple.  When Aria is accused of a vicious crime and thrown out of the pod and the only life she knows, she knows she will die. That’s why the outside is called the Death Shop; danger is every where.

Perry has lived all his life on the Outside, fighting hunger, predators and strange energy storms generated by the Aether, the strange electrified atmosphere that has replaced the once-blue sky.  Even in a world of Outsiders, Perry is special. He has powerful gifts, allowing him to sense danger, prey and even human emotion.

Unexpectedly forced together, Aria and Perry form a reluctant alliance. Aria needs his help to return to Reverie and Perry needs Aria to help him find his nephew, who was abducted by Dwellers. Not only will they battle cannibals, wolves and the Aether, but they must battle their prejudices against each other or neither will find what they need. Aria and Perry forge a bond, a bond that may change the lives of everyone—Dwellers and Outsiders alike.

Under the Never Sky is a young adult book set in a dystopian future. Lately we’ve seen a lot of books with a dystopian theme (Matched, Wither, Divergent). The question is:  can Veronica Rossi create a story in a genre that is rapidly becoming overloaded? The answer to that question is yes she can. Not only that, but she does it very well.

Under the Never Sky has a fresh, inventive plot, a distinctive writing style and well-written dynamic characters. It was refreshing to read a dystopian story with such originality. I haven’t enjoyed a book of this genre so much since I read Divergent by Veronica Roth. The plot is well-paced and entertaining. Rossi has a fantastic writing style; she knows just what to do to keep her reader interested. The point of view switches between Aria and Perry, but she manages to make it a seamless transition. Perhaps using third person limited point of view is what eases the transition (unlike Crossed by Ally Condie which uses first person point of view and confuses her readers). Rossi’s characters are also very dynamic characters, obviously growing and changing as the book progresses. I loved the growth seen in the main characters, Aria and Perry. They both learn so much about not only themselves, but also each other.

In case you can’t tell, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is by far my favorite of the year thus far. I have already recommended it to several teachers I work with, as well as both of my daughters. I don’t know if Ms. Rossi is planning a sequel (and honestly, she ended the book in a way that would allow for a sequel, but not in a way that demands a sequel), but if she is, I can’t wait to read it.

My grade for Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi:

Review: Katerina Trilogy Vol. 1 The Gathering Storm**

Title:  The Katerina Trilogy Vol. 1: The Gathering Storm

Author:  Robin Bridges

Genre:  Young Adult Paranormal/Historical Fiction

Publisher:  Random House Children’s Books

Imprint:  Delacorte BFYR

Format:  NetGalley/Kindle

Release Date:  January 10, 2012
**Debut Author Challenge Book**

The year is 1888. The place is St. Petersburg, Russia. While Katerina Alexandrovna, the Duchess of Oldenburg, attends the winter season’s balls, operas and ballets, she must try to hide the deepest, darkest secret any person could have:  her ability to raise the dead.  It is a secret she hides from her family, her friends at the Smolny boarding school and especially the tsar and the aristocratic circles to which her family belongs.  But when Katerina is forced to use her special gift to protect a member of the Imperial family, she finds herself drawn into a world of intrigue she is not able to escape. 

Evil surrounds all those within the royal bloodlines of Europe.  Lines are being drawn—light and dark are choosing sides. Katerina finds herself being drawn to two different men—the tsar’s middle son, George Alexandrovich and Danilo, the prince of Montenegro. But which one will she, or should she, trust?  Katerina must embrace her powers and choose—light or dark?

The Gathering Storm has something for everyone. It mixes historical fiction, Russian fairy tales, paranormalcy, romance and suspense all in one book. I hate to use the words “new twist on the same old thing” because I think that statement can be overused, but that is exactly what this book is. We get witches, vampires, the undead and werewolves all in one book. First and foremost, this book is a paranormal story though, so it is important to keep that in mind if you don’t care for the paranormal genre. I enjoyed the various paranormal creatures and Bridges take on those creatures a great deal. Bridges debut novel is extremely well-written, entertaining and fascinating.   

Katerina Alexandrovna is a very strong female lead character. Even though she is growing up in Russia in 1888, she doesn’t conform to what one would expect of a young lady during that time. Katerina (or Katiya as her family calls her) is strong-minded, willful, independent and smart. She wants to be a doctor, something practically unheard of in Russia at that time. She is very protective of her family, in particular her overdramatic mother. And she must learn to rein in her powers, if she isn’t attempting to outright hide them. Katerina isn’t wishy-washy, whiny or overly sensitive. She accepts what is happening to her, but she is willing to take risks to set things right. Bridges creates a character every girl can look up to. 

While reading The Gathering Storm, I did find it a bit difficult to keep track of the various houses and families, the light court and the dark court, and the numerous ties everyone seems to have to each other. Sometimes it got a bit confusing. Also, Bridges uses quite a few Russian words in the book, but learning the meanings of those words was actually kind of interesting. Fortunately neither of these things distracted me too much from the story. I found the book to be a very enjoyable read. It was definitely worth muddling through the various families and houses and deciphering Russian to read this book. 

This book is appropriate for both tweens and teens. Because of the chaste time Katerina is living in, there are not a lot of heavy sexual themes and the paranormal creatures and actions are not too overwhelming or scary. I really enjoyed The Gathering Storm and I am looking forward to the next book in the trilogy.

My grade for The Katerina Trilogy Vol. 1: The Gathering Storm: